Why Alibaba is named as Alibaba

I asked this question to couple of senior managers of Alibaba Corp. (who’s name I do not wish to mention) during their visit to Mumbai to meet Trustpass Members.

I have been told that there were couple of factors which resulted this name.

1. The tale of Ali Baba & forty thieves must have been significant factor.

2. Since the founders had broader view and were looking to work on Global Platform this simple name (Ailbaba) was one of the best choice they had.

3. Alibaba is very simple to pronounce and the pronunciation remains same almost in all languages whether its Chinese, English, French, German etc.

If anyone has other inputs please do not hesitate to add.

Quoting from [Smir]:

Why Alibaba is named as Alibaba

I asked this question to couple of senior managers of Alibaba Corp. (who’s name I do not wish to mention) during their visit to Mumbai to meet Trustpass Members.

I have been told that there were couple of factors which resulted this name.

1. The tale of Ali Baba & forty thieves must have been significant factor.

2. Since the founders had broader view and were looking to work on Global Platform this simple name (Ailbaba) was one of the best choice they had.

3. Alibaba is very simple to pronounce and the pronunciation remains same almost in all languages whether its Chinese, English, French, German etc.

If anyone has other inputs please do not hesitate to add.

You can learn about it from this video:


http://resources.alibaba.com/topic/10311/Jack_Ma_on_Talk_Asia_by_CNN_Video_Clip_valid_for_IE_only_.htm


Here are the excerpts from the same video as told by Mr. Jack Ma (founder of Alibaba) :


"One day I was in San Francisco in a coffee shop, and I was thinking Alibaba is a good name. And then a waitress came, and I said do you know about Alibaba? And she said yes. I said what do you know about Alibaba, and she said 'Open Sesame.' And I said yes, this is the name! Then I went onto the street and found 30 people and asked them, 'Do you know Alibaba'? People from India, people from Germany, people from Tokyo and China... They all knew about Alibaba. Alibaba -- open sesame. Alibaba -- 40 thieves. Alibaba is not a thief. Alibaba is a kind, smart business person, and he helped the village. So...easy to spell, and global know. Alibaba opens sesame for small- to medium-sized companies. We also registered the name AliMama, in case someone wants to marry us!"