Zebra

In 1897 Mr. Ishikawa, the founder of ZEBRA Co. Ltd. made and marketed the first domestically produced metal nibs. The ZEBRA trademark was adopted in 1914. Legend has it that Mr. Ishikawa wanted a company name that would be memorable and also appropriate for their export business to other countries. He took an English/Japanese dictionary and, opening it Japanese style from the back, started with the “Z” words. He stopped at “Zebra”.