Nivea is a large global skin- an body-care brand, owned by German company Beiersdorf. The company began in 1911 when Beiersdorf developed a water-in-oil emulsifier as a skin cream with Eucerit, the first stable emulsion of its kind. The company's owner, Oskar Troplowitz, named it Nivea, from the Latin word niveus/nivea/niveum (meaning snow-white).