Google Turns a Year Older: The Sept. 27 Birthday Mystery, Its Original Name, and the Hardest Doodle Game Ever

It's official: Google is celebrating its 27th birthday today, 27 September, complete with a nostalgic Doodle that revives the search giant's very first logo from 1998. Millions of users around the world will no doubt join in the celebrations. Yet here's the twist: 27 September isn't actually Google's real birthday at all.

The Birthday That Isn't Really a Birthday

The company was incorporated on 4 September 1998, when co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, then PhD students at Stanford, formally registered Google Inc. The idea had been sparked weeks earlier when Sun Microsystems co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim famously wrote them a $100,000 cheque on the spot after a quick demo. That cheque effectively brought Google to life.

So why does the internet giant blow out its candles on 27 September instead? The answer lies in a bit of corporate myth-making. In the early 2000s Google toyed with several September dates before settling on 27 September in 2006. The date marked a key milestone in web indexing, a breakthrough that cemented Google's position as the world's leading search engine.

Its Original Name

Before it was 'Google', the search engine had a far less catchy name: 'Backrub'. Page and Brin originally used the moniker in 1996 while tinkering with a system to rank web pages by their backlinks. The following year, they rebranded with a more ambitious title inspired by the mathematical term 'googol' (the number one followed by 100 zeros). The new name captured their lofty mission — to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.

That transformation from an awkward lab project to a household verb ('just Google it') shows the duo's instinct for branding — something that still defines the company's public face nearly three decades later.

A Shift to Global Powerhouse

Fast forward 27 years, and Google has evolved from a Menlo Park garage into a digital empire. Under parent company Alphabet Inc., founded in 2015, the firm now manages Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps, Android, Pixel hardware, and cutting-edge AI like Gemini. Co-founders Page and Brin have stepped back from daily duties, but they still hold voting power through special shares. The leadership baton is now firmly in the hands of Sundar Pichai, who oversees both Alphabet and Google.

Despite its enormous growth, Google still leans into its whimsical side every year with its trademark Doodles — playful logos and interactive games that celebrate anniversaries, cultural moments, and global icons.

The Hardest Google Doodle Game Ever

Over the years, Google has kept fans hooked with its interactive Doodles, but some stand out for their difficulty. Among them, the 2012 Olympic-themed 'Google Doodle Soccer' (also called 'Kick with Chrome') remains infamous. The deceptively simple game challenged players to score goals under increasing pressure, with faster goalkeepers and trickier angles pushing reflexes to the limit.

Another contender is the 2016 'Halloween Doodle', a multiplayer game where ghostly players raced to capture spirits. It demanded lightning-fast reactions and clever strategies, quickly earning a reputation as one of the most intense Doodles ever released.

Which is truly the hardest? That depends on who you ask — but one thing is clear: Google's playful creations have become just as iconic as its search bar.