---
title: "Which came first, Fanta or LEGO?"
description: "Fanta vs LEGO: LEGO came first, by 8 years — 1932 against 1940. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/fanta-vs-lego/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, Fanta or LEGO?

**Which came first, Fanta or LEGO?: LEGO**

1932 — 8 years before Fanta

LEGO came first, by 8 years. Ole Kirk Christiansen started making wooden toys in Billund.

## Side by side

|  | Fanta | LEGO |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 1940 | 1932 |
| Category | food | company |
| What happened | Coca-Cola's German bottler invented it when syrup imports stopped. | Ole Kirk Christiansen started making wooden toys in Billund. |

## Fanta

When the war cut Coca-Cola GmbH off from American syrup, its head Max Keith made a drink from what was available in Germany — whey left over from cheese making and apple pomace left over from cider pressing. The name came from a brainstorming session where staff were told to use their imagination, Fantasie. Sprite arrived 21 years later in 1961, developed from a German lemon drink Coca-Cola had launched in 1959, so Fanta comfortably predates it.

## LEGO

The company began in 1932 making wooden toys; the name comes from leg godt, Danish for "play well". The interlocking plastic brick in its modern form was patented on 28 January 1958, and the tolerances have been held so precisely since that a brick made that day still clutches a brick made today. LEGO is now the largest tyre manufacturer in the world by unit count.

## Common questions

### Which came first, Fanta or LEGO?

LEGO, by 8 years — 1932 against 1940.

### When did Fanta start?

1940. Coca-Cola's German bottler invented it when syrup imports stopped.

### When did LEGO start?

1932. Ole Kirk Christiansen started making wooden toys in Billund.

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## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]