Back in 1970 when we started making stuff the question came up: "What shall we call the company?" This was not a trivial question, as the founders were a diverse set of individuals with vastly varying degrees of sillilitude. The <not silly> one suggested varying combinations of the initials of the founders. (GM, RCA, and NV Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken were taken, so this didn't work out.) The <semi-silly> founder came up moniker-short and demurred. Our now-webmaster had a list of ten names, derived from science fiction stories, which were methodically and unequivocally rejected by the others. Finally, from a previous avocation, building digital clocks in the evening while actually working for a living, he suggested "Eventide Clockworks."
Five seconds of silence.
Glances.
Resignation.
Eventide Clockworks it was.
When we moved from our original home in New York City to our current factory in New Jersey, we dropped the "Clockworks."
Sproingggg.