Call me goofy, but I loved singing “The Name Game” as kid:

Meryl, Meryl, bo-beryl,

Banana-fana fo-feryl

Fee-fi-mo-meryl

Meryl!

Yeah, yeah… I know how some immature kids like to use names like Chuck and Mitch. I’m sure you’ve heard your share.

I’ve always been fascinated with names, how they came to be, and their origins. So it’s no surprise that I do naming projects. Coming up with names can become a brain consuming process. By that, I mean your brain goes on a roll and just keeps spitting out names, words, and ideas — good and not so good.

You have many options and resources to play the name game to find a perfect brand for a product, company, blog.

1. Make best friends with reference resources: Dictionaries (rhyming and specialty), thesauri, Flip Dictionary, word references, anagrams, etc.
2. Ask clients about themes. Some clients may already have a theme going or planning on one to help with branding.
3. Ask clients about their interests and favorite things.
4. Ask clients what names they like and dislike.
5. Use interests, themes, etc. and research them until you’re dizzy.
6. Make an initial list.
7. Mix and match words.
8. Create variations of words and phrases.
9. Subscribe to Marcia Yudkin’s Name Tales newsletter.
10. Have POP! Stand out in Any Crowd nearby for use.
11. Use a domain naming tool. I’ve heard how some of these tools use your search to grab domain names. But not all do that. Unbelievable. Blog entry: Brainstorming domain names.

Sometimes I go crazy in the process and my head won’t stop seeking names and playing with them. I’d be playing with my kids, hitting tennis balls, chauffeuring and my head would as play jigsaw puzzle with words and names. If something good comes to me, I quickly capture it in my TitaniumBerry (it ain’t black) so I’ll have it when I return to my desk.

So if I like names so much, why am I stuck with plain ol’ meryl.net? For the same reason web designers struggles to design their own web sites. Besides, I might as well as capitalize on my uncommon name and put a positive spin on it after has given me fits for years (I struggle with the “r” so I tell people “Meryl like Meryl Streep, two-syllables-not-one and rhymes with Cheryl.”

Oh, great… I have an old team song going in my head…

“Meryl’s my name and basketball’s my game. Blue is my color and …” I’ll stop there. Oh, now I have a Sesame Street song in my head… “We All Sing with the Same Voice.”

My hair is black and red
My hair is yellow
My eyes are brown and green and blue

My name is Jack and Fred
My name’s Amanda Sue
I’m called Kareem Abdul
My name is you

I live in southern France
I’m from a Texas ranch
I come from Mecca and Peru
I live across the street
In the mountains, on a beach
I come from everywhere
And my name is you

Stopping now before my brain becomes a jumble of names, words, and songs.

TechCrunch reports that Microsoft calls its next operating system (the one after Vista) Windows 7. Mickey comments:

I’d love to see them start using logical numbers again, but it doesn’t add up:

Windows 3.1 (“Windows 3″)
Windows 95 (4)
Windows 98 (5)
Windows ME/2000 (6)
Windows XP (7)
Windows Vista (8)
Windows 7 (9?)

I guess maybe if you call Windows 3.1 “Windows 1″ (since that was the first one that was any good), then it increments to the next version being 7.

This makes me wonder if Microsoft was influenced by Seinfeld’s George’s liking of “Seven” as a name for a kid. Hey, Jerry was in the commercials… so the connection could be there.

Numbers work most of the time in the software business, but not for many others. If Microsoft sticks with Windows 7 and proceeds to follow it with 8, 9, 9.5 (Photoshop 5.5 was a biggie) then it should work out fine as it has for Explorer 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

Look at Firefox — 1.x, 2.0, 3.0. Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X. But then Apple had to go and confuse us with Mac OS X Leopard (it’s Mac OS 10.5).

But for other industries, number names get lost especially in the automobile industry. I’m trying to come up with a couple of examples of cars using numbers (other than what I drive — guilty of a “letters and number” name with no words) and they’re not coming to me or I am not sure if I remember right (“Is it 30 or 31? Audi or Infiniti? Or maybe Lexus.”).

Yet, I can identify an Expedition and Suburbans and can tell you who makes each one (Ford and Chevy in that order). So is a GLX better than an LX because it has an extra letter? But what if it’s an SL? Which one is better? LX or SL? Some cars use names like Sport, Touring, Grand Touring. So is Sport the fully-loaded one or Grand Touring?

Good thing we couldn’t have had a V9 or V12. How would we distinguish those from a V8 other than they might contain more vegetables? Good thing the company stuck with V8 and expanded its product line around that name.

I’ve always thought telephone companies with initials just didn’t sound as powerful as those with a word or two in their names (MCI Worldcom does not count). Verizon and Cingular smartly dumped their initialized company names for memorable ones. Of course, Cingular went away with the merger and returned to initials.

Tried to find other articles on the topic, but with keywords like brand, number, names… not an easy task. Did find one good one: Counting on Your Brand’s Name.

What do you think of brand names with numbers and letters? Sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t? Doesn’t work without at least one identifier (like Windows or Explorer)?

Ted Demopoulos and I had an interesting conversation about blog names back in 2006. He delves into the topic again with the following posts:

• My favorite blog name: His favorite is Escape from Cubicle Nation.
• He asks Seth Godin what he’d name his blog today if he were starting a new blog.
• Three blogs that won’t change their names.
• Treating blogs like book titles reflects on an excellent entry from Wordrider.
• How a blog name changed a person’s life.
• More blog name discussions and three that won’t change.

I honestly don’t know what I’d call my blog if I started it today. I don’t discuss one specific area of anything, which is not a good thing. The most successful blogs focus on a single topic.

What can I say? I’ve always been a Jane of all trades and it hasn’t hurt me — thankfully. I did come up with a name I liked better than Meryl’s Notes — but it still doesn’t reflect the blog’s topics or keywords — “Meryland.” The domain was taken (I did get meryland.org), but this blog was too established to make a change.

A few folks suggested Meryl’s Pearls, but it does not work. Meryl is two syllables and rhymes with beryl not pearl or Merle. Meryl’s Perils would be the right one, but who wants such a term for a name?

If I were into fashion, Apparel Notes from Meryl might work. Kind of bland though.

Conclusion: Naming children is far easier than naming blogs, sites, and books!

How do you pronounce “Casio’s G’zOne?” That’s what Strategic Name Development asks. Just the other day when I volunteered at my kid’s school book fair, a few of us were talking about Mo Willem’s Knuffle Bunny because we all love the Pigeon books. I thought it was pronounced “nuffle bunny” like “know.” The librarian thought “K-nuffle” where you pronounce the “K” followed by “nuffle.” Either way, it’s a cute book and she was telling us that the pigeon is in that book. It took kindergartners to point it out before she learned that secret.

Thanks to Bad Language for the pointer and for sharing more troublesome names. He had me thinking about boring plane names. He’s right. Southwest is a fun airline and even doesn’t have an exciting name. Just a direction. JetBlue probably has the most exciting name and I wouldn’t even call it a cool name.

Paul and I were watching the news last night where they reported people had lined up for the PS3 since Tuesday and it was windy as heck here in Dallas on Wednesday. One woman wasn’t interested in the PS3 — she just wanted to auction one on eBay where they’re going for over $5K! Then I asked Paul, “What’s the w-i-i? How do you even pronounce it? What makes it so different from Nintendo’s previous generation, the Gamecube?”

When Verizon’s new name came about… we wondered if it was “very-zone” or “very-zon” or like “horizon.” Now we know.

I’ve been stuck with my name since birth and it’s also my company name. Still can’t get people to pronounce my name right after all these years. Meryl, two-syllables-not-one-and- rhymes-with-Cheryl-Barrel-and-peril-not-pearl.” I’ve never heard anyone say “Cherle” instead of “Cheryl.” And with Meryl Streep… that doesn’t help either except when I introduce myself. I have trouble saying words with the letter “r” in it. Well, dang I’m lucky to get a name with an “r” smack dab in the middle of it. So I introduce myself as “Meryl Evans like Meryl Streep” and that usually does the trick. No, I’m not named after her as I was born before Kramer vs. Kramer.

This Is Broken looks at KFC’s ad for its “NEW! KFC famous bowls.” The submitter correctly points out that you can’t be “new” and “famous” at the same time. One reader says games can become famous before they ever hit the market. True. Look at Nintendo’s Brain Age and Big Brain Academy. My mom was clamoring for the Nintendo DS and the two games just because she read about them months before their release.

Sorry, KFC, bowls don’t get that kind of advance press to earn “famous” in their names.

I love brainstorming ideas for a new company name. I guess you could call me a name freak. Every case is different, but here are the basic tips I tend to follow when hunting for inspiration:

* Randomly flip through the dictionary.

* Take words and mixing or subbing letters.

* Say names out loud.

* Pick a handful of words and use them with other words, prefixes or suffixes.

* Open an atlas and look around the world for name ideas.

* Use RhymeZone, which provides more than just rhymes.

* Use the Internet Anagram Server.

* Enter words in domain name and check out the suggested names (www.namedroppers.com, www.domaintools.com, and www.nameboy.com.

* Based on the business type or industry, search the industry and see what words come up. Play with those.

* Look at competitors or browse existing names that fit in the customer’s requirements and see what comes up.

Glad to see it is possible to see a Meryl Evans promoted to a big job — Meryl Evans Promoted to Vice President of Administrative & Information Services at Electro Rent Corporation. Oh, it’s not me. Me a math major? Now that’s funny. Interestingly enough, Meryl went to college and worked in Texas. Too weird. However, you’ll never find me moving to California. Nothing against the state, just not my style.

When I lived in Washington, DC, I reviewed a membership directory of one of the organizations to which I belonged. There was a Meryl who had my maiden name. Maybe to many of you that having folks out there who share your name is no big deal, but it’s always an interesting find for me. I see many Paul Evanses and Michael (my brother) out there. But Elisa (my sister) and Meryl are a whole ‘nother ballgame.

When Paul was in the Air Force, he ran into problems thanks to his name and SSN . He got his pay stub one payday and it was for $0.00. He went to the finance people and asked about it. They said he had an Article 15 judgement against me. He told them, he did not. They claimed he did. Did not. Did too! Did not! Did so!

He had to get my commander to tell them that, no he did not have a judgement against Paul and then they wanted to confirm that I was Paul A. Evans, SSN ###-##-#### and that was no. The SSN was the same as Paul’s with only ONE digit being different. Plus, evil Paul’s middle name was Allan while mine is Allen.

When someone pulled up the records, he could only assume that his name must have been the next one in line and they missed. It took three months to get it straightened out. The finance department had to pay partial payments in cash until he started getting his pay back. But they can’t pay 100 percent on a partial payment, only 80 percent, so he got a good check at the end of it.

Long before I had kids, I’ve been fascinated with names, their origins and how people come up with names for their kids. When I was cleaning my bookshelves, I couldn’t believe how many books of names I had. These are not baby name books, but books about their histories and meanings.

When I meet people who have unusual or uncommon names, I often ask about it. Some were family names, some were a mix of two people’s names, some were made up… my kids and I were all named after relatives who passed. I was named after my dad’s grandfather, Max. So if I were of the male persuasion, you’d be calling me Max. My older two were named after my maternal grandparents.

My middle child’s middle name came from Paul’s grandmother as he was born on her birthday. When my youngest arrived, thankfully no one had passed on to name him after. So we picked his name because we loved the name and his middle name is my mother’s maiden name. It also honors my maternal grandfather’s sister. She had no kids of her own, but I didn’t know her well. I was going to name him after her, but my mom was an only child… so we decided to use the maiden name to carry on the family name.

I got most of the books before the Internet became what it is today. Before the launching of sites on the topic. I couldn’t recommend one specific site as a favorite. They all have their strengths and weakness. Plus, a name might appear in only a couple of sites while those sites missed names that others have.

So rather than writing about one site, I provided a list and a short description of the various sites.

• NameVoyager is an impressive site as it gives you a “sea” of names. Edward Tufte would be proud. It requires Java to run. When you enter it, you’ll see what looks like an sea level map of different hues of blues and reds. Type in a name or scroll your mouse over the “sea.” This is a “must check out” site and probably the most unique of the name sites. “Meryl” broke the top 1000 names in the ’50s. Except for the mispronunciations and being referred to as a male, having an uncommon name has its good points.
• Social Security Online: Popular Baby Names – Paul and I used this site to search for names for kid #3 as (thankfully) we didn’t have anyone to name him after except my grandfather’s sister, but we honored her by giving our son my mother’s and hers maiden name for a middle name. Look up the popularity of a name by the year all the way back to 1879! It also lists the top five names by state and top 1000 names by decade. We were thinking about the name Brynn for a girl, and I worried it was too uncommon and hard to hear as “rynn” is softly pronounced. No matter, we had a delightful, curly-haired boy who is two now.
• Babyzone Baby Names – includes features and tools such as the top names, baby naming traditions, baby name basket (for saving names you find for later reference), and name inventor, a wizard that generates name suggestions. I clicked on “Girl Names” and got: Quanen, Xaler, Carl (I have yet to meet a girl named Carl), Ctitan, Nentyn, and Mad (!? – I don’t think that’s a good idea – maybe that’s how the mom felt at the time of birth?).
• NameTraq – searches surnames in the news. I picked Kaplan and most of the results were articles written by someone whose last name is Kaplan or a Kaplan mentioned in the article.
• Babies Named a Bad, Bad Thing – not the prettiest site, but one that have you laughing hard. I’ve seen unusual names and impossible to spell names on the Social Security Online, but these beat ‘em all.
• Institute for Naming Children Humanely – Because of people naming their kid like those found in the previous site, someone decided to stand up for those babies!
• Name Statistics – is about numbers as it tells about the popularity of names.
• Think! Baby Names – search the baby names list, check out the popular names, and click on the letter you want the name to start with. The search tool allows you to search boy or girl, name prefix, name suffix, and meaning. A majority of the names sites have these types of features.
• Parenting: Baby Namer is hard to find, but has a different approach to names. Its resource comes from Baby Names Now: From Classic to Cool—The Very Last Word on First Names by Linda Rosenkrantz, Pamela Redmond Satran, both greater writers who have released more books on baby names. This site provides names in the categories of celebrities, cool trends, global favorites, unisex, classics, and so on.
• All the Baby Names: Has over 60,000 names that you can search and filter by name, meaning, origin and popularity.

Not only we do have sites that act like a dictionary or history book into names, but also sites listing names for a specific culture. Here are a few:

• Hebrew Names
• Mormon
• Irish
• Islamic and Muslim
• Indian
• Greek

I did not overlook African, Italian, Spanish and others. The top results of these were part of large baby name Web sites rather than specific for those cultures. If you know of one, comment away. Still want more??? Knock yourself out.

Updated: 28 October 2009