- Google has revealed the origin of the codename “Nano Banana” for its image generation AI model.
- It turns out there is no deep meaning behind it; it was simply named on a late-night whim, but it received unexpectedly high praise on social media and has now become popular beyond just a codename.
- Naina Raisinghani, a Product Manager at Google DeepMind, named it “Nano Banana” by combining “Nano” with her own nickname used by friends, “Naina Banana.”
The codename “Nano Banana” is now widely recognized as an image generation AI model for Google’s “Gemini” AI.
So, why “Nano Banana”? On Thursday, January 15, 2026, Google revealed the origin of the name for the image generation AI model codenamed “Nano Banana.” As it turns out, there isn’t a deep meaning behind it—it was named simply out of a late-night burst of energy, which unexpectedly garnered high praise on social media and has since grown to be loved far beyond its status as a mere codename.
It all started in July 2025. When the development of the “Gemini 2.5 Flash Image” model reached its final stages, Naina Raisinghani, a Product Manager at Google DeepMind, needed to come up with a temporary codename to submit the model to the generative AI ranking platform “LMArena” without revealing its real name.
Submitting the model to “LMArena” with a hidden name was necessary to prevent outside parties from catching wind of the “Gemini 2.5 Flash Image” development. It seems Google frequently publishes AI models under development to “LMArena” with their names masked for testing.
However, it was already 2:30 AM, and she had to decide on a codename for “Gemini 2.5 Flash Image” quickly.
At that moment, Naina Raisinghani combined “Nano” with her own nickname “Naina Banana,” which friends call her, and dubbed it “Nano Banana.” It appears “Nano Banana” was born from a combination of work fatigue, urgency, and a touch of late-night inspiration.
Source：Google
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