2001年其最早以技术分类的形式出现，英国经济学家吉姆·奥尼尔把上述国家（不包括南非）集中起来，并因为它们都是快速发展的新兴经济体而起了这个朗朗上口的名字。
It began as a technical grouping in 2001, when the British economist Jim O’Neill lumped them together (without South Africa) and gave them their catchy name for the sole reason that they were all large, rapidly growing emerging economies.