Have you noticed that your local Kinko’s has become FedEx Kinko’s?

Kinko’s is known for having a laid-back corporate culture. Maybe a little too laid back. The Name Inspector once went to a 24-hour Kinko’s in Manhattan, and there was no one there. Not only were there no other customers, but there were no employees, either. The doors were open, the lights were on, the copy machines were humming, but nobody was home.

So The Name Inspector saw FedEx Kinko’s as a promising development. Those people at FedEx have to be on top of things. You know, when it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight and all that. The Name Inspector pictured someone with the quasi-military efficiency coming in and whipping things into shape, like Tom Hanks in that terrible stranded-on-a-desert-island movie (early in the movie, when he was a FedEx exec–not later, when he was a crazy hairy guy talking to a volleyball).

Despite the differences in corporate culture, FedEx and Kinko’s are a natural match. For The Name Inspector at least, both places inspire a combination of love and queasy dread. Love because both places provide important services when you really, really need them. Dread because both places are associated with impending deadlines and procrastination.

Suppose you’ve traveled to a strange city–oh, say, Houston–to make a presentation, and you’ve misplaced your handout. OK, suppose you didn’t finish the handout before you left home. You need to find a place to print it out and make copies. Suppose it’s very late at night. When you find a twenty-four hour Kinko’s, your heart soars, because you know that everything will be alright. Love.

But then you actually go to the Kinko’s and start doing what needs to be done. It takes longer than you expected, because two copy machines are jammed, the other one is low on toner, and there’s nary a Kinko’s employee in sight. It’s getting later and later. Dread.

No doubt the reader can imagine stories about FedEx that, while different in their particulars, have a similar emotional resonance.

Despite their association with dread, FedEx and Kinko’s are a couple of iconic names. Understandably, the big cheeses of the new hybrid company could not part with the brand equity of either name. So they went for the easiest option–the only option, really: they stuck the two names together. The result is a monstrosity of a name that would never make it in the biz if its parents weren’t celebrities.

Might they have gone with a blend? Well, Finko’s, KinkEx, and Fedinko’s are definitely memorable names, but those stodgy corporate types might have felt these options failed to project the appropriate image. On the other hand, they’re really no less dignified than Kinko’s–just less familiar. Kinko was, apparently, the nickname of the curly-haired founder, just in case you’re wondering where that gem came from.

Is the name FedEx Kinko’s a compound? No. A compound is made of two words but pronounced as one word. More specifically, it has the intonational properties of one word–most notably, only one of its syllables carries primary stress. In the name FedEx Kinko’s, both parts–FedEx and Kinko’s–have syllables that get full word-worthy stress. The first syllable of Kinko’s is emphasized a little more than the first syllable of FedEx, but that has to do with the phrasal status of this name.

The first part of this name, FedEx, is already a compound. Or rather, it’s what we at the old naming company used to call a clipped compound, or a clipcom, to use a term that demonstrates what it describes. A clipcom takes the first part of each of two words and sticks them together.

Did you know that the word taxicab comes from the words taximeter and cabriolet? That’s another clipcom.

Putting the clipcom FedEx in front of the name Kinko’s makes for a real mouthful. The pronunciation is awkward, especially with the x right in front of the k. Besides, the whole thing just feels wrong. It resembles a company name modifying a brand name, like Apple Macintosh or Oxo Good Grips, or a brand name modifying a generic term, like Northwest Airlines, but its meaning doesn’t seem to fit either of these familiar patterns.

But what are you gonna do? They had no choice, really. When you walk past your local copy store, you can still look up and see the familiar Kinko’s name. Now you just see FedEx right there with it, riding its ass and keeping it in line. And, of course, offering shipping services.

Tags: fedex kinko’s, the name fedex kinko’s, fedex, kinko’s, finko’s, kinkex, fedinko’s, company name, business name, frankenbrand, volleyball

On Monday The Name Inspector hosted a Biznik workshop and everyone discussed the name of the popular photo-sharing site Flickr. It’s an interesting case study in selecting a real word to serve as a business name.

The word flicker clearly evokes scenarios associated with light and photography. One person said it reminded her of movie projectors and old movies. Someone else thought of the light that flickers on a camera before the flash to prevent red eye. Another person imagined a bunch of flashbulbs going off at once, like what you see near the red carpet at the Academy Awards. Another thought of flames.

Everyone agreed that the associations with light are strong and appropriate. There were, however, some less positive reactions. Several people, The Name Inspector included, took issue with the unreliability associated with the word flicker. Lights tend to flicker when there’s a bad electrical connection or when the power is about to go out. Dying flames flicker. This association might tend to undermine confidence in a web application–those things are, let’s be frank, prone to have some technical problems from time to time. On the other hand, the dynamic quality of flickering light can be a positive, and the association with flame suggests warmth and soft, beautiful light.

Of course, no discussion of the name Flickr would be complete without some mention of that missing e. Misspelled names often seem cheesy, as if they should appear in those late-night TV commercials that flash 1-800 numbers on the screen. Think of Krazy Glue, for example. Flickr does not completely escape that fate. Right now it may still have a certain cutting-edge sheen, but that’s unlikely to last with all the imitators it’s inspired: WishListr, Zooomr, Gabbr, Frappr, Flagr, etc. See even more over at Brand Dialogue.

It seems only fair to say a few words in defense of the misspelling, though. Of course, it’s an understandable response to the extreme difficulty and/or expense of getting a real word as a domain name. Instead of forking over the big bucks to someone who happened to register a word but has nothing better to do with it than serve up a bunch of random ads (which The Name Inspector is by no means encouraging you to click on), why not come up with a creative work-around? This particular misspelling works pretty well, because the er in flicker just stands for a syllabic r sound, which makes the e superfluous from a phonetic point of view. Leaving it out doesn’t make the name difficult to pronounce, and is reminiscent of the abbreviated spelling used in text messaging, which might even make it a little hip.

There was a pretty strong consensus in our group that Flickr offers such a fun and useful service that the potential weaknesses of the name pale in comparison to the strengths. People just like Flickr, and that makes them very forgiving.

Tags: flickr, the name flickr, photos, photo-sharing, misspelling, wishlistr, zooomr, gabbr, frappr, flagr, copycats, copycat names

It’s probably safe to say that Amazon (or Amazon.com) has achieved the status of an iconic name.

So, does the word Amazon bear any meaningful relation to the company Amazon.com? Amazon is of course the name of the South American river which is the largest in the world. There were also ancient women warriors, made famous through Greek mythology, that we call Amazons.

It’s unlikely that Amazon.com is intended to be associated with the second meaning. In fact, the company embarrassed itself back in 1999 during a trademark dispute with a feminist bookstore called Amazon Bookstore, which had been using that name since long before the web existed, and sued Amazon.com. According to Salon.com, Amazon.com lawyers questioned one of the bookstore owners in pre-trial depositions about her sexual orientation and the orientations of bookstore employees. Company representatives claimed they were just trying to establish that Amazon Bookstore catered specifically to a lesbian clientele, and that the two companies were therefore in “different businesses” and could both use the name Amazon. Yeah, right.

So it’s the river association they were going after. According to this WIPO arbitration document, about a separate trademark dispute in which Amazon was the complainant,

Mr Bezof [sic] chose the name for the site because the River Amazon in South America is the biggest river in the world and one of the company’s goals was eventually to offer the largest selection of book titles in the world.

A large river serves as a good metaphor for a a huge retail operation like Amazon.com. The comparison implies that Amazon has an endless supply of books (and now other products), just like a river has an endless supply of water. This idea also seems to be played upon by the name Endless.com, which Amazon chose for its new site selling shoes and handbags.

Note that an endless supply can mean either lots of actual physical books (or other items), or lots of titles, as in the indirect Bezos quote above. In the latter case it means endless variety, and is an example of what Chris Anderson calls The Long Tail. Amazon is a prominent case study in his book of that name. In case you’ve somehow managed to avoid discussions of the Long Tail, the idea is that Amazon’s web-based retail model allows them to profitably sell lots and lots of less popular items, items that, on a graph of items listed in descending order of popularity, would be way out on the long tail.

Aside from the image of a long tail/river, the river metaphor also suggests the inevitability of Amazon actually selling things. A river may have an endless supply of water, but so does the ocean (for all intents and purposes). What makes a river special is that the water is always moving in one direction (barring enormous civil engineering projects). When we think of rivers, deep ideas about force dynamics are active in our minds–we imagine the irresistible pull of the water. Such ideas are at work when we talk about the flow of goods (or of ideas). These associations might have been comforting to Amazon’s investors, who were concerned about Amazon moving enough merchandise to become profitable.

The pronunciation and sound of Amazon support the meaning. Because there are no stops and no voiceless sounds, there is continuous vibration of the vocal folds and flow of air when you say the name. The open vowels contribute to this feeling of free movement.

Amazon had to fight to use their name, and sometimes they fought dirty, but the name may have been worth fighting for.

Tags: Amazon, the name Amazon, Amazon Bookstore, books, bookstore, trademark dispute, Endless.com

Occasionally the Name Inspector writes about names for companies, products, or services that have achieved iconic status. There are lessons to be learned from these names, sometimes because they’re great, and sometimes because they show it’s possible to succeed with a so-so name.

Apple Computers is a great name. It’s a model solution to a problem faced by all technology companies: how to make something that’s fundamentally abstract and mysterious seem accessible and appealing. Apple, you may recall, is responsible for turning computers into popular consumer commodities. Before Apple’s famous “1984″ ad, when people thought of computers, they thought of mainframes used in business and government. Apple has managed to make computers seem fun, approachable, and desirable.

Of course, it isn’t just the name that has achieved this. It’s the user interface and the design and the packaging and marketing. But the name Apple captures the whole image perfectly. Why?

Well, there’s the obvious cultural symbolism of apples. They’re associated with school (an apple for the teacher) and therefore with childhood and learning. More importantly, in the story of Adam and Eve, the apple represents knowledge and sex. Who doesn’t want those things? The fact that the apple also represents sin contributes to the hip, rebellious image that the original Apple ads tried to establish. The apple is the perfect symbol for the subversive power of owning your own computer. The Apple logo, with the little bite taken out of it, is an obvious reference to the idea of eating from the Tree of Knowledge.

This kind of quasi-literary symbolism is only part of the story, though. The deeper power of the name Apple comes from our everyday experiences with actual apples. They are, in a sense, the perfect consumer commodity: they’re ubiquitous and cheap, you grasp them in your hand and literally consume them, and they’re delicious. For almost everyone, they’re old childhood friends: cooked into sauce and cut into little pieces for babies, put into school lunchboxes and toted around, and baked into pies. It’s these deeply rooted sensory memories of apples that make Apple a great name. Nothing is more familiar, more accessible, or less intimidating than an apple, and that’s just the message Apple wants to get across.

Tags: Apple, the name Apple, Apple Computers