It’s commonly said to refer to「運を天に任せる」or, as it’s often translated, “leave luck to heaven” but even Hiroshi Yamauchi, the great-grandson of the company’s founder, admitted that even he does not know the true meaning of the company’s name, saying that “to leave one’s luck to heaven” was a “plausible explanation”. The translation does not take into account the context of either syllables “nin” (任) or “ten” (天). “Do” (堂), however, is a common suffix which means “shrine” or “sanctuary and is frequently used by Japanese businesses that range from supermarkets to bookstores to add prestige to their name. As mentioned in the book - The History of Nintendo by Nintendo Dream, writers Gorges and Yamazaki, if one translates “nin” (任) as “let someone do,” the word “Nintendo” (任天堂) could then mean “the temple of free hanafuda” or “the company that is allowed to make (or sell) hanafuda”.More Nintendo-related Facts:
