Nikon, as the brand known today, began as Nippon Kogaku K.K. (Japan Optical Industries Co., Ltd., 日本光学) on July 25, 1917 in Tokyo, and started the domestic production of optical instruments such as rangefinders and microscopes.
NIKKOR
The company produced its first photographic lens in 1929, the Anytar 12cm F4.5. The name "NIKKOR" was registered as a trademark in December 1932 as combining the "NIKKO" abbreviation of the "Nippon Kougaku" company name with the letter "R" which often used as a suffix for photographic lens names at the time. NIKKOR also supplied their Nikkor 5cm f/3.5 for Canon Hansa in 1936.
NIKON
In 1946, the company wanted to have a name for their compact camera, thus picked "Nikkorette", which "rette" meaned small-sized. However, since "Nikkorette" was harder to be pronounced, finally they used the original Nikko and added an N to the end to create the official name of the camera Nikon.
Another rumor was, the Nikon name was the combination of "N" as Nippon and "Ikon" from "Zeiss Ikon", marked it as the Japanese version of Ikon.
Following the completion of the blueprint of the first Nikon camera in September 1946, Nikon Model I was officially launched in March 1948. This marked the beginning of the Nikon camera regime and its continuous development and success.
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