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So, you really only need help choosing between a couple names?  Well... this post is for you!

One of the things that people come to Stokefire for is help in deciding between the top naming candidates already identified by a client.  (As a quick aside - though this is often what we're told our clients almost always have ended up using a name that comes out of our creative process rather than one they've developed independently.)

But... if you're looking for a name and really think you just need help deciding which is right I've found a tool for you.

Check out the Decisionizer!

Here's how it works...

1. You ask the website a question - like "Which name should I choose"
2. You enter each candidate under consideration
3. You list out the criteria for measurement (FAINTS - or one of the other items listed in that post - would work in a pinch)
4. You score each candidate
5. You get your answer.

Quick and easy!

Okay, maybe not entirely easy... or quick... there's still the issue of subjective measurements, lack of professional guidance, no help with internal politics, and the like. 

But if you really only need to make a choice this well certainly enable you to do so. 

Good luck.  (And if you actually do this, remember we're here for disaster recovery when you need us.)

This is a great video of Seth Godin speaking to an audience at Google.  Anyone who thinks that technology sells itself - and that marketing (or branding) is just a bonus -  needs to listen and watch. 

Even namers can learn a thing or two.  People don't buy products and technologies... they buy stories.  (Why else would anyone spend $25K per gallon for perfume?)

Yeah, it is 48 minutes long... but it is an excellent 48 minutes.

...except for the many spelling mistakes in the transcript.

In Sunday's NYT Magazine there was a great article by Erin McKean about the Oxford English Corpus. Imagine having access to over a billion words that are tagged and given context. For a namer this is close to heaven. With a few clicks you could check any English word for negative connotations and sort by the most powerful connections.

What a great way to determine what a word or phrase may bring to mind. It'd get rid of those experiential biases that we all bring with us (AKA "I knew a guy named ____ and he was a twit - so I'm not gonna name my company that.")

And that's only scratching the surface.

I was thoroughly peeved, however, to learn that all the press lately is for naught. Yes it is pretty cool that there are over 1 billion words in the Corpus. But who gives a rat's arse (note the British spelling!) how many words there are if we can't look at the damn thing. Are we supposed to be pleased that the smart-folk have access and are thus shepherding our language much more intelligently than they were able to before they had access?

It is obvious that Oxford is looking to invest heavily in the OEC brand. Rebecca over at OUP notes that the "Powered by Oxford Corpus" is showing up on all the new Oxford dictionaries. One assumes this is a tactic similar to the "Intel Inside" campaign, in that even though we could buy a computer that was powered by Intel we didn't have the right to take apart the chip and figure out how it worked. Perhaps that's a weak metaphor... But since I don't have access to the Corpus I can't figure out if there's a better word grouping for what I want to say.

Also interestingly, there are no indications that people like me (and you - if you don't edit dictionaries) can't access the thing. It's like they're taunting us by telling us how cool this thing is (they even show you how to use it!) and then not even giving us the courtesy of telling us we can't use it. They let us waste a couple (okay, a few) good hours figuring it out for ourselves. It's like a word-geek clique. If you have to ask then you're obviously not going to get access...

Any dictionary editors out there want to loan me a password so I can play? I won't tell a soul...

Until then - My slogan for the OEC is: "Oxford English Corpus - The Hypothetical Anti-Resource."

I've had a few emails this month from readers who were interested in hearing what was on my bookshelf. It's probably been about a year since I wrote anything about our reference materials, so I figure it's about time to update.

But first, I must say that I'm not going to tell you what's on my bookshelf. There are about 200 books there - most of them only read once or twice and now only very occasionally thumbed through. The stuff I use more regularly has a place on my desk. Forty-two books have that place of honor in my office - running along the back edge of my desk within easy reach. Thirteen of these books have a major "How-To" aspect to them - shedding light on how to develop, categorize, or evaluate names.

Here’s a list of the current "How-To" type books on my desk that are dedicated almost entirely to naming. The snippets of information aren't really reviews. They're just a bit of context to help you understand how the book is used:

1. Blake, George. Crafting the Perfect Name: The Art and Science of Naming a Company or Product. USA: Probus, 1991
   1. An excellent, if dated, reference for people looking to name their own company. As with most of the books here, it does a great job educating you on the basics of naming, and even provides lists of source material in the appendix so you can start naming immediately. Unfortunately the lists are far short of what would be needed to perform a comprehensive naming project for a mid-size (or larger) firm. The age really shows when it addresses the legal aspects of naming - including the hoops one must go through to check if a name is registered. I refer mostly to Chapter Six when I crack the cover - the chapter on Names to Avoid.
2. Barrett, Fred. Names that Sell: How to Create Great Names for Your Company, Product, or Service. Portland: Alder Press, 1995 (Amazon Rank = #993,472 in Books)
   1. A book aimed at people who have a basline of experience in naming. Barrett runs through all sorts of criteria for how to name companies, but in his effort to cover everything (he does come close) he drops any sense of order. He provides Twenty-Five different techniques for developing names - and these appear in a jumble of methods we've been unable to untangle. There's gold here - it's just a little hard to find. Barrett also provides another list of source words at the back of the book - and again the list is a bit lacking. A bit of a peek inside a namer's head - all sorts of information but not in a structure that aids in learning. We've opened it a few times in the past year - mainly to remind ourselves how another namer might approach a particular problem.
3. Cader, Michael. The Name Book: A Unique Reference Listing of Everything Imaginable That Has a Name (Except Babies!) New York: Random House, 1998 (Amazon Rank = #505,676)
   1. A book of lists that goes quite well with the how-to books. It offers very little how-to and a whole lot of reference. What's great here is that the lists are intuitively sorted into groups. Interested in a powerful name? Perhaps you want to examine lists of Spanish monarchs, or Roman emperors, or military ranks... An amazing number of ideas to get the mind moving. Feels a touch dated, but when referencing historical stuff this might be a benefit.
4. Charmasson, Henri. The Name Is the Game: How to Name a Company or Product. Homewood: Dow Jones-Irwin, 1988
   1. Charmason may be smart, but he suffers from the same affliction that Barrett does. There are some interesting methods listed here, but the book is dense and cluttered. Again suffers from age as major passages of the Trademark section are no longer applicable. Charmasson has some interesting takes on naming, though after the first couple reads I must admit I haven't gone back to this one. It's just not that useful and has been overcome by better and more readable books. (We're putting it back on the shelf today.)
5. Frankel, Alex. Wordcraft: The Art of Turning Little Words into Big Business. New York: Random House, 2004
   1. Prior to meeting other namers at Alexandra Watkins' party I had little idea how the other namers worked. This book brought new insight into both the process of naming within major branding firms and the presentation of fully developed names. It is rarely cracked other than to illustrate a point to a client who wants to know how others do something. Incidentally, this is likely the best book ever written about the naming industry (in my quite humble opinion.)
6. Javed, Naseem. Naming for Power: Creating Successful Names for the Business World. Toronto and New York: Linkwood, 1993
   1. You may be sensing a pattern here. The How-To books just seem jumbled. Javed is a famed speaker and columnist and this book appears to be a compilation of his speeches and writings. Again no real order here, and no overarching messages or lessons. Add in the fact that I can't personally follow what he is saying much of the time - and that time has proven quite a few of his examples false - and this has little value. Why is it on my desk? Because I can use it to show how our views, practices, and opinions differ from the mainstream. Some of the names he really likes fall into traps we try to avoid - and having an expert advocate for names a client likes (and then have that expert proven wrong) adds power to our words.
7. McGrath, Kate, Trademark: How to Name your Business & Product. 1994
   1. We use this only as a primer for the basics of trademark law. It is not up to date at all, but the terminology it uses and the classes of names referenced haven't changed much. If you want to understand what sorts of names can be trademarked and why then this baby is a good bet.
8. Morris, Evan. From Altoids to Zima: The Surprising Stories Behind 125 Famous Brand Names. New York: Fireside (Simon & Schuster,) 2004
   1. Not a how-to, really, but a "how they did it." Fun to read and a good reference to trot out when a name covered within the pages is in the same industry as one of our clients. It usually helps expand the thinking at the brainstorming meetings. (We have a long list of books that cover the etymology of corporate names - we'll get to that another day.)
9. Nussel, Frank. The Study of Names. A Guide to the Principles and Topics. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1992
   1. Really only on our desk as a reference, this book helps us remember the science of naming - especially some of the more obscure terms and their full definitions. Can't remember what Morphosyntactics are? This is the book for you. I personally open the cover about once a month to a random page. It's helpful in getting my mind onto a different path when naming. The whole book explains terminology in naming and lists examples of just about every type of name known to man. AND it is highly organized! Oh - and the reference materials cited contain some of the hardest to find and most useful older research documents on Onomastics.
10. Rivkin, Steve. The Making of a Name: The Inside Story of the Brands We Buy. New York: Oxford, 2004
    1. Perhaps our second-most-favorite book on naming. Somewhere between a how-to and an industry overview. Fun to read. Can't say I read it that much, except for the appendix containing the reference materials. We actually found many of our materials here. If you want to create a library of easily accessible naming books this isn't a bad place to look for titles.
11. Room, Adrian. Trade Name Origins. Chicago: NTC, 1982 (Amazon Rank = #1,006,067)
    1. Similar to the Morris book, this one does the same thing, but for more companies in less detail - and twenty (plus) years earlier. Great for finding patterns in naming that you want to latch on to or avoid.
12. Wegryn, Jim. Funny Thing About Names. An Entertaining Look at Naming in America. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, 2005
    1. This is a new addition. It's on my desk mainly because it's new - and because Wegryn appears to be just as much of a statistics geek as I am. Nice list of more recent research papers at the back, and a strong index that helps me to find relevant examples to share with clients and partners. A little more humor here than I'd like to see - but the title does warn us. I'd be more interested in reading the pure research behind this - because it looks like he did a lot of it (including an interesting bit on the history of street names that have impacted the English language.)
13. Williams, Phillip. Naming Your Business and Its Products and Services: How to Create Effective Trade Names, Trademarks, and Service Marks to Attract Customers, Protect Your Goodwill and Reputation, and Stay out of Court! (City Unknown): P. Gaines, 1991
    1. Horribly out of date book that attempts to cover everything under the sun about names and trademarks in 90 large-print pages with lots of clip art. Covers some interesting territory with its random list of things you can name your product after (symbols, mythology, history, bible, geography, literature, and puns... yep, that's it!) This is my "there is no one book that can show you how to name" book. From what I have seen so far there isn't even a good list of name classifications in print yet. There is an interesting appendix at the back that shows all the pages of an old trademark application, but it bears little relevance to naming today.

Okay. Let me say this again.

I. Am. Not. Technical.

That said, I think I've got our bulletin board for industry Thingnamers up and running.

Purpose: To give professional namers (and verbal branders) a place to interact. If you fit the bill I encourage to you kick the tires, make suggestions, and generally get involved in [Ed. - Perhaps "start" is a better word] the industry conversation.

Consider it a very early test-drive of the association concept from a couple weeks back. I'll send the whole board off of our site to whatever entity we decide will manage the industry - so this won't be a permanent Stokefire/Thingnamer thing.

Yes, it is loosely defined. Yes, it will need some more structure if it is to succeed. But... I would much rather work with the folks that will participate in and benefit from an association than just try to create the whole thing in the dark.

Tell us what you want from an organization. Tell us if you want an organization. Just know that if you don't tell people anything you probably won't get what you want...

So come on by and flick on the light.

Tate Linden Principal Consultant Stokefire Consulting Group 703-778-9925

You may think that I'm gonna write on the topic of what it is like to be a Thingnamer. But you'd be wrong.

Nancy Friedman over at Away With Words said a whole lot today about what it takes to be a namer.

Of particular interest are the items she points out as keys to successful naming. They include word lust, perfect pitch, a specialty, nuts and bolts, brand smarts, story savvy, and persistence.

My favorite (and one that I often find missing in names developed by internal teams) is...

Story savvy. Creating a great name is one thing; selling it to the client is another. Persuasive naming requires storytelling skills. How does the name express the company's personality? What does the name say about the product's benefits? Where does the name come from, what does it mean, what can it stand for over time?

Well worth a read if you're interested in a career in naming.

Also of note: We're going to try an experiment for a few months by starting up a discussion board here at Thingnamer. There's currently no forum for experts to interact. Yes - there are MarketingProfs and Wordlab - but they're more focused on the exchange of information between experts and novices rather than encouraging interaction between the experts themselves.

I've of course assumed that Thingnamers actually want to interact with each other... I'm actively looking for guidance as to what types of topics and boards you'd like to see. Just tell me here. (We're not known for our technical skills, so if you ask us to add nifty graphic effects, change the colors, or do anything that takes skill in things other than, well, naming... it'll probably take us a while.)

But we're gonna give it our best effort...

Tate Linden 703-778-9925

Imagine looking at a plate filled with bananas, oranges, and apples. Now imagine adding something to that plate.

Got your thing? Good.

When I ask others (mostly marketers and designers) how they would approach naming they typically hit the competitive research angle as their primary inspiration. And this research does help - but not for the reasons that most people think. Competitive research for inspirational purposes leads to names similar to what already exists in the market. Or at least that's what it most naturally leads to.

Back to the thing you were going to add...

Most of you probably picked a fruit. Perhaps a few of you picked a vegetable. Maybe even a couple got really creative and suggested a blender or fruitflies. Or perhaps even an object that has nothing to do with anything here.

But I'm guessing that all of you named an object and none of you added things like:

• Quantum Physics
• The National Debt
• That To-do list my wife gave me this morning
• The entire cast of My Three Sons (living or dead.)

I'm not saying that any of the things that you (likely) didn't add are good. But the fact is that you didn't add them. They aren't in the universe you considered. This is why relying on your competitor's names can be a dangerious trap.

By limiting yourself to what you can see in your immediate industry (and can easily relate to what you do) you limit your options for how you describe your business. You're either naming to be like or unlike your peers.

So how can you avoid this trap? Well - I don't actually have that answer for you. But I do have it for me.

I do this by forcing my mind to jump the tracks. That may mean trolling YouTube for a video that shows something funny or creative. It might be sitting down with a thesaurus and randomly linking words until I am presented with an entirely new concept. Or it may be just releasing my mind to the wondrous possibilities presented by attention deficit disorder. My associate (Dana) has become adept at telling when this last method is used by me.

She calls it "seeing butterflies." I'm not entirely flattered... but it works.

Today's jumping the tracks episode was brought to you by YouTube.

Picture the following items (listed in random order):

• A foodprocessor
• Toothbrushes
• A shelf full of books
• A lamp
• A squeaky chew toy
• A cupboard full of glasses
• An electric eggbeater
• A metal tomato slicer
• A toilet bowl brush
• A bunch of lipsticks in varying colors
• A pair of ladies bedroom slippers
• A set of pet food dishes (with food and water in them)

Can you find the thing in common?

I'm guessing that you can't. (Yes, they're household object. No, that isn't the "in common" aspect worth notiing.) To find the answer just sit back, turn on your computer's volume, and enjoy ten minutes of inspiration. (It takes a minute or so to develop, but it is worth it!) And no, I still haven't figured out how to link up YouTube and Wordpress. It'll happen eventually, though.

Pure competitive research doesn't lead to great names - but competitive research turned on its ear, its head, or some other body part... that can lead to greatness. Find a way to get outside of the problem. Find a way to redefine the goal. Find a way to see the competitive names as a chance to ignore them, repurpose them, or make them pointless.

Find a way to turn your metaphorical blender into something musical. Do whatever works... but make sure you do find your way out. (It might not result in a great name - but it'll at least get your name a chance to get noticed.)

Tate Linden Managing Principal Stokefire Consulting Group 703-778-9925

I must admit that this tracking is a little work-intensive. Rather than a weekly post I'm going to do it when something noteworthy happens. This noteworthiness has been achieved with a few new entrants to the field, and a move amongst the top blogs.

1. Qwerky has passed Snark Hunting to move into the 4th spot.
2. Cultural Branding, The Name Inspector, and Brandaclaus have either recently started up or recently be found by us. While none are in the top ten I wouldn't be surprised to see them there soon.
3. I dumped the domain name blogs. No one liked having 'em here and they were less applicable than I initially thought.
4. We're short-cutting to the top-ten tracking list (from our list of 13 earlier this month.) It's been a few weeks, and we'd have been there about now if I'd been keeping up the list weekly... and since I'm runnin' the list I get to say what's what.
5. Expect another post on this topic in late February.

THREE MONTH ALEXA RANKING AVERAGES (1/26/2007):

Rank Site AlexaRank 1 Wordlab: 75,677 2 Thingnamer: 120,743 3 Igor: 153,270 4 Strategic Name Development: 230,242 5 Qwerky: 242,165 6 Snark Hunting: 282,925 7 Away With Words: 779,591 8 Good Characters: 860,975 10 Popwink: 912,266

Not making the top ten this time, but still well worth a look are: Markeys (Dutch), Beep.Name, Brandnama, Name Ideas, Product Names, Pastelot (French), and the new finds - Brandaclaus, The Name Inspector, and Cultural Branding.

And more... the following Schrödinger’s Blogs that aren't really worth reading right now, but may pick up again in the future: Catch-Word, Rich With Meaning , Motorbrand, and Ton Of Bricks/A Hundred Monkeys.

If you know of a blog that primarily covers issues pertaining to organizational or product naming let us know. We'll add it to the list.

Happy surfing!

Tate Linden Principal Consultant Stokefire Consulting Group 703-778-9925

No, it wasn't me. It was Ed Saenz of Gravity Branding - creator of the WiFi name.

The link to the video is here (because I don't know how to post it to my own site. If someone helps me out I'll fix it.)

While the entire interview is worth listening to (for over 48 minutes!), I found Ed Saenz to be particularly insightful when discussing a hypothetical naming process for Seagate.

Here's a rough outline of how he attacks the problem:

He asks or determines...

• What is the unmet need or market opportunity
• What are the features
• Who is the user
• What are their problems (one on ones - no focus groups)
• What features of the product do they like
• Why should they want to buy the product
• Why should they care?
• What is the brand essence? (He calls it the brand fulcrum)
• What is the brand personality?

It's branding 101 - but in application rather than theory. Stokefire's own process has many of the same steps - and adds in a whole segment built around the evaluation of the names strengths and weaknesses - but I'm assuming that Gravity has steps that Ed didn't disclose. Never a good idea to give away the entire recipe for the secret sauce.

He also said something that I think a lot of engineers should take to heart. Paraphrased: Don't build a better mousetrap just because you can. Make sure that people want the improvement and that there are enough mice to trap before you start designing.

While the interview gets off track a few times (Scoble seems like a kid in a candy store with his amazement and comments pulling away from the main thread of the conversation) it is generally informative. I'd love to have a ten minute version that edited out some of the meandering bits that led nowhere. (If someone builds one I'll happily link to it.)

It is rare that someone is this open with their thoughts and methods on naming and branding. Especially when what they have to say is actually interesting instead of a badly disguised sales pitch. (In this case it is quite well disguised.)

Worth a listen - keep it in the background while reading email.

Tate Linden Principal Consultant Stokefire Consulting Group 703-778-9925

Today I'm still on the topic of creating a stronger community for professional onomasticians.

Here's just a taste of what I'm missing. How about you?

• A place to share preliminary theories and new practices with people that can appreciate them.
• New naming methods
• Novel classification of name types or ways of viewing onomastic bodies of work
• Examples of stuff that has been tried but doesn't work
• A publication or website that can tout the happenings in the thingnaming world:

• Naming Contracts up for Bid
• Major contracts won
• Completed contracts
• Case studies

A representative body that works to find ways to incorporate what we do into what marketers, publicists, and other busiess professionals do on a daily basis.

Access to research on naming trends (and those that do it.)

A discussion on how to objectively or subjectively evaluate the quality of names and identities.

Access to the names, interests, and contact information of fellow thingnamers.

Contests and awards for naming

...all that stuff that I moaned about yesterday.

Joining marketing groups, PR roundtables, and branding forums dominated by issues that have very little to do with what I do for a living is a fact of life. Direct mail, press releases, and logo design are all factors to be considered in the naming of a thing, but aren't what I (or likely you) want to spend weeks discussing. (Note that I do find these groups valuable - but more as a way to build business and stay involved in parallel industries than to address core issues in my field.)

If Mars can create a bag of only green M&Ms then we should be able to create a forum that is comprised of only the good stuff too, right?

Where is my bag of candy?

...or who (in addition to the very capable Nancy Friedman) will help me pick out all the stuff we don't like?

(I have no clue what has happened to my formatting of bullets and the like. It seems quite messed up and I don't know how to fix it.)

Tate Linden Principal Consultant Stokefire Consulting Group 703-778-9925

Where do the world's top thingnamers, nomenclature consultants, and verbal branders get together and share ideas, prognostications, and research?

Honestly I have no real clue.

I thought perhaps that it would be the American Name Society, but it seems that this esteemed body is more focused on toponyms and anthroponyms than anything corporate-related. (I'm still a huge fan of the ANS, but think may be not quite focused enough to address the issues faced by today's for-profit namers without annoying the more scholastically focused onomasticians to whom the ANS primarily represents.)

An article in the January 22nd issue of THE NEW YORKER entitled "Made in the Shade" (article not available through their site) by Eric Konigsberg has gotten me thinking about this topic today. The article discusses the color industry (the folks that decide what colors are available in paints, consumer goods, medicines, and the like) and specifically the Color Marketing Group (the group that most color industry professionals belong to - and that publish the color forecast.) The CMG handles such things as:

• Identifying the direction of color and design trends
• Color Directions(r) forecasts for 13 different industries
• Evaluation of which colors are actually in use in the marketplace
• Identification of influences on usage of color and design
• Enabling the exchange and sharing of information that takes place amongst members
• Numerous publications and tools, including:

• Color Cards
• Design trends
• ColorChips(r)
• Membership Directory

For those of you in the naming industry - if you're like me you'll be asking yourself why we don't have an organization that enables this sort of discussion and interaction.



I do think that this type of organization can provide valuable services to our industry. I had to overcome my fear that it might bring everyone to the same naming philosophies - but it didn't take much effort to do so. Here's why: If you are aware of the naming trends and opinions of the other experts you're more likely to find creative ways to avoid those trends than you are to join in. At least that's what I'm thinking.

Imagine having access to the opinions of hundreds of professional namers, lists of trademarked names created by other professionals for the past year or quater, an understanding of the ebb and flow of names in use, and more. I'm also sure that some folks in the industry would love to have their methods and practices examined (like Igor - who share many of their methods for free.)

Not only would this type of research and communication enable us to make smarter and more creative naming choices, it will also help to educate consumers about our industry - feeding statistics to the press and populace and making them aware of our existence.

Also consider the option of industry awards (something that has been tried before, but never seems to take off) and quarterly boondoggles industry meetings in markets around the country or world.

What do you think fellow Thingnamers? Could this work? Should we do it? If so, should we start from scratch or work with the ANS to start up a special interest group like this one? (I'm very aware that mixing professional and academic purposes doesn't always work - which is why it may be a good idea to create a dedicated subgroup if this direction is pursued.)

Tate Linden Principal Consultant Stokefire Consulting Group 703-778-9925

...so we throw the mention right back...

If you're interested in following the developing conversation in the Credit Union Rebranding world then I suggest you add OpenSourceCU to your list of frequently visited sites.

The Optiva and Red Canoe brands are getting mentioned again and OpenSourceCu is sending traffic our way to learn a bit about the history of the conversation. (Thanks!)

And whether you're a fan of these names or not you'll find that the conversation has been amazingly civil and educational thus far. Here's to hoping that it stays that way.

For the record - we Thingnamers have said all along that Red Canoe is a pretty damn good name with great potential. We continue to believe in it and the work that our (unaffiliated) branding compatriots at Weber Marketing performed on that job. As for Optiva - we're less thrilled, but can see that the name could work if given a more substantial branding effort.

Unfortunately our bias against Latinate names is something we can't seem to get over.

The New Year brings us a couple new entrants and a few changes in the top ranks.

1. Domaining Blog, Globe Domains and Domain Name Blog join the ranks of the... well... ranked. All three cover aspects of naming. I'm not 100% sold on them being in the list, but will give 'em a try for a while and see what other blog authors and readers think.
2. Due to the additions of the new sites Igor, Name Development, Snark Hunting, and Qwerky all move down a spot, and the rest move down two or more spots.
3. Away With Words has the only genuine uptick in rank - though it is hidden behind the dropping of two ranks due to the new sites.
4. Markeys and Popwink move up. Evidently the folks in the Netherlands really like naming a whole lot.
5. Brandnama, Beep.Name, and Name Ideas drop off the list of ranked sites. Rough week! I feel pretty bad, but I figure that'll give sites an incentive to break into the top million... making the naming commentary and resources that much more well known.
6. Catch-Word continues to hang on even though they continue to be mostly dead. Based on the rankings it seems like they're going to be gone next week.
7. Also look for Qwerky to overtake Name Development in January.

Spots continue to dwindle... Here are the top 13:

THREE MONTH ALEXA RANKING AVERAGES (1/1/2007):

Rank Site AlexaRank Change 1 Wordlab: 71,195 (1532) 2 Stoked Brands: 129,176 1477 3 Domaining Blog: 147,485 NEW 4 Igor: 149,103 (5959) 5 Strategic Name Development: 224782 (11,878) 6 Snark Hunting: 265,451 2243 7 Qwerky: 268,584 5957 8 GlobeDomains: 669,131 NEW 9 Away With Words: 731,455 65,382 10 Good Characters: 755,983 3191 11 Popwink: 1,451833 7034 12 Markeys: 1,513,209 7332 13 Catch-Word: 1,597,119 7733 (Schrödinger’s Blog)

Not in the top 13: Beep.Name, Brandnama, Name Ideas, Domain Name Blog, Rich With Meaning (Schrödinger’s Blog), Product Names, Motorbrand: (Schrödinger’s Blog) Pastelot (French), Ton Of Bricks/A Hundred Monkeys (Schrödinger’s Blog)

I often suggest that companies that assume meaningless names (or apparently meaningless names) are making a mistake by not leveraging the full potential of a good name.

Google Zeitgeist appears to show that nonsense names may be having a comeback.

Bebo was the number one most-searched item on Google in 2006 (just above MySpace - a name that is actually quite descriptive.)

Also noteworthy - eight of the top-ten "What is..." queries on Google were medicines. This actually makes sense to me since there are policies in place for regulated drugs that prohibit the use of names that suggest the effects of the drugs. How many of the following list could do you know?

1. Carisoprodol
2. Acyclovir
3. Alprazolam
4. Tramadol
5. Hydrocodone
6. Vicodin
7. Xenical
8. Xanax

The only place I've seen most of these names are in my comment spam and junkmail folders. I do find it interesting that not many people seem to be asking about the Viagra-type products anymore.

(The other two most-searched items were "hezbollah" and "ajax")

As an extra last-day-of-2006 bonus I'll list Google's last available information on company/product searches (from November.)

Bricks to Clicks: Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Sears, Costco

Cars: Ferarri, Lamborghini, Hummer, Mercedes, Porche

Random Assortment of Popular Corporate-site Searches from Around the World: eBay (Australia), Nexopia (Canada), Vodafone (Czech Republic), QXL (Denmark), La Redoute (France), Tchibo (Germany), Ferarri (Greece), Tokio Hotel (Hungary), Air Deccan (India), RyanAir (Ireland), Uniqlo (Japan), Friendster (Malaysia), TelCel (Mexico), LimeWire (Netherlands), Bebo (New Zealand), YouTube (Norway), Opony (Poland), Mercury Interactive (Singapore), ABSA (South Africa), Softonic (Spain), Blocket (Sweden), Araba (Turkey), BBC (United Kingdom), Mobifone (Vietnam).

Note: I'm leaving out the links so we don't get a whole bunch of false hits on our site.

I have yet to figure out exactly how to determine anything of value with regards to naming from the Google Zeitgeist (other than trends.) Certainly there's a lot of information on what business models are popular - Telecom, Social Networking, and Auctions are represented well - but there's little information about whether or not people actually know what these companies are doing.

Zeitgeist is a better buzz-meter than it is an evaluation of a company's worth or success. I'd be willing to bet a whole lot of money that not long ago Enron was at the top of the Zeitgeist pile - and they certainly weren't there for a positive reason.

Further complicating things, there are likely a lot of searches on company and product names for people who have no clue what it is that they're actually going to find. I've done this myself quite frequently when I've heard a name in the news or someone across the room mentions something... I just "Google" it and learn for myself what it is. This is especially useful when you're dependent on traditional media (like TV news) that taunts you with a story for 45 minutes before actually giving you what you want to know.

As 2007 gets going I'll work to find some better ways to leverage the Zeitgeist data - perhaps giving you all some insight into the trends we at Stokefire see emerging in naming. (You already know of our Flickr naming pattern... so we'll be looking for the next big thing.)

Happy Last Day of 2006!

Tate Linden
Principal Thingnamer
Stokefire Consulting Group
703-778-9925

It should come as no surprise that I'm a fan of the Alexa Toolbar.

Here's Why:

1. Name research: During our naming process we perform many checks to ensure that names we propose aren't in use in our client's industry. One of the methods we use is the Internet. When we do find a hit on a name the Alexa Toolbar will often show us companies and websites related to the target name - enabling us to get an understanding of how the name is being used and how it fits within a particular industry.
2. Industry research: When developing a name for an industry that is somewhat unfamiliar to us the toolbar can quickly expand our understanding by showing us who the major players are.
3. Stat tracking: Alexa is one of the most respected sources for website traffic statistics. If your readers (and you) have the Alexa toolbar installed (and actually visit the site rather than read it via RSS) it will reflect favorably on your traffic rankings. (Yes, I know that the stats are rather flawed, but they're as good as anything else out there) And besides, this is the tool that I use to create the weekly Naming Blog Rankings. Folks looking to move up in the rankings would do well to install the toolbar in their browsers.
4. Brainstorming: When you're stuck for ideas the toolbar can act as a mental prod. Everyone knows how to use a thesaurus to kickstart creativity, but not many people can say they use something like Alexa. Alexa can be a non-traditional stand-in for a Thesaurus. The best part is that the connections that you make with Alexa can't be found in the books that everyone else is using - so the chances of coming up with new ideas or connections are increased.
5. Competitive research: Not only can the toolbar help you find your competitors, it can give you a pretty good idea how well they're doing. If the Alexa rank is poor (and they have an internet side to their business) then they're probably not raking in the bucks.)

The tradeoff? Your surfing will be tracked in a database somewhere... So if you're goin' to site that you don't want known you'll have to figure out how to turn the darn thing off. Privacy advocates probably aren't going to be fans of this thing.

Check these links for comments and commentary on the Alexa toolbar and Alexa in general. Also click here to find mostly dissenting views.

Tate Linden
Principal Consultant
Stokefire Consulting Group
703-778-9925

Over the next week or so I'll be writing some short posts about aspects of the Thingnaming job. I figure it'll help me remember some of the tools I've used in recent times, and might provide some fuel for others looking to develop names or fresh ideas.

First on my list is one that I check every week: Google Zeitgeist.

What it is: Google's rather casual effort to let the world know what the popular searches are.

What it isn't: Consistent or scientific. What appears on it seems pretty random - and there's not a log of supporting data.

What I use it for: I'm always looking for emerging trends or interests. Knowledge of trends allows me to consciously follow or avoid them when developing a name.

What it costs: Nothing but time.

You may also want to check Google Current - a video version of Zeitgest that features a single topic rather than a list of popular searches. More entertaining than anything else, but if you feel out of the loop on what's cool and what's not then this might be good for you.

Tate Linden
Principal Consultant
Stokefire Consulting Group
703-778-9925

It's a rare day that we get the chance to read a book by a commenter on this very blog, so when the opportunity presented itself we took it.

Denise Wymore's book: Tattoos - The Ultimate Proof of a Successful Brand is certainly non-traditional, which seems to mesh nicely with our view of Denise herself.

When I got the book I figured (based on the title) that it was going to be a scholarly tome about the culture of tattoos, a comprehensive listing of the companies that have gained a following of tattoo wearers, and perhaps a good amount of information about what drove individuals to put stuff like a John Deere logo on their arm. (The link is to a blog post from early 2006 when I briefly looked into this concept myself...)

So - to the readers who are looking for an experience like the one that I was expecting - this is not the book for you. There are nine pages that list five things companies can do to make themselves tatoo-worthy. The five things are interesting and important, but won't necessarily get your own company the sort of cult status that Harley-Davidson has with the body-art crowd.

This isn't a scholarly tome.

It is, however, a very interesting read - and it provides insight into one professional's experiences with nine brands that have had varying success with creating identities that may (or may not) be worthy of tattoos.

Wymore brings forward personal stories of connection (or lack thereof) with brands many readers will know well: The Westin Heavenly Bed, The Catholic Church, Craig Carothers, Saturn, Starbucks, iPod, Chico's, Texas, and The Huntington Beach Hilton. For each of these brands she provides a tale of how she has experienced the brand and then she provides a report card that goes over the five points and determines whether or not the brand is tattoo worthy.

I find a lot of value here, and those in marketing departments that are struggling to meaningfully connect with their target markets would do well to read the hits and misses that Wymore has found. The stories pound home the fact that in branding it is often more about the consumer than it is about the company.

For me the strongest chapter was about Wymore's literal near-death experience at a Hilton. Customer Service departments, marketing departments, and even operations staff should have this chapter as required reading. I've already told this story twice to clients (one of whom is a boutique hotel) and they've understood the implications. One of 'em even has gone so far as to create an atmosphere where the staff actively looks for ways to create memorable moments for their guests - using the power of the individuals that work at the hotel rather than the power of the parent brand to make the stay enjoyable (or perhaps "memorable.")

The book had its high and low points...

The Strengths:

• First-person accounts of brand experiences that any decent marketer can digest and connect with
• Compellingly built chapters that each provide new insight into what makes a brand,
• Chapter summaries that reintroduce the five core ideas and rate their application
• A casual style that makes it an easy read.

The Weaknesses:

• The title is deceptive (I'm a Thingnamer, so you had to expect this one),
• There is no wrap-up or summarization at the end of the book, so we're left with a scattered assortment of ideas rather than a strong singular lesson or direction.
• There's no discussion with people who actually have tattoos of the brands mentioned - leaving what is for me a major hole. Maybe it's just me, but I wanted to hear from the people that actually took the plunge and slapped a tattoo of a certain brand of mattress or an iPod on their bod.
• While the most tattoo-worthy brand is mentioned (Harley Davidson) it isn't analyzed in its own chapter - so we never get to know what leads to the ultimate connection.

I suppose the negatives flow mostly from my initial expectations and not from Wymore failing to deliver. What she has done is put together a series of stories that someone might have told you over a period of months while drinking coffee at the local Starbucks. You will learn something from reading this book, but it won't be statistics or a definitive "how to get people to wear tattoos of your brand."

You'll learn that Wymore knows quite a lot about brands and what makes the connection between company and customer, and quite possibly you'll be interested in talking further with her about creating that connection for your own company.

If you come in with the right expectations you'll find this a highly enjoyable and generally informative read.

And Denise... should you be ever be interested in writing that book that I was expecting to read just let me know. You've got a sure-fire reader here - and perhaps a co-author (time permitting.)

Tate Linden Principal Consultant Stokefire Consulting Group 703-778-9925

I've read many, many books about naming companies/products/people/places (etc) in my life. A rough count of books read gives me:

• "How-to" type books on naming: ~14
• Reference-type books on naming: ~30
• Scholarly articles or papers on naming: ~60+

Today I found what is perhaps the best-written and most informative book of them all. While it isn't exactly focused on company naming, it provides exceptional coverage of the issues in play across all types of naming. Anthroponyms, Toponyms, Acronyms, Brand Names, and Other Names are covered. Lists of Onomastics-related organizations, journals, and bibliographies are provided (current as of 1992.)

If you are interested in the study of names or in becoming a Thingnamer you'll want to know everything in this book.

Let me be clear - this isn't a how-to book. Rather than tell us how to name, Frank Nuessel educates us about the kinds of things that can be named, and how they have been named or classified. Seventy different sub-sections are covered in significant detail.

His quick aside about the syntax of acronyms alone is worth the price of the book. (Question: Do you use "the" before an acronym or not? Answer... It depends - but there are guidelines. Yes: Countries, Agencies, Parties, and Armies. No: Colleges, Businesses, Political Groups, and Radio Stations.) To me, exploring the reasons behind each would be fascinating, as would classifying the rest of the potential uses. (Like the unusual case where an individual might use "the" in front of their own - or someone else's - initials to connote a sense of importance, disconnection or humor - e.g. "The TJ is Hungry. Feed the TJ")

The Book? The Study of Names.

This is not an easy read. It contains high-level terms and references to everyone from Franz Kafka to Hopalong Cassidy. If you are serious about the field (or are a current practitioner) then buy the book. If you aren't - go buy something easier and come back when you're ready for the next step.

Note: The seven reference pages could keep an avid onomastician busy for years.

Happy reading!

Tate Linden Principal Consultant Stokefire Consulting Group 703-778-9925

Yet another week with some major moves!

1. For the first time since the 'race' started one of the top players has changed. Stoked Brands (soon to be Thingnamer) took over the number two spot from the esteemed folks at Igor. We're pretty sure this is only temporary... But we'll bask a bit while we've got the chance.
2. Our blog-bud over at Popwink has cracked the top ten - with a massive movement of over a million places. We're thinkin' he and his friends have found the Alexa toolbar. Or maybe he is giving away free booze.
3. The biggest move comes from Name Ideas - moving up over three million spots and breaking into the top fifteen.
4. We have a new addition to the group with a respectable showing - the Dutch site Markeys shows up for the first time at #13. We're happy to have 'em. If you can read Dutch feel free to tell us what they're saying over there...

And in other news - in an effort to make our own lives at Stoked Brands a little easier... We're going to remove one place each weak from the rankings (so next week there will be no #15) until we get to a top ten list. We may continue to provide links to those outside the top group, but they won't be ranked. You'll have to do your own searching for actual numbers and such.

And now, the...

THREE MONTH ALEXA RANKING AVERAGES (12/18/2006):

Rank Site AlexaRank Change 1 Wordlab: 71,865 (2,135) 2 Stoked Brands: 140,395 11,922 3 Igor: 147,829 (5,777) 4 Strategic Name Development: 211,334 5,060 5 Snark Hunting: 267,236 (5,901) 6 Qwerky: 278,651 1,418 7 Good Characters: 754,421 18,365 8 Away With Words: 846,166 90,269 9 Catch-Word: 1,468,828 (207,107) (Schrödinger’s Blog) 10 Popwink: 1,609,916 1,173,584 11 Beep.Name: 2,051,940 3,302 12 Brandnama: 2,167,036 3,648 13 Markeys: 2,324,203 (NEW) (This site has the ability to translate, but I can't link to the translated page.) 14 Name Ideas: 2,711,470 3,207,324 15 Rich With Meaning: 3,591,652 4,089 (Schrödinger’s Blog)

Not in the top 15 this week: Product Names: Sorry, but if you don't have your own Alexa stats you can't compete. (Product Names uses the stats from their host site, not their own numbers. And their host site is blogspot.) Motorbrand: (Schrödinger’s Blog) Pastelot (French): Not sure why this site isn't doing better. Guess the French arent interested in naming. (Check here to read it in awkwardly translated English.) Ton Of Bricks/A Hundred Monkeys: Not only is this site partially dead, it doesn't have any stats either.(Schrödinger’s Blog)

Quite a few things going on this week:

1. Away With Words breaks the good side of the 1 Million ranking mark. Congrats!
2. Brandnama moves up almost TWO MILLION in the ranking and leapfrogs a few spots to reach the cusp of the top ten.
3. Thanks to Steve Manning at Igor we've picked up another blog - albeit a blog that is only updated every few months. Welcome to A Hundred Monkeys/Ton of Bricks... (Echo.... echo... echo...)
4. Igor International continues to hold three of the top five spots (Wordlab, Igor, Snark Hunting) but is in danger of losing a spot to Stoked Brands (#3) and Qwerky (#6)
5. Competition to get into the top ten naming blogs has become quite fierce - with major gains in ranking from the 8th to the 12th position. Popwink is creeping up into contention.
6. The percentage of Schrödinger's Blogs within the naming category increases to 22%. Someone stop the bleeding! (Steve... don't you know the folks over there? Get 'em writing!)
7. I still haven't figured out how to get decent formatting (I tried automating it today and ended up taking about twice the time as last week...) so forgive the hard-to-read look. I'm workin' on it.

THREE MONTH ALEXA RANKING AVERAGES (12/11/2006):

1 Wordlab: 69730, # Chg -1394, % Chg -0.02, 2 Igor: 142052, # Chg -3525, % Chg -0.02, 3 Stoked Brands: 152317, # Chg 20752, % Chg 0.14, 4 Strategic Name Development: 216394, # Chg 6451, % Chg 0.03, 5 Snark Hunting: 261335, # Chg -585, % Chg 0, 6 Qwerky: 280069, # Chg 40004, % Chg 0.14, 7 Good Characters: 772788, # Chg 78541, % Chg 0.1, 8 Away With Words: 936435, # Chg 203786, % Chg 0.22, 9 Catch-Word: 1261721, # Chg 206375, % Chg 0.16 (Schrödinger's Blog) 10 Beep.Name: 2055142, # Chg 318410, % Chg 0.15 11 Brandnama: 2170684, # Chg 1709205, % Chg 0.79 12 Popwink: 2783500, # Chg 659735, % Chg 0.24 13 Product Names: 3038994, # Chg -5158, % Chg 0 14 Rich With Meaning: 3595741, # Chg -3028, % Chg 0 (Schrödinger's Blog) 15 Motorbrand: 5584698, Incomplete Data (Schrödinger's Blog) 16 Name Ideas: 5918794, # Chg 908799, % Chg 0.15 17 Pastelot (French): 5980896, Incomplete Data 18 Ton Of Bricks/A Hundred Monkeys: No Data (Schrödinger's Blog)

Have a great week folks! Continue sending links to other naming blogs if you find 'em.

Tate Linden Principal Consultant Stokefire Consulting Group 703-778-9925

Okay. I get it. I name things for a living, so when it comes to my own kiddo I'd better come up with a kick-ass name.

A few facts to keep in mind:

• I am not the CEO of this new venture. At best I'm VP of Customer Service. Other times I'm a janitor. A not very good janitor at that.
• Saying "Honey, I do this for a living" to a pregnant woman is not something I want to do. Ever.
• Scoring systems, morphemes, etymologies and anything related to what I do for a living seem to whither away when confronted with the following four words: "Oooh! That one's cute!"

Fellow naming professionals with kids... I'd love to hear how you handled the comments and questions. I'd also be interested in hearing about what you ended up naming your kids.

Truth be told, I'm not worried about our child's name. I got the only concession I wanted: that we not give 'em a name that they have to work to overcome. There shall be no Barths, Berthas, or Bundtfords here. (And little tyke... if this post is still around when you can read... you can thank me any time.)

If any of you readers - professional or otherwise - wish to contribute ideas or suggestions to the baby-naming pool this is the post to do it on.

And to my father, Sarah didn't go for the "David David" idea. Keep thinkin' creatively though.

Only six months to go! (And a whole house full of drywalling, baby-proofing, and painting.)

Tate Linden (Better not to have the professional contact info on this post...)

I'm not sure what happened, but shortly after I posted all the numbers here the stats were updated by Alexa... making it two updates in a single week. (If we didn't have numbers for last week we used the inter-week numbers to compare against.) Here are the updated Numbers for 3 Month Average from Alexa.

1 WordLab: 68,336 (2,977 Better) 4% 2 Igor: 138,527 (8,447 Better) 6% 3 Stoked Brands 173,069 (38,472 Better) 22% 4 Strategic Name Development: 222,845 (11,848 Better) 5% 5 Snark Hunting: 260,750 (17,480 Better) 7% 6 Qwerky: 320,073 (91,919 Better) 29% 7 Good Characters: 851,329 (259,273 Better) 30% 8 Away With Words: 1,140,221 (166,146 Better) 15% 9 Catch-Word: 1,468,096 (276,940 Worse) -19% 10 Beep.Name: 2,373,552 (6,551 Worse) 0% 11 Product Names: 3,033,836 (5,200 Better) 0% 12 PopWink: 3,443,235 (1,072,169 Better) 31% 13 Rich With Meaning: 3,592,713 (No Data) 14 Brandnama: 3,879,889 (No Data) 15 Name Ideas: 6,827,582 (60,712 Better) 1% 16t Pastelot: N/A 16t Motorbrand: N/A

Big upward moves from PopWink (Over 1 million better!), Good Characters, Qwerky, and Stoked Brands. Only Catch-Word and Beep.Name were down - and the latter looks like more of a rounding error.

Still inactive: Catch-Word, Rich With Meaning, and Motorbrand.

Not many ranking shuffles - Away With Words moves back up after a false indication that she was dropping - swapping with the Inactive Catch-Word blog. Name Ideas drops to 15th due to Brandnama and Rich With Meaning having enough data to compute a 3 month average.

Happy Surfing.

Tate Linden Principal Consultant Stokefire Consulting Group 703-778-9925

While there were minimal changes in the rankings this week, the big news comes from the addition of seven blogs to the list. Even better, it appears that most of them are active.

I haven't figured out if I want to keep the inactive sites on the list... since there may be good data on the sites, and perhaps by drawing attention to the sites I can encourage/shame/cajole the owners into picking up the banner again.

THREE MONTH ALEXA RANKING AVERAGES (12/04/2006):

1 Wordlab: 69,585 (1,728 Better) 2%
2 Igor: 151,413 (4,439 Worse) -3%
3 Stoked Brands: 185,599 (25,942 Better) 14%
4 Strategic Name Development: 223,091 (11,602 Better) 5%
5 Snark Hunting: 280,475 (2,245 Worse) -1%
6 Qwerky: 322,480 (89,512 Better) 28%
7 Good Characters: 967,530 (143,072 Better) 15%
8 Catch-Word: 1,191,156 (NEW) - INACTIVE
9 Away With Words: 1,425,534 (119,167 Worse) -8%
10 Beep.Name: 2,367,001 (NEW)
11 Product Names: 3,039,036 (NEW)
12 Popwink: 4,491,290 (24,114 Better) 1%
13 Name Ideas: 6,888,294 (NEW)
14 Rich With Meaning: N/A - INACTIVE
15 Brandnama: N/A (NEW)
16 Pastelot (French): N/A (NEW)
17 Motorbrand: N/A (NEW) - INACTIVE

Amongst the top six blogs there is a significant tightening up of ranks. Any one of the 2-thru-5 blogs could get bumped by the one below as soon as next week. Same goes for 7-thru-9. My money is on Nancy (of Away With Words fame) overtaking the dead Catch-Words site in the next couple weeks.

I can't be sure that I have every blog yet. I had a couple suggestions to add in MarketingProfs, but have decided to defer since they aren't actually a naming blog, and their Names and Taglines section is actually more of a bulletin board or forum. Other suggestions included more general branding blogs and marketing blogs. Sorry... we're trying to stay with blogs that are talking about naming at least weekly.

If you know of more sites I can add keep sending me the links - or just post a comment here.

Biggest Moves:

• Positive Percentage: Qwerky
• Postive Alexa Rank: Good Characters
• Negative Percentage/Alexa Rank: Away With Words (It must've been those links she had to our site for Thanksgiving.)

I'll continue having this as my Monday posting for a few weeks at least. I'm learning a lot from all of your sites, and am enjoying getting to know your thoughts and styles. Once we get everyone on board I may pass the collection and ranking off to an associate, or if there is no interest from the blogosphere we'll just track it internally.

Good luck next week!

Tate Linden
Principal Consultant
Stokefire Consulting Group
703-778-9925

Thanks to Anantha - a promising new naming blogger out of India - I came across a wonderful paper written by Randal S. Rozin of Dow Corning.

It is rare that people display so much of their process to the public. When people do display this much it often doesn't stay available for long.

My advice? Click the link and print the file before it disappears. Whether you're a naming veteran or a first timer this is an excellent peek into a process used by a very sophisticated naming department.

I don't agree with every tidbit offered in the paper, but I was truly engrossed by gaining access to something usually off-limits to outsiders and other industry members.

Enjoy the find while it lasts!

Tate Linden Principal Consultant Stokefire Consulting Group 703-778-9925

Blogs are an amazing medium - and they have a quality that until this weekend I have ignored: The popularity of most blogs is easily accessible. Prompted by posts over at BeyondMadisonAvenue and The Viral Garden I decided to take a look at how naming blogs stack up against the big boys on the advertising blog side of things.

As it turns out we stack up quite well! Using Alexa.com as our data source (admittedly not a perfect arbiter, but better than anything else we have available) it seems that we're getting numbers that put quite a few naming blogs in the top 25 (which would be 398,803 for advertising and 260,369 for marketing... but I have no idea which group would actually consider taking us in.)

Here are the numbers for the naming blogs that I know of. (Feel free to submit other naming blogs that I may have missed! Just add 'em in to the comments area. Just make sure they are primarily naming blogs, and not just a couple times a month.)

THREE MONTH ALEXA RANKING AVERAGES (11/27/2006):

Wordlab: 71,353 Igor: 146,974 Stoked Brands: 211,541 Strategic Name Development: 234,693 Snark Hunting: 278,230 Qwerky: 411,992 Good Characters: 1,110,602 Away With Words: 1,306,367 Popwink: 4,515,404 Rich With Meaning: N/A

Based on these numbers You may note that the granddaddy of the category (WordLab- started in 2001, followed rapidly by Igor and SnarkHunting - all apparently run by the same company) appears to have a pretty dominant hold on the group - with a 3 month average about half that of anyone else. But you may also note that other sites are putting up promising numbers in recent weeks - so it should be interesting to see where the leaders are in a few months.

It is refreshing (and confidence inspiring) to see that there is as much interest in this topic from both a writing and a reading audience. Kudos to Igor for having the courage to start the category (and then to self-pollenate with three sites) and additional kudos to the rest of the sites that have obviously found unique audiences that are interested in what they have to offer.

Interestingly, Igor's sites are very strongly interlinked, but they provide no links to any of the other naming blogs. There are many sites that are related to naming (like trademarks, language, advertising, and new products) but nothing other than their own special sauce for naming advice... The rest of the namers appear to be less concerned about losing traffic to the competition. (We've had comments from Igor, but never a link... and I can't find a single link to one of the most-linked sites on our topic - www.namedevelopment.com/blog.) I guess that this mirrors common business practices, where you wouldn't see an industry leader sending business to the mid-levels, but the smaller guys might exchange clients or overflow on occasion.)

We're hoping that everyone on the list considers linking to the other commentators... and if you're a naming blogger that isn't on the list we hope you'll alert us so we can add you to the list and expand the discussion on and about our industry.