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The naming business: Is it true that we are running out of brand names?

MILL VALLEY, CA. Feb. 10, 2002. Some naming companies push their clients into made up names, claiming that we are running out of trade-markable words in the dictionary. But the real reason they do this is to create an easy sale. It’s very hard to poke holes in a name like Lumina or Agere, because they really don’t mean anything. But if you present a name like Virgin or Apple, there are hundred ways a naming committee can shoot it down. The problem is that life is a search for meaning, and if you kick off your marketing with a name that doesn’t mean anything, it’s all uphill from there.