How Did Subaru Get Its Name?

What is the Meaning Behind Subaru and Its Logo?

While some logos have obvious meanings behind them, others are much more difficult to understand. Consider the Subaru logo. Why does it have stars? In fact, the badge doesn’t even really incorporate the brand name, so why are these stars so meaningful to the Subaru brand?

Another question worth asking is, why are there six stars in the Subaru logo? Why not five or seven? Well, thankfully, these questions aren’t as mysterious as they may initially seem. There are answers, as we will explore below.

Subaru Name Meaning

Let’s start by looking at the Subaru name, though. Subaru was started in 1953 when six companies in Japan formed Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. That is certainly a mouthful.

Even in Japanese it must have been a mouthful to pronounce as well, so to simply, they simply adopted the name Subaru. Subaru in Japanese means “unite.” Therefore, it’s a fitting name to represent the five companies that united to form one. 

Subaru Logo Meaning

But the Subaru name actually has a double meaning. Yes, it means “unite” in Japanese, but it is a name used to represent something else as well. This is where the logo comes from.

Located in the Taurus constellation is a cluster of stars. These stars are known as the Pleiades here in the United States. Over in Japan, however, they go by the name of Subaru. Therefore, it only makes sense that a company called Subaru would adopt this star cluster as its logo.

That being said, the logo isn’t a perfect representation of this star cluster. If you were to locate this collection of stars in the night sky, you would see that there are seven of them. So, why did Subaru adopt the name for the stars but not the accurate number of stars? As you might have already guessed, this is because they wanted each star to represent one of the six companies that originally combined to form Subaru.

[Learn more about the history of Subaru]

Subaru has an extensive and renowned history, and believe it or not, you can experience that history for yourself. By test driving today’s Subaru models, you are experiencing the work of engineers and designers from the past who helped Subaru get to where it is today. Schedule a test drive by calling us here at Subaru of Auburn.