The name NEOM was derived from the Greek word NEO, which means new. The letter M is from the word Mostaqbal, an Arabic word that means future, as well as the first letter of the name of the project founder, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, His Royal Highness Prince Muhammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz.
Although the name selection process included at first 2,000 proposed names, they were then reduced to 150, and then five. However, the name NEOM did not initially make it to the final list, but was rather formed in stages until it was finally adopted.
During the name selection journey, words were selected representing the sectors and main pillars of the NEOM project. Then, the first letters of those sectors were chosen and merged to form a distinctive name that preserves the identity of the project. This resulted in the name (NEO MSTACBEL,) and then the letter “M” was merged with “NEO,” to form the name NEOM.
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