The Haloid Company originally called its copiers "elector-photography" machines. In the 1940s, they hired a Greek scholar at Ohio State University to think up a new name. He came up with "Xenography," after the Greek words dry and writing, and called the copier itself a Xerox machine.
X has been recognized as a standard abbreviation for Christ since before the year 1100. The X represents chi, the first letter of Christ's name when spelled in Greek (XRICTOC, pronounced Christos).
