Name Awards

Never lay your hands on the Neverland name.

Although it is a straight copy by Michael Jackson, and before that by Disney, of a mythical place name in the classic Peter Pan novels, today there are some big organizations and their friendly lawyers protecting the Neverland name. And, of course, Michael Jackson’s estate is probably worth a lot more now that he has passed on. So I was not surprised to read that a would-be tribute musical band had been sent one of those dreaded cease and desist letters for trying to use the name. In a smart move, they are now Foreverland. Much cheaper than fighting a lawsuit… but a positive implied connection nevertheless.

During Jackson’s passing, his Neverland Ranch gained even more immense worldwide coverage. Ironically, when he bought it originally from Sycamore Valley Ranch, he renamed it, but he had subsequently become a part owner of Sycamore Valley Ranch and taken over the ownership. So much of the public immediately recognized the brand as being associated with Michael Jackson - and would attest to that if asked for a common opinion - even though there are many trademark applications and fights over the name. Pity Jackson didn’t properly protect it earlier, instead of the slew of filings on his death (assuming he could get the rights properly from Disney or J.M.Barrie Estate author of Peter Pan).

Enough legal, more interestingly, why does the name have such power, such interest, such fascination? It is a negative right? Wow. Great example of where a negative has become a positive. How much more over the top brandable than Sycamore Valley Ranch? Immeasurable…  with maybe even a touch of genius behind it. Most corporations I know would get all analytical and say it is too negative a name for us - but most of them outside Hollywood are not paid to dream!

Eloquent and beautiful.. but in this day and age Neverland is taken as a name. RIP Michael Jackson… we will leave your place name to your lawyers and family.

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

Do I eat or drink Zibibbo?

Zibibbo is a wine made locally from the Malvasiva grapes, I have now learned from a knitting site Zibibbo is Good - after all other sources came up empty! But it is also a restaurant that the high end paid reviewers call one of the best restaurants in Palo Alto, Silicon Valley, while all the amateur reviewers give it very poor grades.

Unfortunately at $11 per glass of wine I can’t afford to check it out myself - but for a restaurant with high end marketing you’d think they would at least explain the name somewhere.After all, we aren’t all of Sicilian descent! Maybe they just want us to think of imbibing in our bibs and getting our libido on.

PS The problem with looking at restaurant names is one thing leads to another. Now I have to check out Evvia that so many reviewers favored instead. I could end up being a restaurant critic rather than a name critic!

We are marching to Tshwane ??

For eight or nine years they have been arguing about changing the name of Pretoria, administrative capital of South Africa. For many people, Pretoria was not only a symbol of the old white government, it also did not give credence to the former neighboring black, colored or Indian townships. Needless to say emotions run high on all sides of the argument - especially as this has always been a predominantly Afrikaans speaking city by its white citizens. Compare this with its mostly English speaking big business neighbor Johannesburg - only 50 miles down the road.

But they did manage to create a super metropolis and agree on its African name of Tshwane - not that they can agree on where it comes from - other than something to do with the Ndebele tribe or language. Most of us will end up pronouncing it schwain, and not the proper Shwa Nay in the local language. To emphasize what the name is supposed to mean, the city uses a great tagline: We are the same.

While the debates rages on (see wikipedia), it appears that the hard deadlines of hosting the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament is helping some decision making along. And today, at the start of the Federations Cup (a warm up for World Cup) the Italian team, which is using Tshwane as its base city, was presented the keys to Tschwane.. without the name Pretoria being used.

So now, all around the world, will we have to update that grand old marching battle hymn of the republic “We are marching to Pretoria”?  Maybe not. Most who sang this song probably didn’t have a clue it was a real city they were singing about. Just one with the right melodious tone to it.

In the meantime, we are impressed with this super-city doing such a good self-branding campaign.

A descriptive sentence or a name?

Now the one language I know absolutely nothing about is Vietnamese, but many of us in Silicon Valley have followed the controversy over naming a local business district Little Saigon. The fact that there is already such an area in Southern California (and perhaps elsewhere in USA) is beside the point. The name stirs up lots of emotions and has become the downfall of a city official here in San Jose.

More interesting for me is the name of businesses popping up in and around this area. Other than the ones with Pho in part of their title (and a picture of noodles nearby) I have no idea what their names mean. But when I read the legal notices in the local Metro paper (something only a namer nut would do at lunch time), I have a hard time believing this is a good name for a new business: Hoi Cong Huong Soc Trang Bac Cali.

What a long name, especially for an Asian language that tends to have shorter words. Can you imagine answering the phone here? I am surprised it even fit on the county name registration form. I don’t know what it means. I do know they will abbreviating it by the second week. It is long enough to be the name of some quasi government organization name, just like we have in English names of the form The International Society and Brotherhood of Metal and Glass Workers Union.

When your name is longer than your tagline or elevator pitch, you know you have a big branding and marketing problem.