Ever since the early 1990s Intel has used existing geographical, non-trademarked places in the United States or Canada that can be located on a map for codenames. This is thanks, in part, to Frank Zappa, or at least, his estate. [...]
Before Trademarks & Brands became the naming sheriff in the early 1990s, engineers picked handles that encouraged fun and team-building. One group worked on projects named "Bart" and "Lisa" to pay homage to TV's "The Simpsons," while another team was busy on a "Dead Rock Star" series of motherboards. You had "The Joplin" and "The Morrison," but it was the success of an Intel Advanced/ZP motherboard codenamed "The Zappa" that contributed to the policy change to geographic names. The internal naming party ended soon after the very external Frank Zappa estate got wind of an "Intel Zappa" that was written about by media covering the now-defunct Comdex tradeshow. The estate, according to reports, wasn't too pleased, prompting Intel's legal department to step in.
Research, compilation and maintenance by Román García Albertos