Have you ever wondered how we ended up with the name “Parse.ly”? Do we really like herbs? Or puns? We’ve heard people delight in the name Parse.ly, though on occasion it has also been a source of confusion (Parsely? Parse.Ly?). Even if you’ve never given it much thought, we wanted to set the record straight.

We went directly to the source: Co-Founders Sachin Kamdar and Andrew Montalenti.

“The company was originally called Cog Tree,” but according to Kamdar, “no one liked it.”

So they went looking for something that they liked, and they wanted a name that spoke to what the company was doing.

During conversations about the work they were doing, the word “parse” came up often. They were parsing data, parsing news, parsing content. “We liked the word ‘parse’ because we’re geeks,” said Montalenti, “and it’s a word that means coming to an understanding of some piece of content, or some piece of text.”

Plus, the association with the familiar plant didn’t hurt. “Parsley is an herb. It’s fresh. Our product is fresh,” said Kamdar.

And yes, there is a fondness for puns in the Parse.ly office. “Since we have a dashboard,” explained Kamdar, “we hear a lot of, ‘A dash of Parse.ly’.” Another favorite? “Fresh insights!”

Is it a little quirky? Maybe. But according to Kenny Eliason, CEO of branding firm NeonBrand, in this AdWeek article: “it helps if the quirky name is also somewhat related to what they’re doing.”

We think that’s pretty spot on.