The company was named 任天堂骨牌 (Nintendō Karuta) when it was founded in 1898 to sell a traditional Japanese card game called Hanafuda (meaning "flower cards").
The company name is certainly intended to have semantic meaning, as each character of 任天堂 combines sensibly and logically.
The last character 堂 suggests a kind of sacred space, "a hall, temple, or shrine". The second chatacter 天 means "heaven"; and the first character 任 implies trusting, or leaving things up to, this "heaven".
> The name Nintendo is commonly assumed to mean 'leave luck to heaven', but the assumption lacks historical validation; it can alternatively be translated as "the temple of free hanafuda". (From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo#1889%E2%80%931969:_Ea...)
Overall the name gives a religious or spiritual impression, which feels at odds with the purpose of the company to sell games. I believe this is also intentional, related to the history of these playing cards in Japan as part of illegal gambling.
> The company was named 任天堂骨牌 (Nintendō Karuta) when it was founded in 1898 to sell a traditional Japanese card game called Hanafuda (meaning "flower cards").
Well, calling Hanfuda a traditional card game is bit like calling cocaine a traditional stimulant -- before pivoting into family entertainment, Nintendo got its start in life selling cards for illegal gambling to the Yakuza. Earlier, unsuccessful, diversification attempts included love hotels. Apparently the reason Nintendo branched into toys was a lucky accident: company president Yamauchi noticed one of his factory employees, Gunpei Yokoi (who later invented the d-pad and went on to design the game boy) fooled around with an extensible claw he'd built himself during lunch break. Yamauchi ordered him to productionize it, and it became a big hit (that may have saved the company from bankruptcy):
I feel like it's an exaggeration to say 堂 mean "sacred space". Maybe in some historical sense but it's used for common places. 食堂 (cafeteria) 公会堂 (public hall). If you put 堂 in Google Maps you'll find 1000s of places and companies called ~~~堂 For example the bookstore on the famous Shibuya Crossing is called Taiseido 大盛堂, store that sells stationary called Kanmido (カンミ堂), a store that sells stamps called Zenbido 善美堂 etc...
