The LEGO Group adopted the name LEGO in 1934.
The name was derived from the Danish phrase “leg godt,” meaning “play well.” The word also happens to resemble the Latin verb “lego,” which can mean “I put together” or “I assemble,” although that Latin meaning was not the original reason for choosing the name.
The company had been founded two years earlier by Ole Kirk Christiansen as a woodworking and toy business. Its early products were mainly wooden toys, long before the familiar plastic brick became its signature product.
People sometimes assume LEGO was named directly after the Latin word, but the company’s own origin story identifies the Danish phrase as the source.