What was the original name of the search engine "Google"?

The original name of the search engine Google was BackRub. This name was chosen because the search engine's initial algorithm analyzed the internet's "backlinks" to determine the importance and relevance of web pages. However, in 1997, Larry Page and Sergey Brin decided to rename their search engine to Google, which is a play on the word "googol" meaning a very large number, representing the vast amount of information that Google aimed to organize and make accessible to users. The name change to Google reflected the company's ambition and scalability beyond just analyzing backlinks.