By far the most frequently asked question when I talk to people about Bambora is ‘So where did the name come from’. Sure we can talk all about the cool features were working on, but people really want to know what’s up with the name and does it mean anything?

Well here’s the real story. (I’m reserving the right to make-up a more exciting story later) We had three criteria for a name, it had to be catchy, easy to say and spell, and the URL had to be available.

As a team we tossed around lots of ideas, eventually I ran across the Australian surfing term ‘Bombora’. Sounds good, and it has a ring to it. (Personal note: I have a thing for surfing, growing up in Salt Lake City I spent winters snow boarding every chance I could get. When we weren’t up in the hills riding, my friends and I spent a lot of time watching surf films like The Endless Summer and North Shore and when we got back out on the mountain snowboarding we tried to act and talk just like people in the films).

From Riptionary the surf lingo lexicon:

Bombora

‘Australian for big wave that break farther away from shore. Synonym: Bombie, Cloudbreak.’

It sounded great, but do we really want ‘bomb’ in our name? This and the fact that bombora.com was already taken, sent this name packing.

Before long the suggestion was made that we drop the ‘o’ and add an ‘a’, making it ‘Bambora’

It met the criteria and the rest as they say is history’

Now what does it mean? We’ll know that when the first beta rolls out!

(So I’m thinking about heading down to Costa Rica for surf school, does anyone have recommendations for a schooly visiting CR for the first time?)