Etymology of Company names:

Coca-Cola — derived from the coca leaves and kola nuts used as flavoring. Coca-Cola creator John S. Pemberton changed the 'K' of kola to 'C' to make the name look better.
Apple — For the favourite fruit of co-founder Steve Jobs and for the time he worked at an apple orchard
Pepsi — named from the digestive enzyme pepsin.
Nike — named for the Greek goddess of victory.
Nokia — started as a wood-pulp mill, the company expanded into producing rubber products in the Finnish city of Nokia. The company later adopted the city's name. Colgate-Palmolive — formed from a merger of soap manufacturers Colgate & Company and Palmolive-Peet. Peet was dropped in 1953. Colgate was named after William Colgate, an English immigrant, who set up a starch, soap and candle business in New York City in 1806. Palmolive was named for the two oils (Palm and Olive) used in its manufacture.
Starbucks — named after Starbuck, a character in Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick
Sharp — Japanese consumer electronics company named from its first product, an ever-sharp pencil
LG — from the combination of two popular Korean brands, Lucky and Goldstar.
Google — a deliberate misspelling of the word googol, reflecting the company's mission to organize the immense amount of information available online.

Company names from the founders:
Adidas — from the name of the founder Adolf (Adi) Dassler.
Honda — from the name of its founder, Soichiro Honda
Nestlé — named after its founder, Henri Nestlé, who was born in Germany under the name "Nestle", which is German for "bird's nest". The company logo is a bird's nest with a mother bird and two chicks.
HP — Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett.
Toyota — from the name of the founder, Sakichi Toyoda.
Dell — named after its founder, Michael Dell. The company changed its name from Dell Computer in 2003.
Suzuki — from the name of its founder, Michio Suzuki.
Boeing — named after founder William E. Boeing. It was originally called Pacific Aero Products Co.
Ferrari — from the name of its founder, Enzo Ferrari.
McDonald's — from the name of the brothers Dick McDonald and Mac McDonald, who founded the first McDonald's restaurant in 1940.
Ford Motor Company — named after its founder, Henry Ford,
Porsche — car company named after Ferry Porsche, son of the founder Ferdinand Porsche, an Austrian automotive engineer.
Daewoo — company founder Kim Woo Chong called it Daewoo which means "Great House" or "Great Universe" in Korean.
DHL — named after its founders, Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom, and Robert Lynn.
Wal-Mart — named after founder Sam Walton

Abbreviation:
3M — from the company's original name, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company.
3Com — Network technology producer; the three coms are computer, communication, and compatibility.
BP — formerly British Petroleum, now BP
JVC — Japan Victor Company
AT&T — the American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation officially changed its name to AT&T in the 1990s.
KFC — short for Kentucky Fried Chicken. Recent commercials have tried to imply that the abbreviation stands for "Kitchen Fresh Chicken".
MRF — from Madras Rubber Factory, founded by K M Mammen Mappillai in 1946
HSBC — Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation
BenQ — Bringing Enjoyment and Quality to life
BMW — Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Factories).
ESPN — Entertainment and Sports Programmming Network
FCUK — French Connection United Kingdom.
Fiat — acronym of Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino
HMV Ltd — The company name stands for "His Masters Voice",
Vodafone — from Voice, Data, Telefone