What mythical figure is shown in the Starbucks logo?

The mythical figure shown in the Starbucks logo is a siren. Starbucks describes its emblem as a twin-tailed siren, a sea figure chosen to evoke the maritime history of coffee trading and the company’s Seattle origins.

The original Starbucks logo appeared in 1971 and used a detailed brown image of the two-tailed figure. Later redesigns simplified the artwork, changed the palette to green and white, and eventually removed the surrounding words so the figure could stand alone as the brand mark.

People commonly call the figure a mermaid, which is understandable because both are aquatic female figures in popular culture. In Starbucks branding, however, “siren” is the more precise name. The design is associated with Hans Christian Andersen’s broader tradition of mermaid imagery, but it is not a portrait of a specific historical person.