Comments on: It’s Sound Business–Pronounceable Names

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:57:00 +0000

Great post Brad. Names should be both easy to pronounce and mean something relevant. This certainly makes sense when branding companies, but also should be considered more often for web site names as well.

A name is such an important component of a company and/or brand image, one that is frequently overlooked. It’s either that or the marketers deserve to field the question, “What were you thinking!”

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 18:01:00 +0000

Personally I have no problem with Accenture’s pronunciation–the logo even contains a little stress marker to help us out–but I’ve always been amused by the way it parses to “axe-censure.” Not very friendly!

The name that drives me nuts–and I should mention here that I name companies and products for a living–is Avaya, the gigantic telecom company. (Named by Landor, which is almost equally huge.) Does that middle syllable rhyme with “die” or with “slay”? I once met the head of Landor’s verbal branding department and asked him that very question. And I can’t even remember his answer. That’s how confusing that name is.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 15:53:00 +0000

Hi Joanna, Excellent observation about Accenture! I said it out loud a few times. It sounds like my voice is trailing off into space or I’m drunk. Thanks for stopping by Word Sell.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 13:29:00 +0000

Great post. I hate words that I don’t know how to pronounce and it does seem crazy to build that fear of looking stupid into your business name.
Accenture is one that puzzles me. Where do you put the accent? And how do you say the last three letters without leaving your mouth in an odd shape?