The convenience-store chain's name means two things: 1. It's the name of the area in Pennsylvania where the company's first dairy farm was located. 2. It's a Native American word for a Canada Goose (the one pictured in the company's logo).
Häagen-Dazs may sound Danish, but it's completely made up.
Reuben Mattus, a Jewish immigrant from Poland, named his ice-cream company Häagen-Dazs as a way to pay tribute to Denmark, according to an interview with the Jewish news publication Tablet Magazine. But the name doesn't actually mean anything.
“The only country which saved the Jews during World War II was Denmark, so I put together a totally fictitious Danish name and had it registered,” Mattus said. “Häagen-Dazs doesn’t mean a
nything. [But] it would attract attention, especially with the umlaut.”
