What's in a name?

What’s in a Name?

Linguistics demystified for brands

Creating and managing brand value TM

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What’s in a Name?

Linguistics demystified for brands

By Paola Norambuena

When most people think of linguistics – if they do at all – they likely picture stuffy academics waxing obscure about the roots of language. Seminar tables and lecture halls, earnest students and musty library shelves full of arcane texts gathering dust.

What they most certainly do not picture is cutting-edge commercial creativity or a route to success in the crowded marketplace of products and services.

Yet linguistics is just that – a tool for narrowing in on the kinds of names that will make your product or service a world changer, for finding the moniker that can help you grab the public imagination.

Linguistics and the naming process Put simply, linguistics is the study of the structure and development of language.

It encompasses a number of sub-fields – including sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and historical and computational linguistics.

Some are more theoretical, others more applied. But linguists share a widespread agreement that human beings have an innate ability to acquire and use language, based on our shared biology. This makes linguistics a crucial asset for generating names that are both meaningful for the brand and memorable in the mind of the consumer.

When a company has a new product or service it needs to name, there are basically

two possible directions to take: one is to select an existing word or words, the other is to conjure a new name from raw linguistic materials. Both approaches involve a detailed process.

Say you want to use a real-word name.

Linguistics suggests that limiting yourself to the English language may also limit your appeal – and your market share. That’s partly because English is full of consonant clusters that are simply hard to pronounce for a large portion of the world’s population.

While English words often get stuck on other mother tongues, words from the Romance languages tend to have fewer consonants.

Furthermore, Spanish, French, Italian – even Romanian – and other Romance languages all share Latin as their common ancestor.

So many of their sounds are not only easier to pronounce, but also comfortably interchangeable to the more than 600 million who speak them.

Looking to less common languages can be equally inspiring. Hasbro’s Parker Brothers Games turned to Swahili when naming their popular stack-and-build block game Jenga (“to build”). Similarly, the Swahili word for “village” – Kijiji – became the name of a website offering free local classified ads.

One example of using real words to create a distinctive – and ownable – name is Hyatt’s hotel brand Andaz, which is both easy to say

and rich in meaning. Andaz benefits from an association with Romance languages (the Spanish “andar” and the Italian “andare” – both verbs meaning “to go” – resonate with a travel-oriented brand). Yet it was chosen because it is an Urdu word meaning “personal style” – an apt choice for a hotel that celebrates its clients’ personal preferences at every turn.

For mass appeal, linguistics would steer us toward constructions of words and sounds rooted in the real but with a new identity all their own.

Coining names and linguistics Just as linguistics can help with finding a real-word name, it can be equally valuable when inventing , or coining, a name, an approach that has the potential advantages of ownability, distinctiveness and (near) universal appeal.

A coined name is a name that cannot be found in the dictionary – including anything from a playful twist on a real word (“googol” becomes Google), to something entirely made up (such as the Eee computer by Asus).

A common frustration is hitting on the perfect real-word name, only to have

What’s in a Name? Linguistics demystified for brands

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If you can’t own it, it doesn’t matter how great a name is.

legal tell you it’s not ownable; with over 21 million registered trademarks and counting, chances are someone else got there first.

By contrast, coining involves creatively combining, refining or dicing words – significantly narrowing the chances that your preferred name is already taken.

While that last tactic has become highly imitated in the digital space, one of the most successful global brands is 124 years into demonstrating the impact and memorability of two easy sounds: CocaCola’s alternating vowels and singsong-y pronunciation are a proven way to spread happiness wherever you may roam.

For mass appeal, linguistics would steer us toward constructions of words and sounds rooted in the real but with a new identity all their own. Take Olay’s “Definity” – which combines “define” with the common suffix “-ity” to create a new noun that looks like a real word. This particular name gains further credence because it contains “finity” which we find in the word “infinity.”

This type of coined name may be less distinctive than an Eee – since the construct is more expected – but it packs consumer punch. Of course, adding to its appeal is its very real potential for clearing any legal hurdles, which is itself no small feat.

The importance of evaluation Naming professionals aim for near-universal appeal to maximize a brand’s marketing

potential, but they also must consider specific cultural cache and appropriateness across all the markets the brand will touch.

Linguists have done extensive research into both of these territories and their work that can help us balance the two.

Universal appeal Linguists can offer marketers valuable insights into the kinds of associations that certain words and sounds have across a broad swath of the polyglot global marketplace. For example, an “R” sound is often perceived as conveying motion – think of words like river, ripple, or even whirl, or brands like Range Rover and Roomba. The “S” sound, of course communicates smooth, sleek, streamlined - like Silk or Swiffer. And “Z” often evokes speed, energy or precision, hence its use by such brands as Zipcar, Zippity, Blazer and RAZR. But linguistics, like naming, is not always an exact science. Its greatest value may lie in the deep understanding of specific languages, and the cultures it is part of. This is what a linguistic specialist can bring to the table.

A linguistic perspective on cultural diversity can help ensure a brand name won’t offend, unintentionally amuse, or simply flop. In fact, linguistics can help maximize your chances for success by honing a name for global markets as much as for local consumption, a distinction that is becoming

thinner every minute.

For instance, the United States has a growing number of multilingual residents, each with purchasing power and cultural prestige – and each posing unique opportunities for marketers to get it wrong.

That’s why working with linguists when evaluating brand names is essential.

Consider that the top five languages in the U.S. besides English are Spanish, Chinese, French, German, and Tagalog. If your name is targeting these non-Englishspeaking populations in the U.S., let alone in international markets, it’s key to do linguistic cultural checks – not just with American linguists but by running shortlisted names through in-country linguistic and cultural checks as well. This will help you to keep an eye on the forest and the trees.

Late stage essentials Now that you’re armed with all this linguistic insight, naming your product or service should be a breeze, right?

Not always, but a linguistic perspective can help get you out of a naming rut, even if its late in the game.

Let’s say you’re positioning a new product that is all about speed, energy and precision.

Logically, your shortlist is filled with Z names – after all, sound symbolism and its many boosters tell you that Z implies speed, energy, and precision.

What’s in a Name? Linguistics Demystified for Brands

You realize there are just two obstacles to settling on your perfect name. One is differentiation – your category is saturated with Z names and sounds. And the other is ownability – all the best Z names are taken.

If you can’t own it, it doesn’t matter how great a name is. And if it won’t set you apart in your space, what good is it? Brands like FedEx, Red Bull, and Toyota RAV 4, however, don’t feature Zs in their names, yet all of these brands communicate speed, energy, and precision. When faced with limited choice, linguistics will tell you to look farther afield, to other languages and cultures, to other roots, devices, and structures, to find a name that is both distinctive and meaningful.

Besides ownability and differentiation, the naming endgame is also about sensitivity.

In today’s shrinking multinational world, engaging linguists to run thorough cultural disaster checks on your prospective brand names is of the utmost importance.

...linguistics, like naming, is not always an exact science.

Its greatest value may lie in the deep understanding of different languages, and the cultures they’re part of...

Some cautionary tales include a major U.S. brand that went to market with a product named GECIS (pronounced JEE-kiss).

Unfortunately, in Hungary, where the brand conducted a considerable business, the GECIS name translated to an unseemly bodily fluid.

In another instance, Coca-Cola went into the Japanese market with the tagline “Coke Adds Life” – disastrously translated as “Coke Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Dead” – particularly offensive to Japanese believers of the Shinto faith. And in another, the Russian natural gas giant Gazprom inked a deal with Nigeria to start a joint venture earlier in 2009, the new entity was named Nigaz.

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These stories go a long way to reinforce the pitfalls that await overeager marketing professionals. Offensive names are not just problematic because of feelings, but of how they can derail even the best laid marketing efforts.

Of course the goal of every name is to stick with the target audience and deliver the kind of positive associations you want. In an increasingly small, overcrowded and fiercely contested market environment, this can be a daunting task. Linguistics can provide you with proven advantages to help you find or create a one-of-a-kind name and evaluate its potential when it is seen on shelf, on the lot, online, wherever your brand competes.

Whether real or coined, suggestive or descriptive, your name is your brand’s most essential asset, making it all the more important to get it right the first time. ■

Paola Norambuena Paola Norambuena is Interbrand’s Executive Director of Verbal Identity, North America.

She is passionate about language and believes it is a powerful tool that impacts behavior and helps brands create an emotional connection with customers, employees, and key stakeholders.

Combining her experience in communications, brand strategy, and ideation, Paola helps her clients harness the power of language in compelling new ways, through naming, voice, messaging, and creative writing—verbal identity strategies that help bring brands to life.

Paola Norambuena Executive Director of Verbal Identity, North America T: 212-798-7590 Paola.norambuena@interbrand.com

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