What did BP originally stand for?

BP originally stood for British Petroleum, which was name of major oil company founded in early 20th century with long history. The company origins trace to 1908 as Anglo-Persian Oil Company, formed by William Knox D'Arcy to exploit oil discoveries in Persia now Iran, after finding large oil field. In 1935, Persia became Iran, so company became Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. In 1951, Iran nationalized oil industry, leading to dispute, and in 1954 company was renamed British Petroleum Company, which is what BP originally stood for as British Petroleum, reflecting British government ownership and petroleum business. British Petroleum was state-owned for decades, becoming major global oil company. In 1998, British Petroleum merged with American oil giant Amoco, formerly Standard Oil of Indiana, forming BP Amoco. In 2001, company rebranded to simply BP, dropping British Petroleum name and adopting tagline Beyond Petroleum to signal move toward renewable energy and global identity beyond British roots. So officially now company is just BP plc, not British Petroleum, though many still call it British Petroleum out of habit. So BP originally stood for British Petroleum, from 1954 to 2001, before becoming just BP. In other contexts, BP originally stood for blood pressure, business plan, etc., but for oil company, original meaning was British Petroleum.