10.03.08
Posted in Branding, Future Names, Name Origins, Name Winners at 7:58 pm by Athol
Names come about in many mysterious and wonderful ways, including accidents that work out. Such is the story apparently behind the new Chrome browser from Google. The engineering team was working hard to minimize the amount of chrome (as the trim on software windows is called). In fact they were obsessed by minimizing it and not having any at all insofar as possible.
Of course, during this process, they kept using and hearing the word chrome - and it is one of those English words that has such a good strong feeling about it. Eventually they had no better name and (at least for now) decided to call the product Google Chrome itself. So nice to own a key brand and word like Google - you can put anything after it. Even the word chrome that is featured as is in a number of software trademarks! Not to mention 500 or more other US trademark filings.
So please, help keep Google out of court. Only call it Google Chrome and don’t refer to Chrome as system software unless it comes from Via Technologies.
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08.12.08
Posted in Future Names, Language Fun, Name Winners at 10:16 am by Athol
By now you have probably all heard about, and tried, the new search engine called Cuil. We offer them up a big name award for picking such an interesting and cute little name. More importantly, for all those big company execs who say they don’t have branding money for a coined name, how quickly did this name spread. Some basic good PR and voila!
Do you notice how much easier it is to remember and to pass along by word of mouth or mouse because it is slightly unusual and different? Unlike common dictionary words that come with so much preconceived baggage and then people can’t remember them or don’t have that mental brain velcro hook.
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02.24.08
Posted in Future Names, Language Fun at 9:39 am by Athol
I suppose it has become more than just a trend.. maybe even a wave .. all these new, very short, strangely spelled Web 2.0 names. On one hand we had the very common name backlash after the .com bust, resulting in names like FaceBook, YouTube and MySpace (which I categorize as Web 1.5 names). But now people are pushing the envelope again though they seem too scared to pick a word with proper English constructs.
Of course, this trend is also driven by the SMS generation, so spelling is not of paramount concern to them, as long as it is short and decipherable and cool to their peers.
Here are some examples from the recent Silicon Valley latest quarter venture funding report: Vuze, SezWho, Tumri, YuMe, SoonR, Taoit, Zoove, Qwaq, Jangl, Fliqz and Ribbit.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, your professional venture capitalists invested over a million dollars on average in each of these strange characters from cartoon land!
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01.18.08
Posted in Future Names at 12:23 pm by Athol
In the January 9th Mercury News, Matt Marshall reported on PubMatic raising $7 million. Wow.. a lot of money for automated pubs I thought. Maybe that is what it takes to make beer vending machines secure so they can be in public places - as they are in Japan - but that is a culture that respects others properties. Oh the joys of the English language.. I wonder if they have even thought how this name might go down (pun intended) in England or the colonies.
As for music, and texting and bands, Web 2.0 style names are to be expected, so
Kadoink might grow healthily with their new Series A funding too. Can’t help but think that some of these names might be running to change them when the 2.0 boom is over, just like all those .com’s ran for cover when the dot bomb bust hit. Oink. Oink.
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08.28.07
Posted in Future Names at 10:06 am by Athol
A week or so ago, Sun Microsystems changed their stock exchange name to Java in an attempt to perk up their corporate listing. But Sun has always been an interesting name because (a) it is such a common word, (b) the founders claimed it was short for Stanford University Network originally, and (c) it is such a difficult name to own and protect.
Even when Sun was founded, there was already a Sun Moon Star computers in Los Angeles. And many other Sun names especially in Asia. So even the State of California had them add the stupid moniker Microsystems. Lucikly we all just called them Sun and ignored fact they have seldom done anything micro like, except design a few chips.
But along the way, a small R&D group was working on a computer language that had the long-awaited appeal of write once, run anywhere. This was called Oak originally, based on the tree outside their office window (very creative!). When that sounded old and stodgy, they changed the name to Green. Maybe it was springtime! But when Kim 
Polese showed up as product manager, it was renamed Java. Oh the magic when a marketer knows what they are doing - and gets her way. No changes needed from engineering except to change all the name references. And a whole new world opened up.
The rest they say is history… except it is not over yet. The original power of Sun workstations was simply the fact that they took existing technologies and properly integrated and commercialized them. Now many others have figured that out.
Java, on the other hand, was unique and different and original research. One day, that is what they will be most known for, and the child will be more famous than the parent, and the company itself will be renamed Java!
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