Naming In The News
Strategic Name Development's Proprietary Research Uncovers 9 Reasons for Company Naming Changes in the U.S.
Every hour of every business day in the U.S., a company changes its name.
Company naming changes are triggered by any number of reasons.
They run the gamut of known to unknown, from consumer to B2B, from small to large and from "why did they change their company name?" to "it's about time they changed their company name!"
For instance, in July, 2007, some representative company name changes included:
- Tag-It Pacific, Inc. to Talon International, Inc., the zipper company
- Amway to Quixtar and now back to Amway
- Casio, Inc. to Casio America, Inc.
- Boston Life Sciences, Inc. to Alseres Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
To make sense of company naming changes in the U.S., Strategic Name Development conducted proprietary research of all U.S. company name changes in 2006.
Among 1904 company name changes in 9 broad categories (see chart below), Strategic Name Development uncovered many below the surface stories.
- The 10 Wackiest Company Name Changes, for instance:
- Hot Dogma to Franktuary
- InterBusiness Bank, N.A. to TomatoBank, N.A
- The 7 Most Politically Correct Company Name Changes, for instance:
- National Center for the Employment of the Disabled to ReadyOne Industries
- Center for Minority Educational Affairs to Center for Multicultural Equity and Access
The company also identified 5 major company naming change trends, with numerous examples.
- As Green As It Gets — a move toward environmental consciousness, for instance:
- Radiant Technology Group, Inc. to GreenBridge Technology, Inc.
- Boss Minerals, Inc. to Pure Biofuels Corp.
- East Side Story — looking East to Asia, and China specifically, for instance:
- Citisource, Inc. to China Shuangji Cement Corp.
- BonusAmerica Worldwide Corp. to Asia Global Holdings Corp.
- Terms of Endearment — short, catchy and user-friendly names, for instance:
- Washington Mutual, Inc. to WaMu
- America Online to AOL
- Outdoor Life Network to Versus
- A Brand New World — a changing name for a changing company mission, for instance:
- Yellow Roadway Corporation to YRC Worldwide
- Rocky Shoes and Boots, Inc. to Rocky Brands, Inc.
- Much Ado About Nothing — a name tweaking, for instance:
- Casual Male Big & Tall to Casual Male XL
- Amerada Hess Corp. to Hess Corp.
For more on Strategic Name Development's proprietary Company Naming Change research findings, please click here.
About Strategic Name Development, Inc.
Strategic Name Development, Inc. partners with companies to develop product names, company names, taglines and conduct brand name research. The naming company combines the three forces of linguistics, creativity and target market research to build brand names that are instantly recognizable, memorable and strategically sound. Utilizing its proprietary Name DNA Validation™ research methodology the company is able to measure emotional bonding power, memorability, latent association, fit to concept, pronunciation and sound symbolism.
Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Strategic Name Development has worked with clients from top companies around the globe. For more information about Strategic Name Development, visit www.namedevelopment.com.
Contact Information
Katya Miller
Director of Communications
952-830-4100
katya@namedevelopment.com