Yahoo: From Academic Project to Internet Giant Yahoo, a name initially conceived as a backronym for "Yet Another Hierarchically Organized Oracle," or alternatively, "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle," reflects its origins as a database organized in layered subcategories. The "oracle" descriptor aimed to signify its role as a reliable source of information. The term "officious," however, wasn't intended in its conventional sense but rather alluded to its use by office workers accessing the database during work hours. Interestingly, founders Jerry Yang and David Filo have emphasized their preference for the slang definition prevalent among Louisiana college students during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In this context, "yahoo" denoted a "rude, unsophisticated, uncouth" individual - a meaning derived from the Yahoos, the fictional race of beings in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. This choice of name, therefore, presented a deliberate contrast between the database's sophisticated function and the playful, informal connotation of its title. The company's evolution from a simple database to a major internet player further underscores this intriguing origin story.