What Is In A Name?

There are many strategies to naming products, corporates, businesses, and brands. Many of these strategies are so simple and so discrete, that the consumer gives in to the purchasing temptation without a single thought as to why. Here is the inside scoop to some of those naming strategies.
Metonymy is a figure of speech where the name of an object is replaced with a word closely related to the original. Starbucks Coffee uses this to make consumers think that their money, or "bucks", which sounds more hip and energetic just like the coffee they wish to purchase, is going towards a better product by that decision. Perhaps the company even wanted to make their consumers feel all the more special by putting the word "star" in the title. Maybe as a consumer is waiting on line for their cafe mocha grande, they feel more like a star rather than just in a rush to get to work.
Haplology is used in company names like Toys R Us, where there is an omission of a repeated occurrence of a sound or syllable in the pronunciation. Aside from eliminating all unnecessarily repeated sounds, the tactic of haplology makes names more fun to say and look at. Let's say you drove past a sign that read: Toys Are Us. It just looks silly, doesn't it? It also doesn't seem to make much sense. Toys are who? But when a company decides to make it Toys "R" Us, rather than "are", the name seems all the more better. Maybe now the driver will make a quick turn into a parking lot rather than continuing to drive on with a confused look.
Finally, clipping is used to target the rate or pace at which a name is pronounced. It shortens a word or phrase by dropping one or more syllables. FedEx is an example of clipping. Say it out loud: FedEx. Seems to have one syllable, correct? In reality, that name should consist of two syllables, Fed and Ex. That doesn't flow off the tongue very well. FedEx flows quickly and naturally, eliminating any choppy pronunciations and therefore perhaps saving the company from a choppy reputation.
So, apparently there is a lot more thought put into a name than any regular consumer might see. There's a lot of "behind the scenes" work that goes into naming corporates, products, businesses, and brands. The three examples above (three of many more in existence) show how a consumer may be more likely to choose one product over another, or maybe one business instead of another one with the same inventory to sell. But the beauty is that the consumer is not always aware of the naming-schemes set before them. So, what is in a name? Apparently a lot more than Shakespeare even knew.


Source: www.namedevelopment.com
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