Probably as a joke, but it served them well, it's really a clever name IMHO. I think it all started as a few blog posts about the founder's experiments in crea

Probably as a joke, but it served them well, it's really a clever name IMHO. I think it all started as a few blog posts about the founder's experiments in creating his own meal replacement, and after he got crazy media attention he decided to turn it into a product. Soylent as a name is instantly recognizable and has a sense of self-awareness/irony that many other products lack, I would be surprised if the name itself didn't contribute greatly to the initial media coverage.