How Google’s viral ‘Nano Banana’ AI got its name

Gemini nano banana

Google’s latest image generation model, Gemini Nano Banana, has become something of an internet sensation — not just for its creative output, but for its unusual name. What started as a late-night placeholder has now become one of the most recognisable AI model names in the industry.

Speaking on the Made by Google podcast, David Sharon, group product manager for the Gemini app, revealed the unexpected origin story. The name “Nano Banana” was coined at 2:30 a.m. by a Google product manager named Nina, who needed a temporary identifier while submitting the model anonymously to LM Arena, an open platform for testing AI models based on human feedback.

“I’d love to say a lot of thought went into it,” Sharon said, “but it was just a spontaneous moment. Nina typed ‘Nano Banana,’ and that was it. The name stuck.”

Initially meant to disguise the model’s Google affiliation, the name gained traction after testers on LM Arena began referring to it affectionately as “Nano Banana.” When the model was finally launched, Google decided to embrace the name officially. “People loved it, and honestly, so did we,” Sharon admitted.

Beyond the quirky title, Gemini Nano Banana represents a technical leap for Google’s AI photo generation. It outperforms earlier models in character consistency and visual coherence, particularly when rendering people. Sharon shared a personal example: “I uploaded an image of myself and asked to be placed in space — and for the first time, it actually looked like me, not my AI cousin.”

The development team, known internally as the “Greenfield team” or “model whisperers,” pushed the model to its creative limits through a series of multimodal and conceptual challenges. The model’s strength lies in what Google calls conceptual blending — its ability to merge unrelated elements into cohesive, imaginative scenes.

In one test, the AI successfully combined an image of a couch and a potato to create a “couch made out of a potato” — a literal interpretation of the term “couch potato.” These experiments showcased the model’s versatility and its growing understanding of abstract human ideas.

What began as a placeholder joke is now a defining part of Google’s AI narrative. “Nano Banana” isn’t just a name — it’s a symbol of how spontaneity and creativity can sometimes produce the most memorable innovations.