--- description: Ever wonder why certain companies have changed their names? title: A Brief History of Company Name Changes image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3448156e9f6810d4/69869b57e8524b857e603d73/isis.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Companies](/tag/companies/) ## Companies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # A Brief History of Company Name Changes by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 11, 2014 12:46 AM CUT  by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 11, 2014 12:46 AM CUT Mobile payment app Isis decided to change its name this week so as not to be confused with the Iraqi militant group ISIS (which stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). This isn’t the first time a business has switched up its identity in hopes of conjuring more favorable connotations. Airtran, KFC and Netflix have a history of changing their names too. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2974396/a-brief-history-of-company-name-changes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2974396/a-brief-history-of-company-name-changes/"},"headline":"A Brief History of Company Name Changes","datePublished":"2014-07-11T00:46:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:02:45.077Z","description":"Ever wonder why certain companies have changed their names?","url":"https://time.com/2974396/a-brief-history-of-company-name-changes/","keywords":["Companies","Tech"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3448156e9f6810d4/69869b57e8524b857e603d73/isis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3448156e9f6810d4/69869b57e8524b857e603d73/isis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"ISIS","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/companies/","name":"Companies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2974396/a-brief-history-of-company-name-changes/","name":"A Brief History of Company Name Changes"}}]}] ```