Ikea names

IKEA (all caps, that's apparently important) has a certain... reputation?  Image?  I'm not entirely certain what to call it, but whatever it is, IKEA's definitely got it.  And what it is?  Is kind of silly.

Now, I should disclaim, I don't think there's any IKEA ware in our household.  I've certainly never shopped at an IKEA store, or ordered from their catalog.  I can't completely swear that this is also true for my wife, but I'm reasonably sure.  So I don't really have any opinion one way or another-- I really just haven't had to buy any furniture in the last, oh, dozen years or so, with the exception of a couple of Sauder bookshelves, which are sort of IKEA Lite.  Or IKEA LITE.  Anyway.

So what I've learned is that all of those names that have inspired such amusement actually have a rationale-- different categories of items have different types of names.  Bathroom fixtures, for example, are named after Scandinavian rivers and lakes, etc.  Beds and wardrobes are Norwegian place names.  Garden furniture are named after Swedish islands.  Bookcases are sort of split-- a bookcase "range" will have an occupation name, but an individual bookcase will probably have the name of a Swedish man (curtains have the names of Swedish women).  Supposedly, according to this short article from The Guardian a few years back, the founder of IKEA was dyslexic, and found common proper nouns easier to remember and recognize.