Leibniz-Keks is named after which philosopher and mathematician?

Leibniz-Keks is named after the philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.

Leibniz lived from 1646 to 1716 and was one of Europe’s major thinkers. The Bahlsen company, based in Hanover, named its biscuit after him because he was one of the city’s most famous historical residents. The naming reflects a period when food products were often given the names of celebrated cultural figures.

Bahlsen introduced Leibniz-Keks in 1891 as a German answer to the French Petit-Beurre biscuit, which had been created by Lefèvre-Utile in 1886. The original product is a plain butter biscuit, known in German as a Butterkeks, with a rectangular shape and a distinctive toothed edge.

The name does not indicate that Leibniz invented or designed the biscuit. Another linguistic curiosity is “Keks”: Bahlsen originally used the English word “cakes,” but German consumers pronounced it awkwardly. The altered form eventually became a general German word for biscuits or cookies.