Laurent Maguire
Kyanos?
Since the launch of Kyanmedia, our choice of company name has, for one reason or another, aroused great interest. I am frequently asked where the name comes from, and why we chose it. Having recited the story many times over the past five years, I thought that I would post the definitive account here, in the Kyanmedia blog, for anyone who cares to know.
Whenever I’m asked “So, why Kyanmedia?”, I usually sigh, then begin with “It was Piers who came up with the name, and it derives from the Ancient Greek word kyanos.”
The Ancient Greeks didn’t have a particular word for blue, but they used the word kyanos to denote the colour ‘dark blue’. The modern Greek word cyan is the name for a number of colours covering the blue – green aspect of the colour spectrum.
While it was the Ancient Greeks that inspired the name of our company, I have done a little background research and found some other barers of the ‘Kyan’ name.
The most famous person I can find called Kyan is Chotoku Kyan . Kyan was a Japanese Karate master born in 1870, who became famous for his Karate skills, as well as his colourful private life. Interesting parts of his Wikipedia profile include:
“A fan of cockfighting, Kyan apparently was able to cut his way though
a hostile mob one-handed, without having to put down his pet rooster.”
and….
“It is also believed that Kyan taught his students that hard drinking
and hiring prostitutes was an essential part of martial arts training.”
Honestly, I’m not making this up! Other Kyans that I came across include:
John Howard Kyan who, in 1832, invented a new process of preserving wood which now bares his name – Kyanising .
And, Kyanite is a blue crystalline mineral that’s used primarily in ceramic products .
For us, it was about starting something fresh and new, and Kyanmedia just seemed to fit.
Oh, and we have now dropped the media, so it’s just Kyan now.
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