Posted on February 10, 2010.
A trade name must be short Great? Look around the Internet, especially blogs written by consultants naming high price, and you will find a lot of rules about what makes a great brand name. Some of them are pure nonsense. They are not comments but opinions - opinions fragile, too.
For example, some argue that the consultants appointed a great business name must be short. It is true that some are Google. Nike. Intel. Ford. Best Buy. Sprint. Deere.
One expert said the names should not be more than three syllables, and another, not more than three words. Supposedly, the shorter is more memorable. But this is not necessarily true. Consider Etsy, Boku, and Eska. The names of four letters are difficult for English speakers to remember because they involve combinations or sequences of sounds that do not naturally occur in the language.
If you look at the 2009 Fortune 100 largest firms in America, only 47 out of 100 names of company officials to adapt the rule of three syllables, and the number received only 53 out of 100 when considering their company names shortened (ie, Liberty Mutual, instead of Liberty Mutual Insurance Group). So any attempt to link the short name of a company with financial success is absurd. If you made a similar survey of companies that land in the news, I am confident that the results would be the same.
Some companies with long names, rather than doing well on the market:
· New Horizons Computer Learning Centers (the largest independent training company worldwide IT - 11 syllables)
· Edible Arrangements International (174 million dollars in annual sales - 11 syllables)
· The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (nearly 7 billion dollars in annual sales - 13 syllables)
Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet · popcorn (# 1 selling brand of popcorn - 11 syllables)
A rather long name can be a smart strategic choice if it helps you take advantage of the story (A & P was created in 1859), Ground yourself geographically ("Philadelphia" is five syllables) or include key industry terms (like "Mini Golf" Miniature Golf in East supply).
Certainly, longer names are more difficult to manage on the phone, the radio ads, logos and posters. But not more than three syllables or three words is an absolute standard completely unreasonable.
If you lean towards a company name on the long side, think how it could be affectionately or not so affectionately shortened, and make sure the name or acronym is acceptable. For example, Chevrolet Chevy to - good. Agonist Delivery to the agony of delivery - not very good. International Business Machines IBM - okay. Insurance Sutton monitoring Shi ... - Oops!
Some companies with long names acquire a shorter version of it for their Web domain, but if you do this, make sure the shortening is intuitive, like Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Orville.com popcorn.
Do not dwell on the length of a trade name. Much more important than length is whether or not the name itself is included in the language, meaning to the ear, spells easily, is easy to pronounce his first saw and sticks in the mind.
