The name LEGO comes from the Danish words 'leg godt,' which mean 'play well.'

Ole Kirk Christiansen was a carpenter in Billund, Denmark. He started making wooden toys during the Great Depression. In 1934, he held a contest among his staff to name the company. He eventually chose the name himself by shortening the phrase 'leg godt.'The company officially trademarked the name in 1936. At the time, the business only produced wooden items like yo-yos and trucks. The first plastic bricks did not appear until 1949. These early bricks were called Automatic Binding Bricks.The company later learned that 'lego' means 'I study' or 'I put together' in Latin. This was a complete accident. Christiansen did not know Latin when he picked the name. The Danish meaning remains the official origin.By 1953, the company began stamping the LEGO name onto every plastic brick. This helped people identify their products. Today, the LEGO Group is still owned by the Christiansen family. The name has not changed in over 90 years.