What was Ask.com originally known as?

Ask.com was originally known as Ask Jeeves. The service was created in 1996 by Garrett Gruener and David Warthen in Berkeley, California, and launched publicly as a question-and-answer-oriented search engine in 1997.

The name referred to Jeeves, the polished valet character associated with P. G. Wodehouse’s stories about Bertie Wooster. The branding suggested that users could ask questions in ordinary language and receive help from a knowledgeable digital butler, rather than entering only short keyword combinations.

Ask Jeeves became Ask.com after InterActiveCorp acquired Ask Jeeves in 2005. The “Jeeves” name was dropped from the main U.S. brand in 2006, although the character and name later returned in some regional marketing.

A common mix-up is confusing Ask Jeeves with Ask.fm. Ask Jeeves was the earlier search and answer service that became Ask.com; Ask.fm was a separate question-and-answer social network acquired much later.