[dirtyoldman]

Virgin Group was born out of Richard Branson's Virgin Record stores. The stores started as a mail-order business, advertising in his own magazine, which he started at 16. The name Virgin is a reference to his and his business partners' inexperience in business when they opened their first record store.

[andy_ppp]

That's not what his autobiography says... Says when he was running the 'Student' magazine and had the opportunity to move on they needed a name and were brain storming. Someone piped up with "what about Virgin, because there aren't many of those left around here?".

[stillmotion]

But majority of their long-term success has been attributed to their ability to borrow money from larger banks like City. The growth of Virgin Records could not have happened without their battles with the banks.