Many think it's a play on irony - a company devoted to inspiring curiosity about the world and guiding people through it, calling that world 'lonely'.

They're not wrong, but that's not how Lonely Planet got its name.

Its genesis is actually more simple (and more poetic, we think). Lonely Planet founders Tony and Maureen Wheeler were listening to Joe Cocker's song Space Captain, which starts out with these lyrics:

Once while travelling across the sky
This lovely planet caught my eye
And being curious I flew close by
And now I'm caught here
Until I die...

They misheard the 'lovely planet' line as 'lonely planet', and when time came to name their guidebook company, it stuck.

The Wheelers' autobiography The Lonely Planet Story: once while travelling is another nod to the song.