In 1911, William Durant and Louis Chevrolet co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company, but it wouldn’t be for almost another two years before the Chevy bowtie symbol would be attached to the brand. Today it is one of the most recognizable symbols in the world, and is seen on cars on every continent and just about every country.

Yet despite its prominence, the actual inspiration for the Chevy bowtie remains shrouded in mystery. But its no mystery why the Chevy bowtie is so well known by people across the world.

The Chevy bowtie was first put on Chevy vehicles starting in 1913, though there is more than one theory on its origin. Some say that Durant saw the bowtie on some wallpaper in Paris, and applied it to his cars. Durant’s daughter Margery said that Durant had drawn the image on a napkin one night. Meanwhile Durant’s wife insisted that he saw the design in a newspaper ad while visiting Virginia.

The 50 Year Anniversary issue of The Chevrolet Story, printed in 1961, told the story this way:

“This was also the year (1913) that the famous Chevrolet trademark was first used on the cars. The distinctive trademark has appeared billions of times on products, advertisings and sales literature as the mark of dependability, economy and quality in motor transportation. It originated in Durant’s imagination when, as a world traveler in 1908, he saw the pattern marching off into infinity as a design on wallpaper in a French hotel. He tore off a piece of the wallpaper and kept it to show friends with the thought that it would make a good nameplate for a car.”

Whatever the origin of the bowtie, GM estimates that about 215 million vehicles have worn the Chevy emblem since its founding. Of those, about 60 million are estimated to still be on the road, an absolutely staggering number when you think about it. No wonder this iconic slanted bowtie is one of the most recognizable symbols in the world.