Where did the Name Bluetooth Come From

Dr. Santanu Bhattacharya
2 min readApr 7, 2023

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Today the word “Bluetooth” is ubiquitous in the way we communicate between electronic devices. A large percentage of the world’s population owns at least a Bluetooth device, starting with humble headsets. Did you ever wonder where the name came from?

The name has Viking origins from the king Harald Haraldr Blátǫnn (Bluetooth in Nordic) Gormsson. He is known for unifying Denmark & Norway, similar to how Bluetooth today unifies different devices to communicate. The Bluetooth logo is a combination of Nordic letters for his initials-H.B.

Left: King Harald Haraldr Blátǫnn (Bluetooth in Nordic) Gormsson. Right: The Bluetooth logo is a combination of the Nordic letters of the Viking King’s Initials, H.B.
Left: King Harald Haraldr Blátǫnn (Bluetooth in Nordic) Gormsson. Right: The Bluetooth logo is a combination of the Nordic letters of the Viking King’s Initials, H.B.

Harald was the son of King Gorm the Old and of Thyra Dannebod. Harald ruled as king of Denmark from c. 958 — c. 986. Harald introduced Christianity to Denmark and consolidated his rule over most of the Jutland and Zealand, regions of Denmark. Harald also ruled as the king of Norway following the assassination of King Harald Greycloak of Norway until he was likely deposed by his successor.

Photo: Harald being baptized by Poppo the monk, in a relief dated to c. 1200. Source: Wikipedia

There is a debate about how he got his nickname. It is said that he enjoyed eating blueberries, which caused his teeth to turn blue, or that he had a dead tooth that had a dark blue/ gray color.

It’s quite exciting when mundane objects that are thought to be quite ordinary can have an eventful past associated with them. Rather than overlooking these aspects, a bit of curiosity goes a long way!

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Dr. Santanu Bhattacharya
Dr. Santanu Bhattacharya

Written by Dr. Santanu Bhattacharya

Scientist at MIT Media Lab. Former Chief Technologist at NatWest, worked for NASA, Facebook & Airtel, built startups, and future settler for Mars & Tatooine

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