Blog Archives

Family brand name quiz – while you eat and drive

While putting together a previous post (“Nomen Est Omen?” Uh, Not Always…) I got to thinking about both family and given names that are now well-known brands. There are enough quirky examples and stories that I thought I’d put together

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Posted in Branding, Consumer Goods, Food Names, Name Origins, People Names, Trademarks, Transportation

An “-ify” Proposition

Things began, as they often do, with an e-mail from Athol: “With Spotify near an IPO, why don’t we look at other names using the –ify suffix?” I’m back from the Interwebs with three categories for these names: the Useful,

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Posted in Branding, Consumer Goods, Retail

“Nomen Est Omen”? Uh, not always…

Family names often turn into brand names, sometimes becoming strongly associated with the products involved. Play word association with “MacDonald” or “Ford”, and odds are you’ll pop up with “hamburger” and “car”. Sometimes family names can be a bit more

Posted in Branding, Consumer Goods, Food Names

Bad Arse Branding

My son and I stumbled across these two bottles within a few hours of each other and needless to say both caught our eye. Ben even asked what I thought of Bad Arse Branding – as he called it. Obviously

Posted in Branding, Consumer Goods, Wine Names

Nota releases Scrapbox with a flourish

It is refreshing to see that a software company called Nota Inc stayed true to its origins and finally released an absolutely magic note organizing product. The surprise is because for years since they were created by some Stanford Grad

Posted in Branding, Consumer Goods, Naming News, Technology Names

What’s in a classical musical name?

I do enjoy seeing articles about naming, as long as it is not YASOI  (Yet Another Set Of Initials). Today I had the pleasure of seeing such an article as I pulled up my favorite classical radio station KDFC on

Posted in Branding, Consumer Goods, Name Origins, Naming Education, Naming News, Trademarks

Lyrica is a very musical name

If you are someone like me in marketing who actually listens to the names mentioned in advertisements, then there comes a point when you wonder why so many pharma and health and beauty products have such strange names. Yes I

Posted in Branding, Consumer Goods, Naming Education, Trademarks

Loews vs Lowes vs Lows

The last time I was in the property fixup business, my favorite local store was Home Depot. My kids even christened it “Daddy’s Toy Store” because I was there almost every weekend loading up lumber and paint and whatever. At

Posted in Branding, Hospitality & Travel, Industrial Products Naming, Naming Education, Trademarks

Mooboo – The Best Bubble Tea for You

“MooBoo Bubble Tea” has been hitting the headlines lately but not as a great product name. Instead there are the controversial issues regarding alleged unpaid hours issues (thankfully now resolved legally.) I wonder whether this burst the bubble of MooBoo

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Posted in Branding, Consumer Goods, Domain Names, Food Names, Name Origins, Naming Education, Rotten Names, Trademarks

TranQuini relaxes you just by the name

Born in the beautiful high Alps and rivers of Austria, TranQuini® epitomizes the image of relief you look for in a refreshing,  revitalizing and calming drink. Even their tagline Positively Relaxed is prominent on all their packaging to help drive

Posted in Branding, Consumer Goods, Food Names, Trademarks