TL;DR
- Nano Banana was a last-minute codename cooked up at 2:30 AM for the Gemini picture mannequin going reside on LMArena.
- The title comes from a Google Product Supervisor’s private nicknames, and the web beloved it.
- The branding caught, went viral, and now lives on as Nano Banana Professional.
When you’ve heard of or used AI picture mills, you’ve positively come throughout Google’s Nano Banana. Even if you happen to’re not into utilizing AI to create photographs, you’ve most likely seen Nano Banana’s work throughout social media. The picture mannequin is freakishly good at modifying and producing photographs, and we’re certain that, like us, you’ve all the time questioned what made Google title it Nano Banana. Now, we lastly have the total reply, and the story behind the delightfully foolish title.
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In line with an official weblog from Google DeepMind, Nano Banana was born out of a late-night scramble. In July final yr, the crew was speeding to submit the mannequin to LMArena, a public web site the place nameless AI fashions are examined and voted on by customers. The tech title was already locked in: Gemini 2.5 Flash Picture. What they didn’t have was a public-facing codename.
At round 2:30 AM, Product Supervisor Naina Raisinghani was pinged with an pressing request to provide you with one thing, something, and quick. She got here up with “Nano Banana.” Fully nonsensical, and immediately authorized.
The title is definitely a mash-up of her personal nicknames. Some mates name her “Naina Banana,” others name her “Nano” (she’s quick and loves computer systems), and the mannequin itself was a Flash variant. Put all of it collectively and the outcome… Nano Banana 🍌.
The mannequin quietly appeared on LMArena in early August, the place customers had been blown away by its modifying skills, and after they observed the title, the web went bananas. The combo of significant AI energy and a goofy codename helped make the mannequin viral, and pushed Nano Banana to the highest of the image-editing rankings worldwide.
Google says one other huge purpose for its success was accessibility. The mannequin launched globally on day one, and even after launch, the nickname refused to die. Google determined to decide to it totally, with the yellow run buttons in AI Studio, banana emojis within the Gemini app, limited-edition banana swag, and the works. And now that Gemini 3 Professional Picture is right here, it’s getting the identical remedy with a brand new title: Nano Banana Professional.
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