More client love for Eat My Words

We recently renamed a coffee company with what is our most merchandisable name since Spoon Me. We can't let the name out of the bean bag yet, but in the meantime, here's a gushing testimonial from the client, Pete...

As a startup company, it was important for the Second Chance Coffee Company to find a professional naming company that was as creative, energetic and focused on providing real value, as we are passionate about our business and mission. We have the right company name but "Second Chance" does not work so well for a coffee product that is roasted and delivered fresh the same day!

When our research turned up Eat My Words as a naming company that serves up "fresh names & taglines to go" we were interested. A little digging into the EMW website made it clear that this was no ordinary naming firm. This website, unlike a bunch of others, was clear and understandable, with none of the marketing mumbo jumbo we'd been wading through elsewhere. The simply powerful "Smile and Scratch Test" prompted us to give Alexandra a call. By the end of the conversation, it was clear that her fresh and engaging approach to naming was what we were looking for. Alexandra's enthusiasm, passion and track record convinced us that we had found the right solution to our naming conundrum, and the execution of the project has proven that we were correct.

"Good Value" is an understatement. Eat My Words has been very creative, energetic, and professional in every aspect of our project. I would not hesitate to hire EMW and Alexandra again.

Pete Leonard

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Keep an eye on our blog to find out what we named "Pete's coffee."

OpenTable Dishes Up Appetizing Conference Room Names

Kudos to restaurant reservation company OpenTable (my favorite free service) for having a contest to name their conference rooms.

Out of 51 entries, the winning theme was "fictitious restaurants or cafes from TV shows." Congrats to Julie Hall, the clever employee whose prize is a slick new TV. (How fitting!) Now people can say, "Let's meet in...

Central Perk (Friends)
Cafe Nervosa (Frasier)
The Peach Pit (90210)
Cheers (Cheers)
Arnold's Drive-In (Happy Days)
Monk's Café (Seinfeld)
The Regal Beagle (Three's Company)
Phil's (Murphy Brown)
Riff's (Mad About You)
McClaren's (How I Met Your Mother)
Moe's (The Simpsons)

A foodie friend of mine works at OpenTable and was kind enough to let me collaborate with him on some names. These were our submissions:

BREAKFAST CEREAL CONFERENCE ROOMS
Cap'n Crunch
Count Chocula
Franken Berry
Shredded Wheat
Special K
Wheat Chex
Boo Berry
Malt-O-Meal
Froot Loops

KITCHENWARE CONFERENCE ROOMS
Spatula
Wooden Spoon
Cutting Board (great name for a board room!)
Pressure Cooker (another killer name!)
Corkscrew
Rolling Pin
Egg Beater
Garlic Press
Waffle Iron

We wish more companies would get creative with their conference room names - it's a fun way to add personality to any business.

Open Source - say it outloud - yikes!

Open Source sounds like Open Sores. Ouch!

Name the baby gorilla - his father will pick the winner.

The San Francisco Zoo is having a contest to name their new baby gorilla. Get this - the father of the infant, Oscar Jonesy, a dominant silverback gorilla, will choose the winner by selecting one of five colored bamboo sticks. I am not making this up. From the website. "A panel of judges appointed by the Zoo will choose five finalist names. Each name will be connected individually to five colored bamboo sticks and placed out in the Jones Family Gorilla Preserve exhibit for Oscar Jonesy. The first colored bamboo stick he chooses will be the winning name."

They are looking for "a distinguished name of African origin," so don't try to be cute. For the record, I will be submitting the name "Jambo," which means "Hello" in Swahili. (Swahili is the only language I have ever picked up in my world travels.)

Go here for full contest details.

Announcing the worst name of 2008

What happens when software engineers drink and play Scrabble?

Thanks to all of you who voted in the 2008 Head Scratcher "worst name of the year" contest. This cheeky annual award, created by naming firm Eat My Words (that would be us), is inspired by our no-brainer philosophy, "A name should make you smile, instead of scratch your head." Contenders are judged on their "ick factor" and ability to pass the Eat My Words SMILE & SCRATCH Test, which has been featured in Wall Street Journal, a fact that we like to mention as often as possible.

Drumroll please...

The name that chalked up the most votes was a new "financial literacy" site for children out of Oklahoma named Shryk. A name that made us shriek.

The tacky pink trophy was ready to be engraved and then...

Another drumroll please...

We were tipped off that Shryk renamed themselves with an even worse name: iThryv.

Whaaaaaat? Did one of their software engineers say, "Hey, we need a name with vowels so let's get drunk and play Scrabble again"? (Why not iShryk?) The website explains it all by saying "Shryk changed the name of the corporation to iThryv in an effort to dispel any confusion related to the name of the company versus the name of the product. Now, when someone mentions iThryv -- you know they are talking about financial literacy." HELLO! What about regular literacy?! The name iThryv is so severely spelling-challenged that an entire generation of children are not going to know that the word "thrive" is spelled with vowels. Isn't it already tragic enough that "No Child Left Behind" didn't work and kids don't know how to spell "flicker" or "delicious"? And sorry iThryv, the "i" doesn't buy you a vowel. Beginning your company name with an "i or an "e" is so 1998. Just like iStockPhoto and eHarmony, the name iThryv screams, "WE'RE ON THE INTERNET!" Yeah, everyone is. If iThryv is still "thryving" 20 years from now, the name will sound even more ridiculous than it does today.

How can you avoid a Head Scratcher award?

Tip #1: Your company name needs to spelled exactly as is sounds. As anyone from iThryv, Takkle, Xobni, or countless other dot coms will reluctantly admit, when you have to verbally spell out your name (and silly-sounding email address) for people, it's embarrassing and annoying. And if it's annoying for you, how do you think your customers feel when they type the name they hear in their browser and discover what iThrive is?

For more tips on when to scratch your name of the list, check out our Kitchen Sink Blog and the Eat My Words SMILE & SCRATCH Test, which has been featured in Wall Street Journal, a fact that we like to mention as often as possible.