Nike's first full-time employee had a dream hours before they filed a patent in 1971, and it saved t
Nike almost had a very different brand name.
Knight described the incident in his 2016 memoir, "Shoe Dog." The team had spent weeks pitching names, and Knight's preference was for a brand name his employees had told him was "unspeakably bad": Dimension Six.
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Then, the morning the patent was due, Knight's coworker Jeff Johnson submitted a final suggestion that had come to him in a dream: Nike, spelled N-I-K-E.
In the end, it came down to three options: Nike, Falcon, or Dimension Six.
"Johnson had pointed out that seemingly all iconic brands Clorox, Kleenex, Xerox have short names," wrote Knight. "Two syllables or less. And they always have a strong sound in the name, a letter like 'K' or 'X,' that sticks in the mind. That all made sense. And that all described Nike."
"Maybe it'll grow on us," wrote Knight, after selecting the now-iconic name.
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In his memoir, Knight describes Johnson as "Full-Time Employee Number One." The company's first salesman, Johnson also opened the first storefront in California and later manned operations on the East Coast. Johnson worked for Nike for a total of 18 years .
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