[frays]

Did this company name-based nickname for employees start from Google calling their employees Googlers in the early 2000s?

I don't think companies like Walmart, McDonalds, JPMorgan, etc have nicknames for their employees. Does anyone know when this all started?

[JohnFen]

No, it predates Google by at least several decades. But in the Olden Times, these were usually in engineering companies, and came from the employees themselves. Engineers having a laugh, and making a bit of fun of their employer.

At some point, though, some companies started adopting such language in official communications. In my opinion, that's when it becomes cringe.

[codingdave]

I got my first job at IBM in 1994. We definitely got called us IBMers at that time, although it was typically used informally, not in layoff notifications.

[kxrm]

At my first job in 1994, at a grocery chain of all places, they just called us "associates". Professional and to the point. I don't understand this desire to brand my association with a company. It's really weird.