Looks like the origin of OREO is a mystery.
Have you seen the OREO ad where they are sitting around the table trying to come up with a name for the cookie? On guy has his mouth stuffed with cookies and they ask his opinion.
With his mouth full of cookie he replies “I don’t know” but it comes out “OREO”.
From the web:
From http://history1900s.about.com/library/weekly/aa083101a.htm
The Mysterious Name
So how did the Oreo get its name? The people at Nabisco aren’t quite sure. Some believe that the cookie’s name was taken from the French word for gold, “or” (the main color on early Oreo packages). Others claim the name stemmed from the shape of a hill-shaped test version; thus naming the cookie in Greek for mountain, “oreo.” Still others believe the name is a combination of taking the “re” from “cream” and placing it between the two "o"s in “chocolate” - making “o-re-o.” And still others believe that the cookie was named Oreo because it was short and easy to pronounce.
From http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/12.23.99/oreo-9951.html
THE NOBLE OREO–as illustrious and recognizable a brand name as are Lifesavers and Spam–is consumed at the rate of 9.1 billion cookies per year. Like Spam, the origin of the Oreo’s peculiar name has been the subject of endless speculation. (Spam, in fact, is a conflation of the words spice and ham). According to Nabisco historians, the Oreo was not named after the Greek word oreo, meaning “mountain.” Nabisco’s pride and joy was named by taking the “re” out of cream and squishing it, sandwich-style, between the two “o’s” from the word chocolate.
From http://www.albany.net/~lauralee/namescut.htm
Doone, Lorna
Lorna Doone cookies were named for the 1869 Richard Doddridge Blackmore novel of the same name. The National Biscuit Company- Nabisco for short- introduced the cookies in 1912, the same year it released another cookie, the Oreo. As ubiquitous as Oreos have become, modern day consumers might suspect that Hydrox cookies were created to imitate them. In fact, the opposite is true. The Oreo was Nabisco’s answer to the Hydrox “biscuit bonbon” which was introduced in 1910. The Oreo biscuit was designed by William Turner, who stayed with Nabisco until his retirement in 1973. And where did the name Oreo come from? There are several theories. The first is that the company used “RE” from the word creme and sandwiched it between two "O"s which either came from the shape of the cookie, or from the word “chocolate.” Or, the name might have come from the French word “OR”, meaning “gold,” a color used in the early packaging. Finally, some say the word comes from a Greek word, “Oreo”, which means mountain. The idea here is that the first Oreos may have been hill shaped. If it seems surprising that no one knows for sure, remember that the Oreo was one of many new products launched that year. Two other new cookies were Mother Goose and Veronese biscuits. No one knew then which product would be the best seller. In fact, Oreo was listed third in a company memo about the new cookies coming out in April 1912. The Oreo biscuit was described as “two beautifully embossed, chocolate-flavored wafers with a rich cream filling.” The other offerings were described as “rich, high class” and “delicious.” Nabisco estimates it has manufactured more than 200 billion Oreos since then. Trivia question for cookie fans: What was the name of The National Biscuit Company’s first product? A: It was called Uneeda Biscuit and was introduced in 1898.
Did you know word "cookie’’ is of Dutch origin and comes from koekje, which means little cake?
