11 Ways to Play the Name Game

Call me goofy, but I loved singing “The Name Game” as kid: Meryl, Meryl, bo-beryl, Banana-fana fo-feryl Fee-fi-mo-meryl Meryl! Yeah, yeah… I know how some immature kids like to use names like Chuck and Mitch. I’m sure you’ve heard your share. I’ve always been fascinated with names, how they came to be, and their origins. … Read more

Numbers as Brand Names

TechCrunch reports that Microsoft calls its next operating system (the one after Vista) Windows 7. Mickey comments: I’d love to see them start using logical numbers again, but it doesn’t add up: Windows 3.1 (“Windows 3”) Windows 95 (4) Windows 98 (5) Windows ME/2000 (6) Windows XP (7) Windows Vista (8) Windows 7 (9?) I … Read more

Stupid Product Names

How do you pronounce “Casio’s G’zOne?” That’s what Strategic Name Development asks. Just the other day when I volunteered at my kid’s school book fair, a few of us were talking about Mo Willem’s Knuffle Bunny because we all love the Pigeon books. I thought it was pronounced “nuffle bunny” like “know.” The librarian thought … Read more

KFC New Famous Bowls

This Is Broken looks at KFC’s ad for its “NEW! KFC famous bowls.” The submitter correctly points out that you can’t be “new” and “famous” at the same time. One reader says games can become famous before they ever hit the market. True. Look at Nintendo’s Brain Age and Big Brain Academy. My mom was … Read more

Brainstorming Names

I love brainstorming ideas for a new company name. I guess you could call me a name freak. 🙂 Every case is different, but here are the basic tips I tend to follow when hunting for inspiration: * Randomly flip through the dictionary. * Take words and mixing or subbing letters. * Say names out … Read more

Sharing Full Names

Glad to see it is possible to see a Meryl Evans promoted to a big job — Meryl Evans Promoted to Vice President of Administrative & Information Services at Electro Rent Corporation. Oh, it’s not me. Me a math major? Now that’s funny. Interestingly enough, Meryl went to college and worked in Texas. Too weird. … Read more