Counter-Strike was created by two individuals: Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess Cliffe.
Minh Le, who grew up in Canada, was inspired by the 90s crime drama series "Counterstrike" that aired on television. The show ran for three seasons with 66 episodes, focusing on the protagonist's fight against terrorists, played by Christopher Plummer, who had kidnapped his wife. Minh Le recalled the title when he developed a mod for Half-Life.
Initially, they considered several names, but Minh Le favoured "Counter-Terrorists Forces." Jess Cliffe, however, thought it was too lengthy, leading them to settle on "Counter-Strike." The authenticity of their discussions, including an exchange on ICQ where they finalised the name, has been confirmed by Minh Le.
Gooseman: "I like Counter-Terrorists Forces."
Cliffe: "I think that's a bit long... Counter-Strike sounds cool."
Gooseman: "I like it. Counter-Strike... Let's go with Counter-Strike."
And that's how it came to be—two more times, each spanning 25 years.
Other name options included Counterrorism, Strike Force, fRAG HEADS, Counter-Terror, Terrorist Wars, Terror-Force, Counter Force, FragForces, SpecOpsElite, and International World Soldiers.
Imagine fighting in International World Soldiers 2 or nostalgically reminiscing about fRAG HEADS 1.6.
CS:GO could have been named differently. Luckily, Cliffe persuaded them otherwise.
"Some people at Valve wanted to name CS:GO 'Counter-Strike: White Rabbit,' but I convinced them CS:GO sounds better. I think we made the right choice," Cliffe recalled, having been with the company until 2018. He mentioned that White Rabbit was connected to a future operation.
As for why it's called Counter-Strike: Global Offensive? There's no definitive answer, only fan theories.
CS revolves around the conflict between terrorists and counter-terrorist forces. "Global Offensive" might suggest the global spread of terrorism. Moreover, this version introduced a variety of factions.
A more plausible explanation: CS:GO was initially developed for consoles, released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, to be cross-platform. Gabe Newell stressed the importance of this decision: "We no longer want to divide the gaming industry into isolated islands."
Thus, "Global Offensive" signifies the expansion of the Counter-Strike universe, which seems to be omnipresent.