IKEA names its products using a unique system, according to a Canadian TikToker (VIDEO)
Do the words Billy, Malm, Lack, and Kallax mean anything to you? If so, then you’re definitely more than a little familiar with some of IKEA’s most popular products. But how exactly did these products get their names?
Canadian video creator Doug Sharpe, who calls himself a “fact guy,” recently posted a video explaining the Swedish furniture company’s clever naming system.
In a TikTok video that has over 1.7 million views, Sharpe walks through an IKEA Marketplace as he explains how the late IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad struggled with memorizing numbers for item codes because he was dyslexic.
“So to solve this problem, he decided to use a name code,” explained Sharpe. “Since all the names of the products were already known to Ingvar, he could easily visualize and memorize the products without any difficulty.”
Here’s the full video:
@dougiesharpe To simplify its inventory processing across it’s massive empire IKEA uses the Swedish name for all its products regardless of the country the store is operating in. But the reason this system was developed was due to IKEA’s founder Ingvar Kamprad being dyslexic and not being able to remember numerical codes. All the product names also mean something in Swedish and product namers follow strict guidelines when naming new products. @ikea #ikea #productname #funfact #funfacts #ikeafact #ikeatiktok #ikeatok #fact #facts #ikeaname #etymology #coolfact #coolfacts #facttok #facttiktok #edutok #swedish #swedishlanguage #ingvardkamprad #ikeaproducts #ikeastore #ikealife ♬ original sound – dougiesharpe
And the naming system is rather simple: bathroom items get their names from Swedish lakes or bodies of water, while bowls, vases, candles, and candleholders are named after places in Sweden, adjectives, spices, herbs, fruits, or berries.
Textiles and soft furnishings are named after Scandinavian girls’ names and lighting products get their names from Swedish measurements, seasons, months, and days, as well as shipping and nautical terms.
These days, there’s a team in charge of naming IKEA products using Kamprad’s system.
“The database of Swedish words is regularly culled for words that may have offensive meanings in other languages but mistakes do happen,” said Sharpe.
Some unfortunate product names that have made it to the market include the Fartyg ceiling light and the polka dot Stenklover duvet set.
IKEA product names have become so popular that last summer, the company even released a catalogue of baby names.
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