Written Russian language uses Cyrillic alphabet instead of Latin. That alphabet has 33 separate letters and one of them is for sound "Ya", it is spelled like "R" but backwards.
A mix of Russian and English in a brand-name for a Russian company was a popular thing to do, at least in the nineties. English part makes it cool and trendy while Russian part makes it less alien and more domesticated.
Ya is also the word "I" (or "me") in Russian, thus "Yandex" is a pun on "Index" (referring to "indexing" of internet).
A mix of Russian and English in a brand-name for a Russian company was a popular thing to do, at least in the nineties. English part makes it cool and trendy while Russian part makes it less alien and more domesticated.
Ya is also the word "I" (or "me") in Russian, thus "Yandex" is a pun on "Index" (referring to "indexing" of internet).