How Gemini 2.5 Flash ended up as ‘Nano Banana’ and took the internet by storm

The official name may be Gemini 2.5 Flash, but on the internet it’s better known by its quirkier nickname: Nano Banana. So how did one of Google’s most advanced AI models end up sounding like a fruit snack?

It all started as a late-night accident. According to David Sharon, Gemini Apps’ Multimodal Generation Lead, the team needed a placeholder name for an anonymous model leaderboard. At 2 am, someone typed “Nano Banana” — never imagining it would stick. But when that unnamed model went on to top the LM Arena image editing charts, the…