Question

Starbucks, the coffee chain retailer's name is inspired from which book?

• A. The Scarlet Letter
• B. Moby Dick
• C. Uncle Tom's Cabin
• D. None of the above

Hint:

Think of the first mate on Captain Ahab's ship in a famous whaling novel.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

This question tests general awareness about the origin of a well known global brand name. Starbucks is one of the most recognisable coffee chains in the world, and its name has a literary root rather than a marketing-agency invention.

1. The Scarlet Letter: This is Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel about Puritan New England and has no connection to coffee, ships, or trade. It is not the source of the Starbucks name.
2. Moby Dick: This is Herman Melville's novel about the whaling ship Pequod and its obsessed captain, Ahab. One of the key characters aboard the ship is the first mate, named Starbuck. The founders of the coffee chain picked this name because it evoked the romance of early seafaring coffee and tea traders, which fit the brand they wanted to build in Seattle in 1971.
3. Uncle Tom's Cabin: This is Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel from the 1850s. It has no link to the coffee trade or the Starbucks name.
4. None of the above: This is wrong because a definite literary source does exist, so this option cannot be correct.

The name traces directly back to the first mate character Starbuck in Moby Dick, so the coffee chain's name, with an added "s", is a direct homage to that novel.

Let's summarize:

• Starbucks takes its name from Starbuck, the first mate of the Pequod in Herman Melville's Moby Dick.
• The other three options are famous novels but share no naming link with the coffee chain.

The correct answer is option (B), Moby Dick.