Naming

Our July naming quote of the month:

“Proper names are poetry in the raw. Like all poetry they are untranslatable.”

W. H. Auden, Anglo-American Poet

Our June naming quote of the month:

“I wanna get a job as someone who names kitchen appliances. Toaster, refrigerator, blender … all you do is say what the shit does, and add ‘-er’. I wanna work for the Kitchen Appliance Naming Institute. ‘Hey, what does that do?’ ‘It keeps shit fresh.’ ‘Well, that’s a fresher … I’m going on break’.”

Mitch Hedberg, American Comedian

Like any other exotic culture, Las Vegas fascinates me. The Los Angeles Times has a great story on the latest trend in Vegas clubbing — the exclusive pool party. With names like Rehab (at the Hard Rock Hotel — and clearly the best name of the bunch), Bare (at the Mirage), the Venus Pool Club (at Caesars Palace), and the Tao Beach Club (at the Venetian), these new “dayclubs” now make the Vegas “nightlife” a round-the-clock proposition:

Since it began in 2004, Rehab has transformed Vegas’ once-sleepy daytime scene into a “Girls Gone Wild” tableau of debauchery. Today, almost every major casino resort has nightclub operators managing its 21-and-over pools. They hire DJs to spin music and demand hefty cover charges. Rates vary by the weekend; on the cheapest days women pay $20, men $30.

Several resorts have separate “Euro-style,” or top-optional, pools, with half-naked women cavorting in the water. This summer, both the Mirage and Venetian — heavyweights in the nightclub arena — have unveiled re-imagined pools.

“It’s done a remarkable thing to the nightlife landscape,” [the Hard Rock Hotel’s Jack] LaFleur said. “Day life? It’s hard to even categorize ! It’s finding those ways to generate revenue. For a town that’s been known exclusively for nightlife, this was extremely daring and off the charts.”

The gamble is paying off.

What will they think of next? Whatever your reaction, you’ve got to admit Las Vegas is a one-of-a-kind laboratory for destination branding. See you at the pool.

Swedish physician and botanist Carolus Linnaeus (AKA Carl von Linné) would have been 300 years old today.  Known as the father of modern taxonomy, he developed the system of scientific nomenclature we use in one form or another to this day: Kingdom, Class, Order, Genus, Species, Variety.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau said of him: “I know no greater man on earth.” August Strindberg eulogized him as “a poet who happened to become a naturalist.” And Swiss physiologist Albrecht von Haller called him “the second Adam” because, like the first man, he named every living thing.

Here are some fun facts about Carl:

At the time he lived, most Swedes had no family name. When he entered the University of Lund, he invented the surname Linnaeus after the linn ‘linden tree’ that served as his family crest.

He included a variety of mythological creatures (including the troglodyte, satyr, hydra, and phoenix) in his system of classification.

He was the first person to figure out how to grow bananas in Europe.

He made a habit of naming ugly plants after his critics. Hmmm.

Our May naming quote of the month: 

“The right name is an advertisement in itself.”

Claude C. Hopkins, British Advertising Pioneer

Our April naming quote of the month: 

“A name is a mirror to capture the soul of a thing […]”

Susan Brind Morrow, American Egyptologist

It’s been an extraordinarily hectic but especially enjoyable month around here, with a variety of entertainment, hospitality, and restaurant projects competing for our attention.  We hope to catch our collective breath this weekend, watch the Bruins thrash the Gators, and return to a more regular blogging schedule in April.

The Cruise Log, USA Today’s “port of call for cruising news and trends,” recently discussed the cruising industry’s startling lack of imagination when it comes time to christen a new ship:

• Crown (Princess) and Crown (Norwegian)
• Dawn (Princess) and Dawn (Norwegian)
• Dream (Norwegian) and Dream (Carnival)
• Freedom of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) and Freedom (Carnival)
• Jewel of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) and Jewel (Norwegian)
• Legend (Carnival) and Legend of the Seas (Royal Caribbean)
• Magic (Disney) and Magic (Carnival)
• Pride (Carnival) and Pride (Norwegian)
• Sinfonia (MSC Cruises) and Symphony (Crystal Cruises)
• Splendour of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) and Splendor (Carnival)
• Star (Princess) and Star (Norwegian)

What’s going on here?  Three things, I think.  First, there’s the weight of nautical tradition. Second, this appears to be a clear-cut case of naming by focus group, an approach which inevitably yields a name that “sounds like a cruise ship” — like every other cruise ship, that is. Third, I suspect the cruise ship industry, like the theme park industry, suffers from the understandable but dangerous desire to be all things to all people.

It’s particularly surprising that Caribbean has fallen prey to these temptations, since they position themselves as the “fun ship” line.  Kudos to Holland America for hewing to an even older tradition, naming its ships after the Dutch cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Oosterdam.

The Washington Post has a fun little story on the ever-growing number of music and movie celebrities who are committed to extending their personal brands beyond the entertainment industry and into the realms of fashion and fragrance. Can you name the celebrities behind the following fashion brands (clues in parentheses)?

• L.A.M.B. (named after her best-selling CD, Love. Angel. Music. Baby.)
• Sweetface
• Princy (named after her father’s nickname for her)
• House of Dereon (named after her late grandmother, Agnez Dereon)
• Twenty8Twelve (named after her birth date, 12/28)

The answers are:

• L.A.M.B. — Gwen Stefani
• Sweetface — Jennifer Lopez
• Princy — Jessica Simpson
• House of Dereon — Beyoncé
• Twenty8Twelve — Sienna Miller

It may not be much of a jump from celebrity to fashion icon, but the usual caveats of brand extension apply:

You’ll want to give your new fashion brand its own identity, breathing life into it rather than naming it after yourself. Your fans normally want to live your lifestyle, not be you, and this brand strategy enables your line to flourish independently, more or less unaffected by the ups and downs of your entertainment career.

That said, your designs should reflect your own sense of style. In other words, you should actually want to wear your own brand — not all the time, but often enough that we know it’s “you.”  Otherwise, you risk being a fashion fad, not a brand.

My prediction for the next big celeb-turned-fashion-brand? Fergie.

BusinessWeek has an intelligent story on the recent decision of Binney & Smith (a subsidiary of Hallmark) to rename itself after its most familiar brand — Crayola.  This is one of those rare cases where the experts all seem to agree — it’s a strong, confident move by a company on a roll.

Crayola is one of the world’s great invented brand names, in the same league as Kodak, Oreo, and Google. Edwin Binney’s wife, Alice, coined the term from the French word craie ‘chalk’ (the source of our word crayon) plus the affix -ola (a clipped form of the word oleaginous ‘oil-like’ — think Mazola). 

While we’re talking Hollywood, what are your out-of-the-gate picks for the best titles of 2007?  You can see my early favorites — and the Los Angeles Times’ nominees – on our entertainment branding blog, Let’s Talk Story.

Mincing no words, PC Magazine has selected The Worst Technology Names … Ever. In the Worst Product Names category, the winners (or losers, if you prefer) are:

• DigiScent iSmell
• Ogio Shling
• Burning Love Pouch
• Verizon G’zOne
• Pentax *ist Series
• Nintendo Wii
• iMuffs Bluetooth headphones
• Samsung Yepp MP3 player
• Tivoli Audio iYiYiYi stereo system for the iPod
• Zizzle iZ
• Nabaztag (special mention)
• Shuganano (special mention)

In the Worst Application Names category, their picks are:

• Crush or Flush
• Pikipimp
• GIMP
• eefoof
• GigaTribe
• Zamzar
• Grazr
• Reaktor 5 (et al.)
• Joost
• Gubb

Of course it’s a lot easier to mock a bad name (PC Magazine?) than to create a great one, but you do have to wonder what in the world they were thinking in most of these cases.

In the interest of fair play, here’s my quick defense of a few of these:

Although I suspect I’d have taken a different creative tack, strategically speaking the Wii name has done a good job of positioning Nintendo’s platform as the fun, “let’s just play” alternative to the more hardcore PlayStation and Xbox systems.

Joost is at least a better name than Skype!

iYiYi is clearly a play on the iPod brand and the Spanish interjection “ay, ay, ay” — something the PC Magazine editors missed altogether.

There’s nothing wrong with the Reaktor name; it’s a fine name.  Native Instruments, the creator of Reaktor 5, is a German company; reaktor is the German equivalent of reactor. Do your homework, PC Magazine!

The American Dialect Society has selected plutoed as its 2006 Word of the Year. To be plutoed is to be demoted or devalued, as in the case of the late planet Pluto, which has been reclassified by the International Astronomical Union as a dwarf planet.

Plutoed narrowly beat out climate canary for the honor.  A climate canary is defined as “any organism or species whose poor health or declining numbers hint at a larger environmental catastrophe on the horizon.”  Climate canary did receive a consolation prize, being named the Most Useful Wordof the Year.

Other notable new terms include lactard (a person who is lactose-intolerant), to julie (to organize an event, in the manner of The Love Boat’s cruise director Julie McCoy), and snowclone (an expression who’s structure is borrowed to create new, similar expressions, e.g. X is the new Y).  Snowcloning is a favorite technique of copywriters everywhere.

Founded in 1889, the American Dialect Society is dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, and of other languages, or dialects of other languages, influencing it or influenced by it.

According to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, U.S. District Court Judge Harold Baer has ruled that Victoria’s Secret has the right to prevent Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Audrey Quock from launching a line of lingerie called ‘SEXY LITTLE THINGS,’ ruling that the lingerie giant has a prior claim on the phrase.

In his 17 page ruling, Judge Baer decided that ‘SEXY LITTLE THINGS’ is a suggestive mark (which often can be protected) rather than a descriptive mark (which generally cannot):

While the term describes the erotically stimulating quality of the trademarked lingerie, it also calls to mind the phrase “sexy little thing,” popularly used to refer to attractive lithe young women.

I have to agree with Judge Baer - the phrase ‘SEXY LITTLE THINGS’ is definitely suggestive! (Reposted)

If you thought your last naming project was a challenge, be very thankful you’re not the government official in charge of naming Indonesia’s 10,000 or so as-yet-unnamed islands! According to an article in The Jakarta Post, the United Nations is insisting that Indonesia give every one of its often-uninhabited islands an official name by 2007.

Naming an island is serious stuff, as the lack of a name makes it difficult for the government to enforce its territorial claims. Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi acknowledged that the job is the responsibility of the central government, but he is wisely encouraging the local authorities to take the initiative.

We’ll gladly volunteer our services in exchange for a little uninhabited island in the sun to call our own. (Reposted)

The American Dialect Society has selected truthiness as its 2005 Word of the Year. Defined as putting those things you wish to be true ahead of what is known to be true, the term was recently popularized by satirist Stephen Colbert on his Comedy Central show The Colbert Report.

The Society also honored podcast as the Most Useful Word of the Year, whale tail (the exposure of the upper portion of a thong) as the Most Creative, K Fed (a nickname for Kevin Federline, the current husband of Britney Spears) as the Most Unnecessary, crotchfruit (a slang term for children, on the analogy of the term ‘fruit of one’s loins) the Most Outrageous, and sudoku (a number puzzle first popularized in Japan) as the Word Most Likely To Succeed.

Founded in 1889, the American Dialect Society is dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, and of other languages, or dialects of other languages, influencing it or influenced by it. Another fine group of linguists, talking tirelessly on your behalf! (Reposted)