The family name associated with La-Z-Boy is Knabusch and Shoemaker, the surnames of cousins Edward Knabusch and Edwin Shoemaker.
The two Michigan cousins founded the company in 1927 after developing a reclining chair. Their early chair, known as the No. 1, helped establish the product category that later made La-Z-Boy famous. The brand name was introduced after a naming contest in the late 1920s.
La-Z-Boy expanded from recliners into sofas, chairs and other upholstered furniture. Its reclining mechanism became the company’s defining feature, while licensed and independent furniture retailers carried products across many markets.
La-Z-Boy is sometimes mistaken for a generic term for any recliner. It is a trademarked brand name and the corporate name of the furniture company founded by the two cousins.