09.10
A few months back I wrote a post about a local coffee (?) joint near my house. The problem with DeSpyro Coffee, from my point of view, was that they were claiming expertise in too many categories at once (coffee, burgers, breakfast, mexican food, gelato, subs, and “grill”), which gives the impression that they’re a jack of all trades, master of none. Maybe that’s fine if you’re a diner or a Jewish deli, but for a place with “coffee” in the name, it would be nice if they’d at least mastered a good cup a’ joe.
The other day I noticed that DeSpyro is now Dukes Burgers. I called, and apparently it is just a name change, with little change to the menu or anything else. The lady I spoke with wouldn’t give me a real reason for the name change.
But here’s the kicker:
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07.29
I love these stories about the brand names that almost were (or, in some cases, names that were actually used for a short time). For example, The Gap was almost Pants and Discs. But I always wonder if they’re true or apocryphal. You’d be surprised—apparently the oft-told and widely believed story of the Chevy Nova’s failure in Mexico is fictional.
Here’s a quiz on some other almost-names from a reputable source: mental_floss magazine.
To find out the answers, you can buy the magazine, do some research online, or contact me (via links to the right). I’d love to see a master list of these, including stories of why the names changed. Maybe something for Wikipedia, or a naming firm’s blog. In the meantime, I’ll post any that I find here and tag them with “changing names.”
07.14
First off, thank you to the people at Lexulous for reminding me of pending moves in my non-existent ongoing games. Seems like a bit of a desperate marketing attempt reminiscent of “You’ve already won!” junk mail. Secondly, “Lexulous” is a godawful name. It replaced “Scrabulous” in September of 2008 due to legal issues with that name’s similarity to “Scrabble.”
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05.29
I’ve just read through some great blog posts and articles on Bing—the name as well as expectations for the upcoming Microsoft “decision engine.” Opinions on the name are all over the map, with (mostly) negative opinions led by naming professionals like those at Snark Hunting and Pollywog. I love the bitter sarcasm over at Snark Hunting, and they make a funny point comparing Bing (“ping” with a “B”) to Zune (“tune” with a “Z”). But one of the earliest lessons I learned about naming (or writing taglines, etc.) is that it’s easy—often too easy—to pick on someone else’s work. Or, to put it more bluntly, to dislike it because it’s not your own.
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04.29
Yesterday I read Bob Hoffman’s amusing post about “death fatigue,” and it got me thinking about how much of the fear and fanaticism surrounding swine flu can be attributed to the name. It sounds awful. Much more unpleasant than bird flu, for example.
Then, on my 30-minute commute (plus or minus) into the office today, I heard 30 minutes (plus or minus) of NPR swine flu stories, and nothing else. I now know the status of swine flu preparedness for just about every country on Earth. A couple of the stories, both of which I found pretty amusing, were about groups that are upset about the name and the alternative names they’ve proposed.
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04.10
I first learned about this name change on CatchThis, a blog produced by the excellent naming firm Catchword. According to the post, a family-friendly video sharing site called GodTube has renamed itself tangle. Laurel Sutton, a founder and owner at Catchword, outlines her case against the name by making two points:
- A contradiction between a) a line in an article explaining the name change, which states that tangle supports “no specific theology” and b) quotes from the CEO that suggest the site is really for Christians.
- The fact that “tangle” is “usually something you want to get out of, not in to. And then there’s the meaning of ‘mess with’ or ‘provoke’ – also negative, and kind of threatening too (do you want to tangle with god?)”
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