A: Coco Chanel chose the fifth fragrance that perfumier Ernest Beaux produced for her. The official? launch date was 5/5/1921.
Source: Marie Claire
Q: Heinz famously boasts its "57 varieties" even though it produces thousands of different products — why?
A: It's because Henry Heinz considered 57 a lucky number. Heinz was already producing more than 60 products when it began using the "57 varieties" slogan.
Source: Heinz
A: The car was originally going to be called the Porsche 901, but Peugeot forced a name change. Peuegot claimed it had naming rights to a three-digit model number with a 0 in the middle of it. Porsche simply replaced the 0 with a 1.
Source: Wikipedia
A: Britvic, which distributes 7UP in the UK and Ireland, claims the brand was named after the seven main ingredients in the drink. The drink was originally created in 1929 after CL Grigg won a competition in the US to find the tastiest lemon and lime drink. But his original name for it — Bib-label Lithiated Lemon Lime Soda — was a little hard to pronounce.
Source: Britvic
A: The corporation is named "Six Flags over Texas," which references the six nations that have had sovereignty over the state: France, Mexico, Spain, the Republic of Texas, Confederate States of America, and the USA.
A: After World War II ended, the military airplane manufacturer divided its engineering departments into different, numbered divisions: 300s and 400s for aircraft, 500s for turbine engines, 600s for rockets and missiles, and 700s for jet aircraft transportation.
Source: Boeing
A: Only Jack knows! A fire destroyed any records that would have proved one theory that the number seven was applied to Jack Daniel's distillery for government registration, or if it was his lucky number, or he had seven girlfriends, or if it was the number seven train that carried his whiskey.
Source: Jack Daniel's
A: The Levi's company was officially incorporated in 1890, and it was also the year its XX (XX was industry term meaning high quality) copper-riveted pant was given the patent lot number "501." Levi Strauss & Co. admits itself that it doesn't know why this number was chosen. The company also made a 201 jean — a less expensive version of the pants — as well as other products using other three-digit numbers.
Source: Levi Strauss & Co.
A: The acronym stands for Water Displacement 40th Formula. It was developed in the 1950s to prevent the Atlas space rocket from corroding, but the chemists were only successful on their 40th attempt.
Source: WD-40
A: OK, this was an easy one. When 7-Eleven opened its first store in 1946, the name referenced its opening times. Now, the majority of 7-Eleven stores are open 24 hours a day.
Source: 7-Eleven
A: One theory suggests that in a bid to appeal to the Italian ex-pats at the center of the UK ice cream industry, Cadbury named its flake after the Italian monarchy's elite guard of 99 soldiers. But BBC Two program "Balderdash and Piffle" found that the myth actually referred to the Vatican's Swiss Guard, which traditionally had 105 members.
Source: BBC
A: 3M was originally called the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. It started out harvesting corundum at Crystal Bay mine, but pivoted the business when it was discovered conundum supplies in the mine were limited.
Source: 3M