What was the original company name of Sony when it was founded in Tokyo in 1946?

Sony was founded in 1946 as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, meaning Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation.

Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita established the company in Tokyo shortly after the Second World War. It began in a bomb-damaged department-store building and initially repaired radios and developed electronic equipment. The founders wanted a name that represented engineering and communications rather than a single product.

The company changed its name to Sony Corporation in 1958. “Sony” was chosen as a short, internationally usable brand name, combining associations with sound and the Latin word “sonus.” The change helped signal the company’s ambition to sell products beyond Japan.

Sony’s early consumer successes included transistor radios, and it later became prominent in televisions, audio equipment, cameras, game consoles, and recorded entertainment. A common mix-up is treating Sony as the company’s original name; it was adopted twelve years after the business began.