Where did the name Xero come from?

We had a question from customer care today regarding how we got the name Xero.

I often tell this story during events, but may as well tell the world.

Firstly we really wanted a great name. If we are going to be a global player we wanted a name that stood next to SAP, IBM etc.  But it is really tough because you have to have a great web address as well.

We thought it would be impossible to get a great 3 letter domain name, but were really keen on 4 letters. It had to be a ‘.com’. Some of the early names we looked was Accounting 2.0, Basecount, Pacioli (the inventor of double entry accounting), etc etc.  Not great names.

A friend of mine Dot Johnstone is great at finding names so we engaged her to help us out.  It’s unlikely you’ll be able to just get a great domain name.  Most are taken and parked so you have to negotiate for them.

Dot thought of Zero, but when we approached the domain holder the numbers they wanted were ridiculous.  She then thought of Xero. We just immediately liked it.

Xero.com was used by an designer in New York. We made contact, had a good discussion and negotiation and got the domain for a reasonable price for both parties. (Thank you!)

Later we found out that Xero was a comic book character, so my google alerts often come back with unusual results.

Doing some further research on the other Xero superhero turned up this …

Xero, about a superpowered government agent who was a black man who wore a mask to appear as a white man while working as Xero, was a short-lived comic series from DC in 1997. Christopher Priest (who owned the character) and ChrisCross were the creative team.

Hope that answers the question.