Tsunamika

Lots of syllables. Lots of pits stops. Lots of history. And a nice bit of portmanteaugiri. Nice name for a tsunami-victims relief project. You could do worse than check out her products.

Probably the best family of names. Ever

Orissa is now 'Odisha'

For more reasons than one, this is a better name. For one, it's easier to spell. For two, the 'd' in the middle gives it a nice point of emphasis stronger than the earlier 'r' and for three, 'Odisha' is how the people of Odisha pronounce 'Orissa'. So it makes sense. (Names are more memorable when spelled the way they sound. ex: Orissa v/s Odisha.) Incidentally, Oriya is now 'Odia', which in my opinion is not as memorable as 'Oriya'. (It's complicated and can be explained only in an elaborate Powerpoint presentation.) All said and done, what do names, and name-changes, like Odisha, Chennai, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram and Mumbai say about the principles of naming? Think about it.

A good name for an airline?

It's called Calm Air and it indicates, very clearly, it is a Canadian airline. Nifty or what?

Names We Like: dnL

In 2002, Cadbury Schweppes launched dnL. A 180-degree take on 7up. I think it was a fabulous idea. Unfortunately, it was discontinued in 2005. If it were relaunched today with a different taste, the brand will get enough trials by the sheer beauty of the name. I feel it was an audacious experiment, a little ahead of its time.

A Beer name Reeb

One of the most popular beers in Shanghai is named Reeb (the reverse of beer). Yes, it uses an old naming technique. But I am all for it, as mirror names have always worked. Makes the brand look clever and offers a talking point for the glugger. The only issue with the name could be the sound. Reeb's acoustics is not as good as say Tiger, Budweiser or Heineken. It's got a wimpish sound. Almost like the feeb in feeble. But who cares. At the end of the day, all that counts is it's a short, interesting name.

Arivazhagan - The beauty with brains

While I was commuting to my office, I chanced upon a fascinating name while gazing at one of those over-cluttered political posters that dot the Chennai outdoorscape. The name in question belongs to a congress politician. I thought, it's a beautiful coinage because it marries beauty (azhagu) and brains (arivu). I haven't come across an English equivalent. Excitedly, I googled Arivazhagan. To my surprise, I found it's a common tamil name. Then the jigyaasu baalak in me took over. I was curious to know what these guys looked like in real life. Did they turn out to be as handsome as their moms imagined them to be? I must say google images didn't reveal any Adonis. But then as they say, beauty lies.

Ambasamudram Ambani

The name of a Karunaas flick, just launched. It caught my eye the moment I saw it. Yes, it rides on Dhirubhai's name. But what adds fizz to it is the alliterative touch of Ambasamudram. When put together, Ambasamudram Ambani teases you into imagining a tale of a smalltown systembeater. I like the sound of it. That's why enakku idhu pidichurukku.

A women's magazine called XX

www.doublex.com.

Redneck Bank: Banking idea of the year

How does a staid boring bank get noticed in these times? Bank of the Wichitas has the solution. It's launched its internet bank under the name Redneck Bank. Ya, not kiddin. Redneck Bank for Joe the Plumber.

Just a naming idea and a tagline that says: Where banking is funner. Everything else is the basic internet bank that anyone else offers. Apparently there are 9000 banks on the internet offering the same product. Wade Huckabay of Bank of the Wichitas was looking at a way to differentiate the brand. And he hit upon the name Redneck after sifting through many unused website names.

Looks like the humour ploy has really worked for him. The bank with laughing horse as mascot (spouting the cheesy 'we want to be your mane bank') has already become popular in 45 states across the US and on the Internet.

I read somehwere that Mr. Wade faced many objections from his board. But he overruled them. I am not sure how many banks in India will approve of such a name or strategy. I personally remember being greeted with cold silence by a Bangalore-based bank when I suggested humour as a route. May be there's a lesson in this for all of us.

An agency named Republic of Everyone

Nice name, ain't it? These bunch of good-hearted ozzies started RoE, 3 years ago. The thing I like about them is they only focus on doing decent work for green, sustainable and ethical brands. Check out these blokes, here.

Names We Like: Plan B

Okay, let me clarify. This is not an unusually uncommon name. I've heard many Plan B's. But for a morning-after pill, it's maha approporiate. Why I like it is, the name is easy on the mouth and there's no unpleasantness when you utter Plan B. It's neither too clinical nor too provocative. One can slip this into a cryptic conversation, without raising any eyebrows. Don't you think 'did you try plan b?' sounds infinitely better than 'did you take the pill?' So.

Names We Like # 5

I watched this lousy Eddie Murphy movie where he plays a spaceship in human form. Meet Dave is the name of the flick. The only thing I remembered after wasting 120 minutes of my time was the name of one of the production houses that financed this project. The name brought a smile to my face and raised my expectations from the movie, a bit. And that's why I like Guy Walks Into A Bar. It's got wit written all over.

A puppy called 'Condom'

Imagine this: You walk into a friend's place and you see that he's gotten himself an adorable little puppy. (Yeah, much like the one in the picture.) Naturally, the first thing you're going to ask him is what the little critter is called. He tells you it's called 'Condom'. Of course you do a double take and ask him whether he's serious. He tells you with a straight face that he indeed is. How comfortable would you be to call out its name? It's true. There is a puppy that goes by the name 'Condom'. And you can find out more about it here.

Names We Like #4

Play to find out. And ask to find out why.

Frank 'Lefty' Rosenthal and other gangster names

I'm a huge fan of gangster names. (Don't ask why.) The reasons, if you still insist on asking me, are pretty obvious. What's not to like. They're distinct, they communicate the unique quality about a particular gangster and they make you smile. Attributes that are eminently useful to have in a brand name. Shown here, Frank 'Lefty' Rosenthal and his sisters. (Yeah, right.) He died recently. Here's a bit about him: 'GAMBLERS usually go on until they have run out of both luck and money. Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal went on until he was blown up. But then Lefty was not your usual sort of gambler.' For more on Lefty and his exploits, read the rest of his obituary here. Meanwhile, Googleji and myself have unearthed some links on what makes for a good gangster name. (You'll find them all at the end of this post.) They're instructive in that most of the qualities that go into making a good gangster name apply to product brand names too. Jokes apart, you could learn a thing or two about brand names from gangsters. And us. (Picture courtesy Getty Images.) Link love.

Names We Like # 3

This online shoe store has clocked a stellar performance in the last 10 years. People still keep raving about its 'pay-your-employees-to-leave' policy. I like the brand for its name. Derived from the Spanish word for shoes, Zappos is a 2-syllable contraction of Zapatos. Phonetically, it's a nephew of the uber-cool sounding Zappa. And imagery wise, it might conjure up visions of a wizard with his magical wand. This brand is a classic example of a literal yet exotic name. In the sense, those who know Spanish will know it means shoes. And those who don't know might assume it's a foreign brand. My one teensy issue with the name is it sounds kidulty and not adulty enuf. But I guess, that adds to the likability. Given the constraint of being a mass brand, I think it's a good choice.

Names We Like # 2

When you work on a name that's already famous, you run the risk of being labeled, a plagiarist. But when you add a little touch of imagination to your source name, there's always the scope for magic. I call such names Remix Names. C2B2 is one such creation. It's a nod to the 1968 movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang which was in turn a nod to the children's book of the same name by Ian Fleming. For an animation flick aimed at kids of the Jetix generation, I thought Cheenti Cheenti (Hindi for Ant Ant) is an apt title. It uses 2 words that's part of the every day vocabulary of every North Indian kid. And as the plot is about Black Ants vs Red Ants, the name makes eminent sense. Me thinks, the catchiness of the name will ensure the movie is a multiplex magnet. I also feel, the film will do well in the DVD circuit as the title leaps at you the moment you look at it.

Names We Like #1

The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (北海道日本ハムファイターズ Hokkaidō Nippon-Hamu Faitāzu?) are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League. They take their name from the major shareholding company's name "Nippon Ham", which is a corporate name of Nippon Meat Packers, Inc.. Until 2003, the Fighters were one of three teams calling Tokyo their home, but in 2004 moved to Sapporo, the largest city on the island of Hokkaidō. With that kind of pedigree, what's not to like. It's a lot better than 'Chandigarh Lions' or 'King's XI'. Someday soon, we'll be compelled to do a Chennai Veerans vs Chennai Super Kings post. And that, my friends, will be a sad, sad day.