Originally Posted by
dayone
Exxon was originally planned to be Exon, a derivation of SONJ's geographically-restricted trademarked brands of Esso and Enco. The second "x" was added to ensure uniqueness.
Both Esso and Enco were abbreviations for actual company names, unlike Exxon. "Exon" was suggested by an outside branding consulting organization retained by SONJ for that purpose, and is unrelated to any of the predecessor companies. The second "x" was added later for differentiation because the Governor of Nebraska at the time was James Exon.
I actually remember all of this. My father gave me one share of SONJ for my 7th or 8th birthday, and I used to follow the company meticulously.