31,000 Entries Later, It’s Unisys

DETROIT — Burroughs Corp., swollen by its acquisition of Sperry Corp. into the world’s second-largest computer manufacturer, on Monday adopted a new name: Unisys Corp.

Chosen from 31,000 suggestions submitted by Burroughs and Sperry employees, the name is meant to suggest united information systems, but those words won’t be part of the new corporate logo, said W. Michael Blumenthal, Unisys chairman.

Adoption of the name ends a century of office-equipment production under the name Burroughs. The company, established in 1886 to make adding machines, was named after its founder, William Seward Burroughs.

Sperry was founded in 1910 as Sperry Gyroscope Co.

Burroughs became No. 2 in the industry, after International Business Machines, with the $4.78-billion acquisition in September of Sperry, which at the time was moving its headquarters from New York to Blue Bell, Pa. Unisys will have dual headquarters, in Detroit and in Blue Bell.

Blumenthal said the company needed a new name to show that it was “no longer Burroughs and Sperry but something new, one name that we could all identify with.”

Christian (Lee) Machen, 36, an area systems manager in the company’s Atlanta software product and services district, won $5,000 for submitting the name, which was selected with the help of a New York consulting firm.