Branding: Short List Name Candidates

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Remember the "name" is just one part of our Brand -- which is a story about who we are, what we do, the products that we make, and benefits for the user and developer communities.

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Criteria used for rank consideration

Criteria	Note or Example	Links
easy to spell / remember spelling	lower score if incorrect spelling can lead to confusion with another product or website
easy to say/read	only one way
alliteration	(recurrence of same letter and sound in accented parts of words, e.g. Volvo)
short	(one word, few syllables)
simple	(fewer letters - use of repeating)
strong idea inherent in name	a purely artificial word requires additional resources to establish a link with preferred brand associations since it has no inherent meaning
strong association to brand	pro-social, etc.	less resources required to link positive associations to brand name
suggestive of "PIM" category or feature	less resources required to build brand
no negative associations	vetted in English -- please help with other languages send email to Pieter if you are aware of other language associations we should consider
group vs individual	group is preferred to individual associations
small group vs large group	small group is preferred to large group (enterprise) associations
active vs. passive	active is preferred to passive associations
trademark available likely	USPTO database search for registrations in similar markets	US Patent and Trade Office search
domain available likely	tried both .com and .org to see if in use, looked at whois registrations to see if registered, even if not in use
no open source project name conflict	looked at both Freshmeat and Source Forge	Freshmeat http://sourceforge.net/search/

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Candidate Scoring

attribute scores range from 1-5, with 5 being the "best" score for a name candidate

Top Ranking Candidate Names in Alphabetical Order

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Reasoning for inclusion of Name candidate in short list

in alphabetical order, not rank order

Candidate	Discussion
Chandler	Meaning is a candle-maker or purveyor of household or marine supplies. Current code-name for desktop product and has the advantage of use related to the project. Has relevant associations for our current community, but no relevant associations for those potential future developers and users that are not currently aware of us. We also face the hurdle of extending the code-name for the desktop application to the on-line service and the server.
Coreo	Short for Choreograph, plan for control of steps of events. (Choreo spelling is already in use). Similar pronunciation/spelling in Spanish "correo" means mail. (correio = mail in Protugese)
Grooper	Alludes to group nature of our product, however Grouper spelling (grouper.com) is in use by video-sharing site.
Pool	Both the noun form relating to a collection of shared resources (motor pool) and the verb relating to the process of collecting resources speak to our goal of collecting and sharing. Doubled letter-"o" is seen as a plus.

Candidate	Discussion
Accrue/Accru	"It has a positive connotation, is associated with growth and addition, but when spoken, it sounds like "a crew" which is also a small group." -- sounds too corporate NOT prosocial
Acropolis	Birthplace and enduring symbol of democracy. Anagram of "PROSOCIAL" our core brand value. A stronghold, safe place to live built on a defensible cliff. Can be combined with functional descriptor for name of brand components, e.g. Acropolis Planner, Acropolis On-line, etc. The 4 syllables is not optimal (shorter is better usually) -- sounds archaic, too many syllables
On Cue	"At the correct moment." Implies the person being ready and prepared, at the right place at the right time. In particular focuses on timing. A cue is a piece of information that aids memory in retrieving details not recalled spontaneously. It is a prompt or reminder to begin action. -- sounds like multimedia production software
Vellum	Vellum is parchment used for writing. Typically vellum was used to record and share important, enduring (or archival) ideas. A manuscript on vellum conveys the idea of importance, value, and longevity. Has a really nice sound and syllabic mirroring for English speakers, but possibly could be more difficult because of the double-l in other languages. -- tenuous associations to core values

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Reference:

• BrandNamingProcess.pdf

Pdf of slide presentation on the brand naming process: generating huge list of words associated with our brand values, winnowing the list, filtering for unavailable or unsuitable names, ranking based on "good name" criteria.

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Visuals Brainstorm

• Glass pebbles: Might work well as a base for any of the concepts above. Sort of like the glass ball we have right now.
• Many glass pebbles = Accrue?

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• Columns: Acropolis

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• Panther Grouper

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• Raise your hands up in the air
• Accrue
• Coreo
• Grooper
• Pool

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• Vellum: Like the glass pebble, a good base image

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• A-OK
• On Cue

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• Spider web
• Weave? Hubs trap everyone into their web and suck the information out of them.

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• Frog

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• Old English Sheepdog: Herder

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• Sardines: Scool, Skul, Sculle, Skoole

• shortlistnamecandidatesforOPS.tiff: shortlistnamecandidatesforOPS.tiff