Name Awards

Salquin to the Rescue – Great name, great kid’s book.

Yesterday I was bemoaning fact that very old people do not readily accept new, unusual or coined words. Today I have the joy of talking about a kid’s book that really continues to push the limits of names and characters – for both people and critters.

Before this book I had never heard of the Salquin native people of Canada, now I too love the word. Same as I learned about Chimona in the first book in the series and from whence the series gets its name: The Chimona Chronicles.

Believe me, if I had grand kids I would be reading this to them from my laptop. It is so much easier to read to your kids, or along with them, if there is some intelligence in the story so you don’t get too bored. After all, you know you are going to have to read it over and over if it is any good.

And in addition, this book comes with an associated series website (www.chimona.com) where you and the kids can investigate more of the names and terms. Even adults will not know them all unless you have travelled in the same areas as Rosie Reay, the author.

Yes, I am biased because I helped bring this book to market, but I only put the effort in because I thought it was worthwhile. With the added extra of a full length poem (a trademark of Rosie’s stories) and Candice McMullan’s great illustrations, I expect this book will be very popular for Xmas and many a family will be learning new names and places together, apart from unraveling the simple parallel plots in the story line.

In the meantime, you can get an early copy via download to your computer from www.FodenPress.com.

As predicted, Aulani shows the Hawaiian names are coming.

A reporter once scoffed at me when I said we would see more Hawaiian names abound because of the shortage of English words that can be owned and trademarked. She thought Akamai was a big exception. Of course, they have since grown to be a major internet infrastructure player.

Now Disney is launching its Aulani Resort in Hawaii.  Being in Hawaii, it is much more natural to use such a name… but it is a rare word that has them explaining its meaning and pronunciation. And, of course, with their money and marketing mojo they can brand anything, you might argue. Still, it takes courage to really bring a new word to life. The baby naming books say it is female for a god’s messenger. After the Disney spin is added, it supposedly means “the place that speaks for the great ones”.  And no, it does not rhyme with aura. Like in Wow or Maui, it is a loud Au.

Sign up now for your timeshare at Aulani.com. It will be ready for you and Mickey to don your flowery shirts next year.

Remember when fossils were old and yucky?

For a brief moment as I unwrapped my gift, I thought I really don’t care for fossils. Why on earth would anyone buy me one…  I prefer they be left in their natural habitat.
Oh boy, aren’t I out of date and forgetful.  Fossil does not mean fossil when it is the watch and gift brand. It means high class, even avant garde, with a touch of travel whimsy and humor. Yes, this word has taken on a whole new meaning as a brand.

That in itself is not unusual. But a brand that is the complete opposite of the original meaning of the English word?  That takes skill and class. What a great example of the power of branding when your brand values are clearly known…. and your name is but a unique handle for that brand promise.

The exception that proves the rules of naming

Every week I hear from top executives and branding professionals about how a name should be simple, clear, easy to pronounce and evocative of some key value or characteristic. And then there is the international men’s fashion chain and clothing line called Ermenegildo Zegna.

Of course it is Italian. And I know it is the founder’s name. But unlike Armani and most other famous designers, he chooses not to be simply Zegna (except for the website domain). First time I saw this beautifully painted on a high class store window I stopped and stared. In that sense it worked, since it sure had my attention. But this namiac still had to write it down to make sure he could remember it by time he got back online.

Do you think this type of name takes courage or is it a stupid move? Is it simply an international language error? Or is it  a shrewd and clever move to stand out from the crowd?

Top 10 ways to find a free .com name in 2010

Every week someone cries on my shoulder about how hard it is becoming to find free .com domain names. Well they are disappearing at a rate of 1 million a month, and have been doing so for a while, so what do you expect if you are only waking up now?

Anyway, here are my professional suggestions. Let me know what you think or pass along the list, with due credit to Athol Foden of Brighter Naming.

1. Use a number in your name. e.g. 3Com, 2Wire, Tack360, etc. Works best if name is mostly seen online and not used much on the phone.
2. Use a different form of a verb.  e.g  Learning Spanish instead of Learn Spanish say. Or Brighter Naming instead of Bright Naming. Non-English languages often have lots of conjugations of their verbs providing even more options.
3. Personalize or localize the name.  e.g.  iFly, MySpinnerTricks, YourBicycleTracks, OurFishingTrips, TexasBigGameSupporters, ScottishCurlingClub, CollegePaymentsUSA, etc.
4. Coin new words from classic or other roots:  Miradiance  (Mira is Spanish/Latin for view), Frito Lay (Frito is Spanish for fried), Verantis (From verity = truth and Atlantis)
5. Use initials as well:   PFChangs, PrintDNA, SugarCRM, NGMoco
6. Combine parts of words: e.g. Solyndra from solar and cylinder, Sony from sonus and sonny, Transcera from transcend and era. Or even combine languages: e.g. NeuStar  (German + English words), Tambrio (English + Spanish).
7. Go Hawaiian, or African, or …     Akamai, Wiki, Ubuntu, Zynga
8. Squeeze vowels in (to make smoother pronunciations) like Avidasports, Affinaquest, or out (aka IM speak) to make for very short names like Flickr, Loopt, VCTRY.
9. Go phonetic with something that just sounds good and create your own meanings:   Cisco, Kinkos, Zanitar, Jamba, Brivo, Ariba, Skype
10. Work with a professional naming agency or consultant that tracks free domains and can also quickly implement one of the above techniques.

Number 10 is probably the least expensive solution when you consider the management time and legal headaches they also solve, especially now that competition has driven prices down to $6000 for corporate accounts, and much less for individuals or small businesses.

Kwik, is it Kewlr or Kewler?

Since I for one have been quoted in the press about new name styles that squeeze out the vowels becoming more popular, I should not be surprised to discover names like Kewlr ( a social bookmarking site) and Kewler (makers of Icy Hot balls) coexisting.

Maybe I will also need a copy of KwikEdit to get my site straightened out before I kew up to go to Kuwait.

Are you antsy for some ittie bittie thing from Etsy?

In the latest Reader’s digest, the Founder of Etsy.com explains how he actually wanted a nonsense word since he planned on creating the brand from scratch. Even so, it is not all of us who watch Italian operas and listen for common phrases. Apparently in Italian etsi means Oh, yes. In Latin, it means although, even if (the article says and if).

From that he derived Etsy, probably because the domain Etsi.com was already tied up by an European Telecom standards body. So it really is not nonsense at all.

Sound a bit cutesy to you? Of course it does… but that is very appropriate for all the hand made arts and crafts vendors that use Etsy as their main online shop site. I might start my Xmas shopping here.. and help the little guys in this economy.

Magenn if you can, a new clean technology that works

Well, if you were going to create a company to invent and deploy lighter than air wind turbine generators, what would you call it?  Windy Sky? What if you imagined that these devices could be deployed worldwide, wherever Magellan sailed?  Then maybe you would come up with a unique new name like Magenn.

OK, I can hear you cringing now and saying “I would never name my company with an awkward coined word like that!”. In such a case, I would remind you of all the people who never would of dreamed of naming their company Cisco or Google. But now those are great names, because their shortness and good phonetics, with sticky consonants, are proving to be memorable brand monikers.

I am not smart enough to know if Magenn’s flying wind turbines will really work… but they are fascinating and we wish them well.  And seriously consider them as  a prospect if you are a venture investor. Their embedded tagline does a great job of positioning the technology until such time as they are better known.

Note: We have no connections to this company and have done no business or technology evaluation other than on their company name.

A peaceful smile.. from a law firm!

Yesterday a law firm brought a smile to my face. No, I did not win a judgment. I simply met a new small business law firm  that had the courage to not name themselves in the usual Stuffy, Traditional and Heritage style! Being the namiac that I am, I was impressed the minute I saw Jennifer’s business card (logo scanned here).

Playing in different technology sandboxes is very “in” speak in Silicon Valley. Visiting a law firm called SandGarden Law plays off that plus much more as implied by the whole garden concept. It makes me feel more at peace already.

Lawyers and clients are people too. I am sure you will interact well with this startup when they make you comfortable on first contact. And no, it is not an Asian zen firm.

P.S. And with a name like that, no tagline is needed.

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