A FUND BY ANY OTHER NAME... LOTS OF INVESTORS ARE faithful to Fidelity. Some are in the forefront with Vanguard. Now, many other mutual-fund families want similarly memorable brand names. So they're creating new monikers. In 1996, 45 fund families changed names. This year, thus far, 10 have switched. Mergers are giving many fund providers the chance to change. When First Chicago and National Bank of Detroit merged, executives figured their funds' names (Prairie and Woodward) were too unexciting and redubbed them Pegasus, after the mythological winged horse--to denote both strength and the ability to soar. The Twentieth Century and Benham families, keeping a vestige of the old names to avoid confusion, emerged as American Century. After all, this century is ending. How do these new names stack up? Still too bland, says Ken Roberts, head of corporate-image consultant Lippincott & Margulies. Reason: Financial-services names in general seek to project stability, he says. Of course, some funds don't even try to be catchy. State Street Global Advisors wanted a name closer to its own. That's why Seven Seas funds recently became SSgA. EDITED BY LARRY LIGHT Lisa Sanders RELATED ITEMS TABLE: Mutable Monikers Return to top of story

Updated June 15, 1997 by bwwebmaster
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