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In order to truly benefit with these global intricacies and having a vision to acquiring universal name identities, one must bite the bullet first, and be open to frank and candid boardroom level discussions in micro detail; a process demanding a commanding
knowledge of global business naming procedures, corporate nomenclature and many other different skills unheard of in the traditional logo-centric-slogan-happy branding process.

After all, the prime objective of any brand name is to spread its wings and fly in expanding markets, something only possible when names are without extra luggage.

'A' for Arabic Naming

Currently, in the Middle East, the traditional long branding process ends in an Arabic name, often starting with the letter 'A', a most intricate logo with colorful schemes, something extremely difficult to appreciate or decipher on the global markets. Any assembly of the top 50 names and their logos would clearly spill out the global challenges facing this process.

Does this now mean that we should abandon Arabic words or start discussing prospects for depending on the letters 'B' or 'C'? Not at all. It means we should be aware that the alphabet of each language has hidden characters, strengths, weaknesses and related trends; it's not a simple question of the cut-and-paste solution of inserting letters into famous or already existing name brands.

Naming from the English Dictionary has also been a common problem in the West decades ago. At one time, there were hundreds of companies in the USA called Dynamic, Quantum, Prism or Rainbow, as they sounded so powerful and fresh, but eventually died out due to worldwide name confusions. Furthermore, global e-commerce and the use of digital branding for domain names clearly points to a serious need for highly-specialized skills.

It is also very important to note that despite the seeming dominance of English, there are some 2,700 different languages with 8,000 dialects around the world. Altogether, there are 12 important language families with 50 lesser ones. Indo-European is the largest family in which English is the most important category.

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Naseem Javed, recognized as a world authority on corporate image and global name identities, is a harsh critic of casual and accidental naming. He is a dynamic speaker on corporate image and branding issues, and is also the author of Naming for Power. He founded ABC Namebank International, an image and branding consultancy over 25 years ago.
Website: www.abcnamebank.com