Naming News - Part 3

Blog Archives

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

Posted on July 12, 2018 by Athol

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…

Patreon – Patrons for the Ages

Posted on June 25, 2018 by Athol

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.…

When your brand logo has a nickname

Posted on June 6, 2018 by Athol

A few blogs back we asked if you knew the nicknames for the McDonalds and Ford logos. Surely most of you knew the easy answer to the first part of this: The Golden Arches for McDonalds ubiquitos big M symbol.…

Engineers and Scientists are People too.

Posted on April 23, 2018 by Athol

Should you brand industrial and scientific products? How about embedded engineering items? Who is going to know? Who is going to care? I have had many a client over the years wrestle with these questions and comments, to which I…

Acuspire makes Startup Grind’s Top 50

Posted on February 8, 2018 by Athol

In between handling our very big clients we are often working on small startups, not all of whom make a go of it. But when the do, we love it. Like hearing yesterday from Acuspire that they had been selected…

Posted in Branding, Domain Names, Naming News, Technology Names

When Good English is Bad English

Posted on August 13, 2017 by Athol

While recently walking in the ultra ritzy Ocean Ave, Carmel, California I saw this sign on a gateway. Yes, I always notice strange and interesting names even on a mini vacation day. What I especially like is when they are…

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

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Athol

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…

Nota releases Scrapbox with a flourish

Posted on June 15, 2017 by Athol

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?

Posted on June 10, 2017 by Athol

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…

Who owns that consumer brand?

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Athol

Recently there have been another spate of questions on Quora and other online forums about product brand vs company brand, especially from new marketeers or entrepreneurs wrestling with these issues. Admittedly it is different in small startups from the big…