An ode to the brand names of 1990
Welcome to the last decade of the last millennium. The Web isn’t just for spiders anymore, everyone’s pumping up “Pump Up the Jam,” and something called The Fresh Prince of Bel Air is about to debut. Now fast forward to 2020 (welcome, and sorry).
All things ’90 are turning thirty this year, myself included. In the interest of momentarily escaping the present with a healthy dose of nostalgia, I took a look at some of the brand names celebrating this milestone with me (our very own branding studio included).
Wizards of the Coast
Founded in Seattle, Wizards of the Coast is the game publisher responsible for a number of role-playing games — most notably Magic: The Gathering. This name makes me picture wizards on a beach, or better yet, an epic wizardry battle of East vs West. I love the idea of the employees referring to themselves as Wizards, which, according to their website, they 100% do.
iRobot
Before there was the iMac, there was iRobot. This is the company responsible for consumer robots like the Roomba and the Braava (for vacuuming and mopping, respectively). Even though this name was likely inspired by the 1950 sci-fi novel I, Robot, there’s something distinctly ’90s about it. Today, robotics has become fairly ubiquitous and companies have to get a little more creative with their names.
Flying Dog Brewery
A lot of founders hope for an epic, once-in-a-lifetime, Hollywood-worthy origin story for their company name. These brewers got one. On a trip to the Himalayas, after a harrowing, drug-fueled trek up the mountain K2, they were having a drink in a hotel bar (as you do). In it, they saw a painting of a pug with wings, soaring across the Himalayas. Years later, Flying Dog Brewery was born.
Rooms To Go
There’s not much to say about this one, but it makes me smile. It’s a furniture chain. Furniture = rooms. Furniture leaves the store. Rooms, to go.
Amoeba Music
Founded in Berkeley (our studio’s home base), Amoeba holds a special place in the hearts of Bay Area music lovers. The founder was simply looking for a word that sounded good before “__ Music”. “Amoeba” came with some psychedelic imagery that he knew would catch on with the local undergrads.
In Living Color
Not a brand per se, but a 1990 phenomenon with a great name. As namers, we often look for words or phrases that can be interpreted in multiple ways — giving the name more depth. This name plays with the idea of color brilliantly, via an idiom to boot.
Out of the Closet
Another name with layers (clothing pun not intended). Today, this nonprofit chain of thrift stores continues to provide medical care and other services for individuals with HIV/AIDS. It’s a name that manages to be bold and playful at the same time, and I can only imagine the impact it had in 1990.
World Wide Technology
Okay, so maybe this isn’t the world’s most interesting name. But to be fair, this company emerged during the same year as the World Wide Web. WWW, meet WWT. Who can blame its founder, David Steward, for choosing a name that so closely associated him with the Web? All while creating one of the largest Black-owned businesses in the States.
Kid Cuisine
Using the word cuisine to describe frozen chicken nuggets creates a pretty great juxtaposition. And of course it’s served up by none other than KC, the dapper penguin. Happy birthday, KC.
Origins
This is so refreshingly clean and simple — which is what most of us look for in a skincare product. In choosing this name, Origins did a great job of saying a lot with a little. Today, most beauty brands would kill to be able to trademark a short, simple name like this.
A Hundred Monkeys
Our founder, Danny Altman did us a solid by choosing a pretty good name for his naming agency. It was inspired by the theory that a hundred monkeys at a hundred typewriters will eventually produce a sonnet of Shakespearean quality. It’s a name about process and iteration. Thirty years later, people still ask us, what’s the story with your name? And that’s how we know it works.
In 2020, all of these brands are still kicking (even In Living Color lives on thanks to its cultural impact, and YouTube). Good names are timeless, but only if there are strong brands behind them — and these have been through a lot. They survived Y2K, after all. Thirty looks good on them.
For more on the first thirty years of A Hundred Monkeys, listen to Creative Director Eli Altman interview our founder, his father, Danny.
Thanks to Rose Linke.
