Why were they called Beam anyway?

I picked up Retro Gamer magazine today at the local newsagent because the cover caught my eye with its feature on Australia's most iconic development studio, Melbourne House. Retro Gamer is a great magazine which celebrates the classic games of yesteryear, even dragging back the creators of games made over twenty years ago for an interview or a making-of feature, so it's of no surprise that they managed to grab Melbourne House founder, Alfred Milgrom for his valuable insights on Mebourne House and Beam software.

Now, it's a great feature, but it answered one valuable question which I never knew I had of Beam software. Why were they called Beam? I'm glad you asked. From Retro Gamer

Taking the first two initials from his wife's surname (Naomi Besen) and combining it with his own initials, Alfred Milgrom formed Beam Software with the intention of continuing to produce computer publications which would be published by Melbourne House in London.

It's well worth picking up the current issue of Retro Gamer (which has Castlevania on the cover) if you're wanting to find out more, although the second half of the feature on Melbourne House is reserved for the next issue.

I guess this brings up a pretty interesting topic of how other local game developers came up with their names. I mean, what exactly is Sidhe, or what does Halfbrick or Auran or Sumea refer to? I guess that is best saved for an indepth Sumea article sometime in the near future!