The Story of How Allium Got Its Name

Ava Poole
Ava Poole
July 15, 2024
The Story of How Allium Got Its Name

The Allium Origin Story Explained

The idea for Allium came in 2022, with our CEO Ethan & CTO Cheng Han deciding they found the problem of indexing the world’s blockchain data & navigating all its layers really interesting.

So they founded a company called Allium. 

Sometimes people ask:

 “What does Allium mean?”

 “How is it pronounced?”

Every now and then, someone will believe Allium is named after a metal or chemical element: Helium, Lithium, Beryllium, the list goes on.

Yet actually, Allium (Al-lee-um) references a type of onion!
To be precise, the definition of an allium is a bulbous plant of a genus that includes the onion and its relatives (e.g. garlic, leek, and chives).

When Ethan & Cheng Han founded Allium, their vision was to sort through all the layers of blockchain, so naturally they brainstormed many types of organic & inorganic objects with layers. 

Lapis.

Spiders, graphene layers, communities, fractals… 

Before landing on onion!

But Onion isn’t the most appetizing name for a financial data provider. 

So, after a little more brainstorming, Allium was born. 

Fast Forward to Today


Two years later, it's become a rite of passage for new Alliumites to ask "Sooo... how did Allium get its name?" whilst receiving their badge of honor (Allium merch).

Two years later, our game is still all about layers.

One of our newest Allliumites (me!) receiving her Allium T-Shirt from senior engineers Ricardo & Claudia!

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