Name Awards

Talking of long names: Silicon Valley Code Camp returns

Sometimes a function just gets the right name from the outset. Such is the magic of Silicon Valley Code Camp. Nowhere else would a code camp be so appropriate. After all, where else would so many propeller head geeks (as I call them because I was one) get together for a whole weekend and take over a whole junior college just to share information about the latest and greatest in software? Not a corporate function. Just some keen volunteers who now have some big corporate sponsors so even the pizza and sandwiches are free.

Peter Kellner and his team do a great job of this and close to 2000 attendees are expected this year to partake in the 150 or so sessions. All the news is just spread by blogs and word of mouth.

Since I was Peter’s tech support friend over 25 years ago, I was one of the first marketing guys ever to present at the camp. This year I will have two sessions: From Code to Product to Market to Company where I help software types understand what it takes to transform some code into a business, and Pragmatic Naming for Product Managers where we help teach the basics of naming in a very crowded trademark category.

Please join us or follow along online.

Not all great names are short and sweet

I have recently had a chance to discuss what makes a good name with a number of writers, in addition to my usual discussions with clients, and an interesting fact comes to life: Not all great names are short and sweet.  We have a top 10 list of ideal factors for your new company, product or brand name, and these points are mirrored more or less on many other linguists and branding lists.

But what about National Geographic? Or The Smithsonian Institute? Or Architectural Digest? Or Wikipedia? For most of these you couldn’t find a better name. And even though many people struggle to spell encyclopaedia, I can’t imagine there is a better name for Wikipedia, even though most people don’t know what a Wiki is or what the Hawaiian word means. Hint: Look it up in Wikipedia – one of the most trusted sources on the internet.

So we must conclude that for every rule about a great name, there is an exception. And, as usual, nothing matters if the boss doesn’t like the name anyway.

UPDATE: Since we no longer spell encyclopedia as encyclopaedia, care needs to be taken with the root tail here, as it is also often used for pediatric or even pedophile names. If it wasn’t better know, Wikipedia could be a list of pedophiles or a list of kid’s problems.

When you are naming a series of Nordic longboats…

Viking River Cruises is introducing a whole new series of long ships in Europe. They sure look like they will take up at least two jetties each time they dock, plus could get out of kilter going through some bridge arches and wrap themselves around one of the pylons.

But I am only criticizing because I can’t get away for a trip in short order. Must say I am impressed with how they are using Facebook too. One of the better consumer marketing efforts. Of course I liked the ship christening ceremony.

And, as for the names of the new long boats: Viking Embla, Viking Aegir, Viking Freya, Viking Idun, Viking Njord, Viking Odin. Don’t worry, after one cruise and some wine from their own Viking winery, your ship’s name will roll off the tongue and never be forgotten.

Plus these names really add a touch of Nordic class and separate the boats from their sister Princess Cruises with their English party names.

Venza is a great car with a rotten name

If Toyota’s usual US based naming agency came up with this name, then I apologize in advance and clearly need educating on something. What a stylish new cross over vehicle… really moves Toyota out of the boring box category.

Then they go name it Venza. What is that? And their direct competitor has the hot selling Versa! Even Wikipedia has a note: Not to be confused with Toyota Avanza.

All I know is that it feels very pedantic and something that got lost in committee. Will go down well in Africa though, especially with the Venda tribal people. Or are they expecting the Italians to think they are replacing the iconic Vespa line?

Is LawPivot pronounced “Law Pee Vo”?

Earlier this week a friendly young gentleman called me to see if our company needed occasional legal services, or at least the chance to post some questions to a large panel of lawyers. When he introduced his company I couldn’t catch the name.. but it sounded a lot like Law Penis to me.

I was so shocked, I asked him specifically what was the company name, and he slowly said “Law Pee Vo“. If Ihadn’t been in a good mood, I probably would have been pee’d off. But instead, 10 minutes later I called him back. Got the answering service which at first didn’t know which of their many clients had been calling me. But I persuaded the well-spoken young lady to work down the list of her clients with Law at the beginning.

That is when I discovered a company called Law Pivot was actually using telemarketers (on shore incidentally) that were badly mangling their name! I also discovered that they were probably using this marketing tactic because they are not showing up on the first 25 pages of a Google search for Ask a Lawyer a question.  What a pity for an apparently good service that has had some big PR coverage in the past.

Many people use any service they prefer. Me, if I can’t get past the name, I move on to another supplier. And I hope this reminds more of you to listen yourself to the verbal branding messages your hired flunkies are putting out….so they don’t pee all over it.

Magnum is a strong name for a strong taste of chocolate

I am not sure how I missed it growing up, but now I discover Magnum chocolate and ice cream has been around for a while. And  you thought Magnum was a gun, right? Shows how broad thinking can lead to great cross over names.

But you still have to get the word out. There current ads in the form of movie trailers are brilliant. Now if only I knew where to buy some!

Drobo is a great new name… abbreviations can be winners

Data Robotics was a practical name, if somewhat long in the tooth namewise. But this week we offer our name of the week award to them for picking their already used abbreviation of Drobo as the product line name as well as the new company name.  Not Dr Obo, not DatRob, not Datarob, not dRobotics…. just simply Drobo.

So now Drobo can go go… not that they appear to need much help from us.. they are already zooming along in the small business add-on storage marketplace.

Kudus to the Norwegian Industrial Property Office

As professional namers we are always searching the trademark directories of the world, especially as we do more and more international work. But some countries still have bureaucrats in the way to “help” with your searches. What that means is you have to pay them and trust your search to them..  and maybe they are no better than you. In fact, we are often quicker and more efficient because by the time we get to some of the smaller countries we already know a lot about the names surrounding our potential trademark of the day.

So I was pleasantly surprised recently to  find we can now get to the Norwegian trademarks ourselves – directly and free without registration. Not only that, they offer up their information in good English as well as Norwegian! Many thanks.

And as an interesting bonus, they actually list how many new patent and trademark filings they have handled this year. As of this writing, it is 7780 trademarks.  Wow.. that is a 1000 a month run rate and Norway is just a smaller country of the world.

PS Now when will India outsource their IT development and get a database online? (or even offline?)

Yosemite – beautiful name for a beautiful park

Recent moon rainbow over lower Yosemite Falls. Full image at Sensory Escapes.

Over 4 million people a year have the special privilege of visiting Yosemite National Park, one of the great natural wonders of the world. When people ask about the name, they are usually given a quick “it’s an Indian tribe” or “it’s an Indian word” answer. But isn’t it interesting how we accept native american words into our vocabulary, even though they are not built on classical European structures, syllables or phonemes?

Because of the way all the falls in the park are running this year.. with sudden high temperatures melting the almost record snow pack, I have seen many national and local stories about the park. But I hear no one making the mistakes we made as kids when we called it Yo se mite. Only when a college colleague returned from a trip there did we learn it was Yo Sem atee. (OK I went to college on the other side of the globe!).

But who owns the name and trademark? Can anyone name anything Yosemite? As it turns out, lots of people. As of today there are 119 entries in the US Fed TM register that include the name Yosemite in their trademark filing, not the least of which is the Yosemite Conservancy which suddenly has a bunch of filings. Other trademarks are held by some of the concessions. And some seem to be unrelated:  Bedding? Cigarettes? Lager? Telescopes?

Oh well.. almost a shame the National Parks Board did not establish early on who could or could not use the name. But then, a hundreds of years ago, they were pulling off miracles just to get the park lands preserved, for which we should all feel grateful today.

Hollywood actors that live up to their own original names

I’ve been invited to be a guest blogger over at The Scribe’s Desk one of these days – even though that is the happening movie website and I am a real laggard when it comes to modern movies. But in the meantime I read about Forest Whitaker turning 50 and how Forest  is his real name. He deserves a name award for uniqueness and for living up to the name rather than changing it as is so common in Hollywood.  Not only is he a vegetarian, he once told an interviewer, “I try to be like a forest: revitalizing and constantly growing”.

But that is only half the story. Talk about being a green family! What choice do his kids have when they are named Sonnet, True, Ocean and Autumn? This is a lot more than just paying lip service to your ideals.

Now I am much more interested in seeing his next movie.