Name Awards

Call me anal, but what do you think of Analatom?

This name stuck in my brain because when I first read it in the paper, I couldn’t pronounce it. Not sure I can yet after a couple of tries. Sure their customers are all scientists….. but did you think they were perhaps medics looking up your rear?

What a disaster of a name for a company with some interesting potential.  “Anala  Tom” or “Anal Atom”. Pity they couldn’t afford another capital A when they were playing scrabble. And is it for your anatomy? No. You will never guess without visiting their site: www.analatom.com

Emergency Golf released for all those facing their first rounds

Well this post is to announce a small book of my own, so I won’t be as egotistical as to try give myself a name award for the title. But I would appreciate any comments or feedback on whether the title grabbed you or not. One good thing about book titles is that you don’t have to check trademarks, because one bad thing about book titles is that you cannot protect them, and duplicates are allowed.

Since many sales, marketing and branding conferences include potentially a round of golf, and since many business deals are still done on the golf course, you may want to download a copy of Emergency Golf from FodenPress.com if you have never played before. I am trying to save you the heartache and angst I suffered on a number of occasions.

That is why I call myself the world’s worst beginner. But that is also why I have this unique viewpoint. I know first hand the little things that bedevilled me and lead to a number of false starts. You will probably save the complete cost of this book in lost golf balls the first month you are out there!

At very worst, you will enjoy the first few days more , especially if you have no time for lessons. Plus you will not hold up the rest of the group or make them mad at your basic ignorance of what they think of as a lovely game.

Oooooo Ma I am going to go use the Poti

The recent quarterly investments report of the Venture Capital community in Silicon Valley provided namiacs like me their usual extra fodder. At first I thought it was a tamer offering of names, then I saw that my next phone system might come from Ooma.

Oh no!… and this is competing with cool, strong names like Skype and Magic Jack and Vonage? Or is it the sound they utter when the Verizon patent lawyers catch up with them?

But at least you know what it is….. other than the sound when you go down the hall to use the potty. No wonder Poti is in stealth mode. We do all like to go in private, even if we are acting a little potty. Some cool names just don’t work when you grab the initials…. or they make a fool of you!

Cache Creek is the perfect name for a casino

North of Sacramento in Northern California, there is a largish Indian Casino development called Cache Creek. What a perfect name for a casino! Not only does Cache mean a treasure haul, it also has great connotations for all the techno propeller heads in that part of the country.

More interestingly, it is simply named after the local creek! Talk about getting lucky…..If the Indians had named it after their own tribe, it would probably have some boring Rumsey Tribe name.

With such a strong English name for their casino, I applaud their usage of Yocha-De-He for their academy and golf course, even though they don’t enlighten anyone as to the real roots of this name. Doesn’t matter. After all, we all love Yosemite, and only have a vague idea of its Indian roots.

I am sure this combination of a strong English name coupled with a very unique Indian name will lead to a powerful branding position.

Will Wolfram Alpha ever develop into a Beta version?

Well we all know it was not unusual in the old days to release beta versions of software to key customers. And that more recently, beta version release has become an art for big players like Google. But releasing Alpha versions on the public is an interesting idea, especially when you are trying to use the wisdom of crowds to actually perfect and develop the product or service.

But why would you name the product after yourself and the word Alpha? We all know Steven Wolfram is a great scientist and the founder of Mathematica (a great name), so what is he up to this time? Maybe he doesn’t have a real name for it yet? Maybe he thinks people might only visit because of his name recognition? Maybe he has fond memories of work on DEC Alpha machines? Maybe he is not sure what it will morph into yet for the final product? Or is it just ego? After all, he has filed for registered trademarks on this name!

In fact his team is so industrious about spreading little TM’s around, one becomes nothing but a dirty squiggle in the middle of the tagline! I am usually a big proponent of those TM’s… but not at expense of ruining the visual treatment.

As a side note, when you have a rather uncommon name like me, it is natural to type it into all Informational Databases, CDROM’s, enclypaedias, search engines etc. Even the very first version of Encarta could tell me something about the Athol’s of Murray in Scotland,and the famous playwright Athol Fugard. Wolfram’s knowledge engine will only spit up the town of Athol Massachusetts, even when prompted. Maybe it really is only an Alpha version after all.

If you want to know more about the name Athol, use a real search engine or see this webpage: http://www.brighternaming.com/atholname.html