Here's How Google's Nano Banana AI Model Got Its Name

Here’s How Google’s Nano Banana AI Model Got Its Name

Last updated: 2026/01/19 at 4:41 AM

News Room Published 19 January 2026

Gemini’s Nano Banana image generator was one of Google’s most talked-about launches of 2025. Within a month of its August debut, the tool had been used to generate more than 5 billion images on the Gemini app. But why is it called Nano Banana?

Weeks before the AI image generator was officially launched, Google wanted to test it on LMArena, a public platform that runs blind comparison tests and ranks AI models based on various use cases. The model was still being refined, so the team wanted to send it to LMArena with a codename. Using the model’s technical name, Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, would have been a dead giveaway that it came from Google.

The debate over a codename, however, went on for hours. “At 2:30 a.m., one of the PMs messaged me saying we needed to submit it, and I said, ‘OK, how about something funny like ‘Nano Banana’?” Google product manager Naina Raisinghani writes in a blog post. Perhaps due to the early morning hour, the “completely nonsensical” suggestion was approved immediately.

The name is not completely random, though. As Raisinghani explains, “Some of my friends call me Naina Banana, and others call me Nano because I’m short and I like computers. So I just smushed my two nicknames together,” she says.

When the model officially launched as part of Gemini in late August, the codename became its official identity. The team gave it a peeled-banana logo and turned its button in AI Studio yellow.

Recommended by Our Editors

When the time arrived for an upgrade, Google carried forward the “nonsensical” name and dubbed it Nano Banana Pro. It has generated over 1 billion images in just 53 days.