The Name Was Inspired by Moby-Dick
Who here knew that the name “Starbucks” refers to the first mate in Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick?” you know, that book you never finished in high school. Bowker (the writer of the trio) first suggested they name their new coffee place after the ship, the Pequod.
Source: The Economic Times
But the company avoided any ambiguous pee-themed nicknames and chose a different name. When the brand consultant (who also designed the logo) produced an old 1800s map, the name of a mining town, Starbos, which features in the book, stood out which led the brand consultant to think of the first mate on the Pequod — Starbuck.