Cujo's name was based on the alias of Willie Wolfe, one of the men responsible for orchestrating Patty Hearst's kidnapping and indoctrination into the Symbionese Liberation Army. Stephen King discusses Cujo in On Writing, referring to it as a novel he "barely remembers writing at all."

Where did the name Cujo come from?

A rumor has circulated that "Cujo" is an ancient Indian word meaning "unstoppable force." In reality, Stephen King named the dog after the code name of William Lawton Wolf, one of founders of the Symbionese Liberation Army. Wolf's code name was actually spelled "Kahjoh," which was misreported by the media as "Cujo."

How did Stephen King come up with Cujo?

Cujo is maybe the scariest dog book ever written.

According to his website, the inspiration came from a night in the spring of 1977, when the mechanic King was taking his motorcycle to lived in the middle of nowhere and had a gigantic St. Bernard, who didn't like the visitor at all.