I recently saw an advertisement for Windows 11 in Wired magazine. I thought: “Wow, finally something from Microsoft that someone can understand: a logical name for their software offering.” I recall a time when Microsoft had a confusing litany of software names including: NT, 98, 2000, Millennium (ME), Windows XP, and Vista--before finally relegating those clumsy names to the desktop recycle bin and adopting a simple, progressive number system. Apple has been naming its iPhones with numbers since the start, and it’s now easier to know which phone I want my parents to buy for me (...Mom…if you’re reading this, I neeeeed the iPhone 13. Love, Jason).
Naming conventions interest me because we’re thinking of updating our service name from “Bridge" to "Shop Local.” In considering this, we have to ask: what are the hallmarks of great business (and product) names? Do we name things literally or figuratively, or with new words that have never existed (such as “Kodak”)? Do we spell them normally or with panache? The Windows product name is figurative. It was named after the new 'windows’ one would use to navigate a computer—a novelty at the time. Similarly, our name Bridge name is figurative: “Bridge" derives from the 'bridge’ we form when syncing products between retailers and brands.
I didn’t realize there was a term for Microsoft’s company name, which is “portmanteaus.” James Fulton shares that a portmanteau "joins both the sounds and meanings of two words.” Microsoft combines “microcomputer" with "software.” (Source: https://sgd.com.au/blog/tips-for-naming-your-brand/).
Stephen Moore penned a nice article about the trends in business names over the last 10 years (https://marker.medium.com/startups-are-starting-to-choose-normal-names-again-4816e4a2834d). Unlike Flickr, we kept the ‘e’ and didn’t go with “Bridg." We didn’t jump on the ‘-ify’ bandwagon and name Bridge "Bridgify." Moore shares that businesses these days are returning to using normal names, such as a new web browser company named simply: The Browser Company. We want a name that passes the phone test: aka our customer service team can tell a 60-year old store owner the business name, and they don't have to repeat it. (...But how fun would it be to make our new name something like “Bridgacadabra”?!) I think “Bridge" passes the phone test. Will “Shop Local”? Will people confuse it with the community movement to shop at indie stores? Um, yes, we hope so! That’s the point: to own this groundswell of support for shopping local.
Do we name the service "Shop Local," or make it a compound like "ShopLocal”? Examples of compound business names include DoorDash, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Lexicon, a company that helps create names, offers more compound business name examples here: https://www.lexiconbranding.com/media-1/compound-names.
If we make it a compound name, maybe we should go all in and call it: ShopLocal.org. There are a few businesses that include their TLD domain suffix as part of their name, such as Bookshop.org (an entity that we greatly admire).
After reading May Habib’s suggestions (Here: https://writer.com/blog/product-naming/), I think it’s valuable to ask our members what they think of the name Shop Local. Ms. Habib would likely support our non-technical name and appreciate how short Shop Local is, although it is two words while Bridge is just one. But Shop Local is twice as easy to understand upon hearing once. It captures the energy of a movement.
Regardless of what we name the business or services, the good news is that the underlying principles of what we do and make remain the same. Let’s support local shops.