Kellogg

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A well-known brand primarily associated with breakfast cereals and related food products; also the surname of a prominent American businessman who founded the company; a name recognized in the food industry for convenience and nutrition
2. A trademark linked to a major global producer of cereals and snack foods; an English surname of a notable entrepreneur famous for pioneering breakfast cereal production; a term synonymous with packaged breakfast items and morning nutrition
3. The designation of a leading manufacturer in processed foods, especially cereals; an English family name historically tied to innovation in food marketing; a household name representing quick and ready-to-eat morning meals

Etymology: Kellogg is a surname with two very different roots, and the one that matters most for the cereal company is the older Irish one. It was anglicized from the Irish "Ó Ceallaigh," meaning "descendant of Ceallach," the same name that gave English the surnames Kelly and Callahan. Kellogg is therefore a doublet of those names: one Gaelic name that split into several spellings as it was written down in English. A separate English origin also exists. As a nickname it was given to a butcher, from the phrase "kill hog," so a family of that name may have descended from a slaughterer of pigs rather than from an Irish clan. The two sources converged in the same spelling, which is why the surname looks like a single English word even though it can have more than one ancestry.