category: naming process

Igor’s latest naming work: “Freestyle” for EA Sports

Case study.

Should Lawyers Name Racehorses?

Above the Law might be the name of a racehorse, or it’s the most popular law blog ever! Over 400 comments on this racehorse naming post. We are not worthy!

The rules of racehorse naming drafted by lawyers for The Jockey Club:

“6. NAMING

A. A name may be claimed on the Registration Application, on a Name Claiming Form or through Interactive RegistrationTM at registry.jockeyclub.com. Name selections should be listed in order of preference. Names will be assigned based upon availability and compliance with the naming rules as stated herein. Names may not be claimed or reserved by telephone. When a foreign language name is submitted, an English translation must be furnished to The Jockey Club. An explanation must accompany “coined” or “made-up” names that have no apparent meaning. Horses that were born in the United States, Puerto Rico or Canada and currently reside in another country must be named by The Jockey Club through the Stud Book Authority of their country of residence.

B. If a valid attempt to name a foal is submitted to The Jockey Club by February 1 of the foal’s two-year-old year and such a name is determined not eligible for use, no fee is required for a subsequent claim of name for that foal. If a valid attempt to name a foal is not submitted to The Jockey Club by February 1 of the foal’s two-year-old year, a fee is required to claim a name for such a foal (see Fee Schedule).

C. A reserved name must be used within one year from the day it was reserved. Reserved names cannot be used until notification requesting the assignment of the name to a specific horse is received by the Registry Office. If the reserved name is not used within one year from its reservation, it will become available for any horse. A fee is required to reserve a name (see Fee Schedule).

D. A foal’s name may be changed at any time prior to starting in its first race. Ordinarily, no name change will be permitted after a horse has started in its first race or has been used for breeding purposes. However, in the event a name must be changed after a horse has started in its first race, both the old and new names should be used until the horse has raced three times following the name change. The prescribed fee (see Fee Schedule) and the Certificate of Foal Registration must accompany any request to the Registry Office for a change of name.

E. Names of horses over ten years old may be eligible if they are not excluded under Rule 6(F) and have not been used during the preceding five years either in breeding or racing.
Names of geldings and horses that were never used for breeding or racing may be available five years from the date of their death as reported.

F. The following classes of names are not eligible for use:
1. Names consisting of more than 18 letters (spaces and punctuation marks count as letters);
2. Initials such as C.O.D., F.O.B., etc.;
3. Names ending in “filly,” “colt,” “stud,” “mare,” “stallion,” or any similar horse-related term;
4. Names consisting entirely of numbers. Numbers above thirty may be used if they are spelled out;
5. Names ending with a numerical designation such as “2nd” or “3rd,” whether or not such a designation is spelled out;
6. Names of persons unless written permission to use their name is on file with The Jockey Club;
7. Names of “famous” people no longer living unless approval is granted by the Board of Stewards of The Jockey Club;
8. Names of “notorious” people;
9. Names of racetracks or graded stakes races;
10. Recorded names such as assumed names or stable names;
11. Names clearly having commercial significance, such as trade names;
12. Copyrighted material, titles of books, plays, motion pictures, popular songs, etc., unless the applicant furnishes The Jockey Club with proof that the copyright has been abandoned or that such material has not been used within the last five years;
13. Names that are suggestive or have a vulgar or obscene meaning; names considered in poor taste; or names that may be offensive to religious, political or ethnic groups;
14. Names that are currently active either in racing or breeding, and names similar in spelling or pronunciation to such names, see 6(E);
15. Permanent names and names similar in spelling or pronunciation to permanent names. The list of criteria to establish a permanent name is as follows:
a. Horses in racing’s Hall of Fame;
b. Horses that have been voted Horse of the Year;
c. Horses that have won an Eclipse Award;
d. Horses that have won a Sovereign Award (Canadian Champions);
e. Annual leading sire and broodmare sire by progeny earnings;
f. Cumulative money winners of $2 million or more;
g. Horses that have won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont Stakes, The Jockey Club Gold Cup, the Breeders’ Cup Classic or the Breeders’ Cup Turf; and
h. Horses included in the International List of Protected Names.

G. In addition to the provisions of this Rule 6, the Registrar of The Jockey Club reserves the right of approval on all name requests. “

Let’s have some racehorse names from naming professionals, either here or over there in the comments at Above the Law.

Legend of French Lick

Basketball legend Larry Bird is suing the folks he sold his house last year over the use of his name on the bed and breakfast they are operating in the Hoosier icon’s boyhood home.

Welcome to the Legend of French Lick

Nestled on a peaceful hillside in beautiful southern Indiana, this tranquil 12-acre retreat offers luxury accommodations and amenities within fenced, park-like grounds in a quiet country setting…a gated entrance, large pool and cabana, a lighted tennis court and, of course, a lighted basketball court.

“The commercialization of Larry Bird’s name in association with this former property is wholly and completely unauthorized and is blatantly being done for the sole purpose of profiting illegally from Larry Bird’s name,” a lawyer for Bird wrote in the complaint, which has received a lot of exposure in the news.

The resort that is the former home of Larry Bird has this disclaimer on its website:

Note. Legend of French Lick, LLC, an Indiana limited liability company, owns the former home of Larry Bird. Neither Larry Bird, nor the Larry Joe Bird Revocable Living Trust, nor any entity or person affiliated with Mr. Bird, nor any member of Mr. Bird’s family has any legal, financial or other interest in Legend of French Lick, LLC or the Legend of French Lick Resort.

We couldn’t reach Larry Bird for comment on the case, but we found a quote attributed to him: “I really don’t like talking about money. All I can say is that the Good Lord must have wanted me to have it. “

Minimally-unique, high-performance naming!

Oh no. IBM has an algorithm for creating unique names in a performance-sensitive manner. We’re screwed!

Igor is big in Croatia

Apparently, there is a country called “Croatia”. Why they exist is a mystery. But we are big there.

From “The Land of The Grudge” (with pics of some Igor staffers):

Jay Jurisich radi u San Franciscu i među najboljim je stručnjacima za brendove. Jutarnjem je otkrio što je danas presudno za poslovni uspjeh te zašto će neke hrvatske tvrtke uvijek ostati samo regionalneSve je u imenu. Za jedan brend ništa nije toliko važno kao ime”, poslovna je filozofija Jaya Jurisicha koji je s tom krilaticom prije šest godina s kolegom Steveom Manningom u San Franciscu osnovao kompaniju Igor koja se bavi vjerojatno najzabavnijim, ali prilično unosnim poslom u svijetu biznisa.

Complete article

This Bud’s Not For You

This just in from the Associated Press: California brewer ordered to stop using ‘Legal Weed’ bottle caps.

WEED, Calif. — Vaune Dillmann thought the wording on his bottle caps was just a clever play on the name of the northern California town where he brews his beer.

Federal alcohol regulators thought differently. They have ordered Dillmann to stop selling beer bottles with caps that say “Try Legal Weed.” The agency, which regulates the brewing industry, said the wording could “mislead consumers about the characteristics of the alcoholic beverage.”

Dillmann scoffs at the notion that his label has anything to do with smoking pot. “I’ve never tried marijuana in my life,” he told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “I don’t advocate that. It’s just our town’s name.”

Landor has a new look…

.. but they still can’t name to save their ass.

However, that is a nice pic of Anthony Shore on the hompage. And as hard as it is to believe ladies, he is straight and available (Post-ops considered).

Anth’s interests include phlebotomy, Harry Potter and calf massages (we forgot to ask which definition of “calf” he intended).

If in a vulnerable moment you do find yourself in bed with Landor on your next naming project, be safe, use a mental dam.

Should you wake up and realize you’ve been badly screwed by a “full service
agency”, there is always Plan B or Plan B.

But for those looking for a really spectacular hump, there is no substitute for Plan A.

Naming Inventions

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

When you do succeed, you’re gonna need a name for your invention.

And if, being a scientist, you’re not good at inventing names, you might just name your invention after the number of times you tried, like say, WD-40 or Formula 409.

Formula 409 didn’t get it’s name from the area code where it was developed. And it’s not the birth date of the creator’s daughter. Formula 409 got its name from perseverance. From the desire of two young scientists in Detroit to create the ultimate cleaner. A cleaner powerful enough to cut through grease and dirt on contact.

A cleaner like that doesn’t get created on the first try. And in the eyes of these two persistent scientists, it doesn’t get created on the 101st, 201st, 301st or 401st try either. Only when they had created their 409th formula were these two young men satisfied that they had created the ultimate cleaner. Formula 409. Kitchen messes don’t stand a chance.

Some names come easier.

In 1953, a fledgling company called Rocket Chemical Company and its staff of three set out to create a line of rust-prevention solvents and degreasers for use in the aerospace industry, in a small lab in San Diego, California.

It took them 40 attempts to get the water displacing formula worked out. But they must have been really good, because the original secret formula for WD-40—which stands for Water Displacement perfected on the 40th try—is still in use today.

We should have blogged about these names on National Inventors Day.

Leap Year Naming and Branding

Happy Leap Day, Anthony.

Every four years, we take a look at leap names.

Leap Frog = good name
Leapster = bad name

Downoad Here Free!

We just picked this up from the Live Feed at Agenda:

Chris Anderson, the editor-in-chief of Wired, and author of The Long Tail is pre-releasing large sections of his new book Free online this week. The book examines the rise of pricing models which give products and services to customers for free.

Free! We love free stuff. The only thing we like more than getting free stuff, is giving it away!

We created the Igor Naming Guide in order to demystify the naming process. In it we show how and why great product and company names work, when focus groups and standard ways of thinking about them might have predicted otherwise. Igor’s own naming process is presented in excruciating but logical detail.

The Naming Guide is regularly updated; download the latest version of “Building the Perfect Beast: The Igor Naming Guide to Creating Product and Company Names” FREE HERE!!!

Here Comes Another Bubble

need a good domain name
must be cheap, can’t be lame
something cool like flickr, meebo, wikiyou, mahalo, bebo
“telephone” without the “t”
“digg” but with a triple “g”

CourtTV to change name to truTV on January 1

Igor created the new name for Court TV, which is…truTV. This excerpt from Variety tells the story:

Turner Entertainment Networks is rebranding Court TV as truTV, a moniker reflecting its ongoing conversion to an entertainment network heavy on reality shows and true crime.

“This gives us a focused brand and a wide playing field,” said Turner prexy Steve Koonin. “We felt the Court TV name was limiting us in defining what we are and what we are delivering.”

The name change marks another step in the channel’s conversion to an entertainment-focused web targeted at a demo the network refers to as “real engagers,” or those interested in true stories, widely defined as news, true crime, reality shows or nonfiction entertainment.

In fact, they have already flipped the switch on their website.

« Home | naming process


previous »