The Twitter Effect

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A weird name with an idea behind it, however, can stand out: take hairyLemon, for instance, a Web development company in Christchurch, New Zealand. Graham Dockrill, hairyLemon's co-founder, explains that the name comes from cockney slang for "here at eleven"—as in 11 a.m., when pubs typically open in New Zealand. "So you would say 'hairy lemon' and I would know to meet you for a pint when the pub opens," he says. Technically, drinking in the morning has nothing to do with the company itself, but it has attracted potential clients. Dockrill estimates that at least a third of hairyLemon's business comes from the name. "People might be looking at three or four different companies," he says, "and they'll pick us because we've got such a quirky name."

Like those who named Twitter and Google, the people behind hairyLemon simply had the touch. Not every do-it-yourself namer is so successful. In June 2009, Russian gas company Gazprom announced a joint venture with Nigeria's NNPC, which gave rise to an offshoot company they called "NiGaz." However, the amalgamation of "Nigeria" and "Gazprom" struck many Americans as better suited to an N.W.A. album than a Russian gas monopoly. Perfecting a name in the Digital Age, according to Tungsten's Davis, is both art and science. His most famous invention is PODS, short for Portable On-Demand Storage. The moving and storage company's original name was Portables, but Davis thought it "sounded too much like a toilet." A name like PODS, he says, creates a feeling of "what, tell me more" instead of "huh, I don't get it."

The biggest mistake among amateur name creators, Davis believes, is overanalyzing the language. Amateurs can become too focused on the linguistics and the number of vowels and consonants. "They're so grammatically focused that they miss the bigger picture," he says. "They forget that there's got to be a story connected to it. Other people get the story, but the word is so clunky that nobody cares about the story. They'll be like, 'In Latin, this word means the god of business.' Well, yeah, but it's got 16 syllables and five x's and three z's."

For those without the capital to employ a professional, the Internet is now littered with free business-name generators. Not all are legitimate; some are actually mocking you. In 2003 a London advertising agency called The Design Conspiracy launched a website called whatbrandareyou.com in which visitors could type in their "core values" (like "dynamic" or "passionate") and company goals (like "global leadership" or "client focus") and the site would concoct a personalized brand name. "We were poking fun at a number of ridiculous rebrands at the time, like Accenture and Consignia," says Ben Terrett, a former Design Conspiracy member. He says all 150 of the site's "generated" names were carefully devised to be as insipid as possible. Still, the trick was so convincing that 20 of their fake names—including Bivium, Libero, and Winnovate—were registered as trademarks by real companies.

The business of creating marketable names won't be getting less competitive or confusing anytime soon. As London-based linguist Susan Purcell points out, "There are around 600,000 entries in the Oxford English Dictionary, many fewer words than there are businesses." So the next time you need a new corporate name, don't expect to find it in the OED. And don't expect to throw a few vowels and consonants in a blender and come up with a winner. The best approach, in fact, may be to trust serendipity. Or hairy lemon.

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