Monday 13 April 2026 – 06:49 PM
The name of Google’s image generating model, officially known as Gemini 3 Pro Image Preview, stands out, but the most popular name among users has become “Nano Banana”, an unconventional name that has aroused the curiosity of many.
According to what was published by The Sun website, the company recently began referring to it internally and externally as “Nano Banana Pro” and sometimes “Nano Banana 2,” and this name was not originally part of an official marketing plan.
The story goes back to crowdsourced model testing platform LMArena (formerly Arena.ai), where models were being tested anonymously before being officially announced.
During the development phase, the Google team needed a quick temporary name for the model, so the task fell to product manager Naina Risangani, who spontaneously suggested the name “Nano Banana.”
Resangani explains that the name came from the combination of two personal titles she had; One was “Naina Banana”, which was used by some of her friends, and the other was “Nano”, which describes her short stature and interest in technology, so they were combined to produce the current name.
The model quickly spread within the testing platform, as users began to notice its high capabilities in generating and editing images, before speculation increased that it was a Google product.
On August 12, 2025, the model was uploaded to the platform, and within a few days its results spread on social media, leading to a wave of curiosity and indirect leaks.
Subsequently, subtle signals from within the company fueled speculation, such as a Google official posting a banana-shaped avatar, which further cemented the name in the public consciousness until the official announcement on August 26, 2025.
