Business Naming Basics

I’ve not been a raving fan of completely invented words as names for products or companies.
However, I do find some forms of coined names desirable.

Those are names which start from a root word that is relevant to the product, service or business being named. For instance, if you’re marketing a new telephone device, I can advocate a name using the root, “phone” or “fone”.

The reason, as I’ve stated previously, is that people don’t like new words. They are comfortable with the familiar. So to make a name with a familiar root and with some coined “flair” to go with it produces comfort, easy pronunciation and meaning almost instantly.

It’s providing the flair that makes the name unique, and possibly trademarkable.

Here’s another way to create that flair.

Start with a vowel-ending root

Let’s say you want to concentrate on four-letter names in the form consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel. You’d do that because the form provides a short, easily pronounced (in almost any language) and easily spelled name: just perfect if you’ll be looking for referrals. And of course, you’d want that four-letter root to be relevant to your naming project.

Here are three such words we can use as examples: rare, cape and mesa

Now you can try two different approaches to begin with.

Substituting ending vowels

First, substitute other vowels for the last vowel in each root word. This retains the four-letter cvcv format so pronouncing and spelling each will be easy even if the new words are unfamiliar. Here’s what I mean:

In the first two examples, where the last “e”s are silent, we’ve added a new syllable with the substitution, but really haven’t lengthened the name. With “Mesa”, we’ve just invented a new four-character words.

Adding an additional letter

In this example we’ll just add what looks like a random consonant or vowel to the end of our original root word. However, for the roots ending in a silent “e”, we won’t add “d”, “n”, “r”, “s” or “y” because these are common, meaningful add-ons already (rarer, caped, capes).

As with any naming approach, often times they bare no fruit, but every-so-often, a gem can appear, literally out of nowhere.

This technique will also work with multisyllabic words roots as well, and can be combined with other techniques (relevant prefixes and suffixes for instance) as I’ve outlined here in the past.

So just another weapon for your ever-growing naming arsenal. Use with gusto.

Tags: Naming Ideas by MartinJ
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How often has a name mislead you?

It happens to me quite often. Perhaps it’s because I take things quite literally. Or it could be the name just isn’t relevant to the product. Here are two quite different examples:

The fast-food chain Popeye’s offers Cajun-influenced food – dirty rice and such. Yet the first image that comes to mind for me is Popeye the Sailor Man, and “logically”, seafood.

I don’t know if younger people are even aware of Popeye from the comic strips and animated cartoons of years gone by. There are a couple of food associations for Popeye apart from the obvious seafood image: spinach, the source of Popeye’s strength; burgers eaten voraciously by his sidekick, Wimpy, and even olive oil, an alternate spelling of his girl friend’s name, Olive Oyl. But nowhere in the Popeye mythology is Cajun/Creole/Louisiana cuisine apparent.

So why was the Popeye name adopted? I have no idea, I would not have named the chain with what I feel was an irrelevant, even inappropriate, name.

In another context is the adaptation of the name Dove for chocolate treats. Even though they aren’t in the same product categories, the soap of that name can’t help but “rub off” on the chocolate bars and candies.

Eating soap brings to mind getting my mouth washed out with it after my mother heard me swear as a youngster. Both the soap and the candy are appealing in their own rights, and they’re both aiming at discerning, quality-oriented markets. I also think both are female-oriented. So perhaps only a literal-minded critic like me would think twice before adopting a name that’s been well-branded even in an entirely different product category. But I would certainly think twice or thrice before making such a recommendation.

My point with these examples is that, though they may be successful in their respective markets, I think less confusing, more unique names might have made them stronger still.

I’d like to hear what you think. I’d also wish you to share other examples of names that confuse you in one way or another. Because we learn from mistakes – but they needn’t always be our own mistakes.

Tags: Naming Issues by MartinJ
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