Emmy Awards 2015: Why Is It Called The Emmys? History Behind Television Academy Awards Show

The 2015 Primetime Emmy Awards will air on Fox Sunday night and, once again, many shows, actors and producers will take home awards for their strong performances and hard work. The Emmys have been around for 67 years, but how exactly did they come about and where did the name come from?

The Emmy awards were created in 1948. After being against the idea for years, Television Academy founder Syd Cassyd recognized the great opportunities they would have by having an annual awards ceremony, according to the Emmys' website. They agreed to move forward with the annual awards ceremony, but they were tasked with figuring out a name and what to call the award.

The Television Academy's founding fathers' had a tough time coming up with a name for the award. Cassyd suggested the name “Ike,” after the nickname for the television iconoscope tube, but it reminded everyone of General Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower, the website said. Henry Lubcke, the third Television Academy president, eventually came up with the name "Immy," after the image-orthicon camera tube, which played a major role in the development of television.

"Immy" was later changed to "Emmy" because the design chosen for the golden-colored award was a winged woman holding an atom. The wings on the woman represented the muse of art, while the atom and its electrons supported the science and technology of the new medium. Before the Television Academy accepted the design of the statuette, they first rejected 47 proposals before agreeing to television engineer Louis McManus' version, whose wife served as its model.

The first Emmy Awards, which were devoted solely to Los Angeles programming, were held on January 25, 1949 and only six awards were given out. Since then, the ceremony has been split into the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, Daytime Emmy Awards and Primetime Emmy Awards, the latter becoming what many refer to as “the biggest night in television.”

The 2015 Primetime Emmy Awards air Sunday, Sep. 20, at 8 p.m. EDT on Fox. Actor Andy Samberg of "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" will be hosting.