KA-BAR KNIVES:

KABAR Knives made by the KABAR Knife company since 1898.

KA-BAR, where did the term come from?

Here is the scoop straight from the KA-BAR home site:

Soon after its introduction, the KA-BAR trademark became widely known and respected. There have been many versions of how the KA-BAR name was adopted, but all evidence points to a letter received from a fur trapper. This particular fur trapper's testimonial turned out to be one of the most significant ever received by the Company. He wrote, in very rough English, that his gun had jammed and that he had therefore relied on his knife to kill a wounded bear that was attacking him. In thanking the company for their quality product, the trapper described using his knife to "kill a bar." The way his writing was scrawled across the paper it looked like "ka bar." The company adapted his writing and adopted it as their trademark, KA-BAR.