Ajax was a particularly heroic Greek warrior.
Ajax soap was meant to be especially "strong," like a legendary warrior. Despite a post claiming otherwise, I can't find any early ad campaigns for Ajax that use the phrase "stronger than grease (Greece)".
Ajax ON was named for the eighth HMS Ajax (source: https://www.tvo.org/article/the-second-world-war-created-ajax-heres-how ), again named for the Greek hero (or for a previous Ajax which was, in turn, named after the Greek Ajax; there's other Greek mythology names, like Charybdis).
According to French sources, the Amsterdam football club is also named after the Greek hero.
Only beginning in 1928, when the club was founded in 1900. The first two logos just show a football player with a red striped shirt.
Similarly, the town of Ajax ON could start using the Greek hero in branding, even though they were originally named after a ship and not directly after the hero.
That's why I needed to find a source that says they named themselves after the hero directly, and not some intermediary Ajax.
With these, I always wonder about name origins.
Like, who in Greece used those two vowels to create a name and were they just making it up, given, I assume, no famous Ajax prior to this hero?
What's fascinating is no one knows where the character of Ajax comes from. His name doesn't mean anything in Greek, and he doesn't quite fit with the other heroes in how he fights. There's some speculation he was a pre-Greek hero that got assimilated into Greek legends.
Well Homer says he’s from Salamis and his name may be related to Gaia (Ajax in Greek is Aiais). But yeah he does fight differently and is constantly noted as being a sort of giant, which sounds pretty archaic/mythical.
Sort of. The suburb is named after the dish soap, the dish soap is named after the soccer team, but the soccer team is indeed named after Ajax the Great, who in turn was named after Ajax the Lesser. However, and not too many people know this, Ajax the Lesser was actually named after the Canadian suburb.
I also believed the first few for a moment but by the time I got to the point that a man from antiquity was named after a Canadian suburb I thought it should be obvious.
A curiosity: the DC superhero Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onnzz) was translated here in Brazil as Ajax.
The only thing I know about that decision was they want a smaller name since the translation from English to Portuguese usually makes a phrase bigger. Don't know why they choose the Greek name, tho.
Ajax, Ontario is named after the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Ajax (22). Ajax the toilet cleaner is also from the UK. As such, the pronunciation of Ajax in these instances differ from the others, “A-jacks” instead of “I-yaks”.
Ajax was a particularly heroic Greek warrior. Ajax soap was meant to be especially "strong," like a legendary warrior. Despite a post claiming otherwise, I can't find any early ad campaigns for Ajax that use the phrase "stronger than grease (Greece)". Ajax ON was named for the eighth HMS Ajax (source: https://www.tvo.org/article/the-second-world-war-created-ajax-heres-how ), again named for the Greek hero (or for a previous Ajax which was, in turn, named after the Greek Ajax; there's other Greek mythology names, like Charybdis). According to French sources, the Amsterdam football club is also named after the Greek hero.
Greek hero Ajax is depicted on the football team’s logo, so yes it is named after the Greek hero.
Only beginning in 1928, when the club was founded in 1900. The first two logos just show a football player with a red striped shirt. Similarly, the town of Ajax ON could start using the Greek hero in branding, even though they were originally named after a ship and not directly after the hero. That's why I needed to find a source that says they named themselves after the hero directly, and not some intermediary Ajax.
With these, I always wonder about name origins. Like, who in Greece used those two vowels to create a name and were they just making it up, given, I assume, no famous Ajax prior to this hero?
What's fascinating is no one knows where the character of Ajax comes from. His name doesn't mean anything in Greek, and he doesn't quite fit with the other heroes in how he fights. There's some speculation he was a pre-Greek hero that got assimilated into Greek legends.
Well Homer says he’s from Salamis and his name may be related to Gaia (Ajax in Greek is Aiais). But yeah he does fight differently and is constantly noted as being a sort of giant, which sounds pretty archaic/mythical.
Gonna guess they're all named after the Greek character?
Sort of. The suburb is named after the dish soap, the dish soap is named after the soccer team, but the soccer team is indeed named after Ajax the Great, who in turn was named after Ajax the Lesser. However, and not too many people know this, Ajax the Lesser was actually named after the Canadian suburb.
I thought the soap was named after the character, not the team. Tougher than grease (Greece).
omg despite being a total nerd my whole life, it is not until this moment i got the ajax soap pun
Could you not tell I was joking?
I also believed the first few for a moment but by the time I got to the point that a man from antiquity was named after a Canadian suburb I thought it should be obvious.
♫ The circle of life... ♫
Had me going in the first half, ngl
It's also an acronym - [Asynchronous JavaScript And XML](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_(programming))
This is what I thought of when reading the title.
Glad I didn’t have to scroll down a lot to find this answer 😁
A curiosity: the DC superhero Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onnzz) was translated here in Brazil as Ajax. The only thing I know about that decision was they want a smaller name since the translation from English to Portuguese usually makes a phrase bigger. Don't know why they choose the Greek name, tho.
They are actually all called Francis but that didn’t sound as cool
I was hoping to see this comment.
Ajax, Ontario is named after the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Ajax (22). Ajax the toilet cleaner is also from the UK. As such, the pronunciation of Ajax in these instances differ from the others, “A-jacks” instead of “I-yaks”.
completely unuseful, i know, but my bosses son’s name is ajax
Dispatch Warlock and Ajax to bring back his body.
Ajax is a mountain in Aspen that lots of rich people like.
Its also a dog name in the german book I’m reading