FICO stands for the Fair Isaac Company. Bill Fair and Earl Isaac founded the company in 1956 and developed an algorithm that would provide a numerical score based on someone's ability to repay debt. This would enable banks to make better and more efficient lending decisions.  

The 3 major credit bureaus: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian are in contract with FICO and their scores are produced using FICO's scoring model.