Firefox Naming History

The cluster focuses on the historical origins and naming evolution of the Firefox browser, from Netscape to Mozilla Suite, Phoenix, Firebird, and Firefox, including trademark issues and branding distinctions between Mozilla and Firefox.

➡️ Stable 0.6x Open Source
2,050
Comments
20
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#3594
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2007
2
2008
17
2009
36
2010
46
2011
87
2012
67
2013
109
2014
114
2015
113
2016
99
2017
146
2018
118
2019
134
2020
145
2021
125
2022
141
2023
193
2024
167
2025
184
2026
7

Keywords

FF US spreadfirefox.org SpreadFirefox.com faq.htm CD mozilla.org FAQ HN USPTO firefox mozilla netscape browser phoenix logo red called fox web browser

Sample Comments

sangnoir Jun 20, 2016 View on HN

Mozilla mandates that you call it anything you like, but not "Firefox"

antimora Feb 7, 2011 View on HN

The author is probably referring to the earlier name Firebird (http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/firefox-name-faq.htm...). Firefox is still a part of Mozilla project.

jillesvangurp Nov 8, 2018 View on HN

Fun fact, Firefox used to be called phoenix. The rename happened over a trademark for another product called phoenix (a database if I recall correctly).

Notre1 May 20, 2021 View on HN

I think you proved his point. ;) He's talking about the Mozilla browser, the precursor to Firefox. (Well actually, Firefox was named Phoenix before it became Firefox.)

samclearman Dec 8, 2015 View on HN

Probably because Firefox is a well known brand and Mozilla isn't.

moonboots Mar 30, 2012 View on HN

The netscape rewrite became Firefox.

jjtheblunt Aug 20, 2019 View on HN

Mozilla is its offspring, isn't it?

rasz Aug 31, 2018 View on HN

Its more of a Firefox devs pretending they did it first.

deadowl Dec 8, 2015 View on HN

They're now favoring Firefox branding over Mozilla branding?

MiddleEndian Jan 2, 2019 View on HN

Firefox was born from Netscape, so maybe a similar jump is possible!