Blog Archives

It takes some spunk to name your company Splunk.

When I first heard the name Splunk® I thought how cool a name it was. Surely one of those new mobile apps for and by millennials. No, rather it is the name of a back end data server and privacy

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Posted in Branding, Domain Names, Name Origins, Naming Education, Naming News, Technology Names, Trademarks

Inside Steve’s Brain quotes me at length about iPod name

It only took 10 years, but finally a good friend called me and said “Athol, do you know you are quoted in one of Steve Job’s biographies?” Well, yes indeed, Inside Steve’s Brain by Leander Kahney has recently been expanded

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

Patreon – Patrons for the Ages

From the minute I learned about Patreon I have been pleasantly overwhelmed with the cleverness of their offerings, and the memorability of their name. Of course I wondered why they had not tried harder to be Patron or Patron something.

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Posted in Branding, Consumer Goods, Hospitality & Travel, International Naming, Name Origins, Naming News, Strange Names, Trademarks

Brand quiz answers

(Disclaimer:  I did rely on search engines and Wikipedia for some of the amusing and interesting background info. As author of the quiz, I knew most of the answers to these questions when I posted them – except Question 1)

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

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

When a V sounds like a W and a W sounds like V or Do as DU

This may cause both embarrassment and offense when words, names, actions and abbreviations can be misconstrued, through pronunciation and misinterpretation. And it all depends on your home language. I recently had a tutorial with an ESL Post-grad student.  He apologized

Posted in International Naming, Name Origins, Naming Education, Naming News

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

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

Why you need to register your trademark

A lawyer once made it very clear to me. He said if you ever have a dispute over a name, and you end up in court, then the party with the registered trademark stands up and says: “Judge, I have

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Posted in Biotech Naming, Branding, Industrial Products Naming, Name Origins, Naming Education, Naming News, Naming Resources, Technology Names, Trademarks

How to select a naming agency.

How to select a Naming Agency Before you can select a naming agency it is prudent to understand what kind of agencies and consultants are out there. They fall into 4 broad categories: 1.    Big Company Full Service Agencies:  These

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

Recent Naming Articles

Brand insider articles from an experienced marketing team.

Mar 2023: Pricing your naming project

Oct 2021: The devil is in the trademark details

Mar 2019:The Power and Value of a Trademark

Jan 2019:4 common branding mistakes

Oct 2018: You named it What?

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See his industry naming commentary (where he takes a critical look at names) via the blog on this site