Electric scooters are everywhere, and you might be wondering about their names. Why is one called Lime, and another called Spin? Which names are best suited to this new breed of transportation? This electric scooter name roundup from Catchword takes a look at the current crop of e-scooter names. Which one is your favorite?
Name News
About Names: Rachel is a name with a crazy rich history
Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring
Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his August 14th column, he looks at the history of the name Rachel.
Rachel is Hebrew for “ewe.” In the Bible’s Genesis, Jacob falls in love with Rachel, but is tricked by her father into marrying older sister Leah. After seven more years, he gets to marry Rachel, too. She later gives birth to Joseph and Benjamin, Jacob’s favorite sons.
In the US, newborn Rachels tripled between 1965 and 1970, when it ranked 58th. Rachel made the top 20 in 1983. Rachel’s final boost was from “Friends.” Debuting in September 1994, it made Jennifer Aniston a star as ditzy fashionista Rachel Green. In 1996, Rachel peaked at No. 9 for babies.
Want to know more? Read on to find out more about Rachels in history!
Letter Strings in Domain Names: Really Random?
What is the intrinsic (as opposed to trademark) value of short string domain names? It depends, of course. Rights holders have been willing to challenge domain name registrants even if they have no actionable claim for cybersquatting.
While consumers instantly recognize the letters “I,” “B,” and “M” are not arbitrary, they will not be faulted for failing to associate “D,” “V,” and “T” with Dynamic Visual Technologies. This issue of acronyms and arbitrary letters has a long history under the UDRP. A non-exhaustive list of short strings (some of which are infringing, others not) includes “adm,” “agcs,” “aro,” “ash,” “bper,” “clh,” “daf,” “dll,” “dkb,” “fxcm,” “jdm,” “ifo,” “irjll,” “iyzi,” “paa,” “snn,” “sog,” “ssx,” “usu,” “xrprf,” and more.
The ultimate question is whether any three, four, or five letter string has become so exclusively associated with the complaining rights holders that knowledge can be inferred. What do recent UDRP cases show?
The real reason Kentucky Fried Chicken became KFC
Ever wonder why Kentucky Fried Chicken, a restaurant with a wonderfully descriptive name, changed it to KFC? It wasn’t because the chicken wasn’t actually chicken (as one conspiracy theory holds), and it wasn’t because they wanted to avoid the word “fried” (as other internet theorists believe). The real reason is much more prosaic. Click through to this article at MSN to find out the truth!
About Names: Wesley has worldly appeal as baby name
Wesley Crusher, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his July 31st column, he looks at the history of the name Wesley.
Wesley is an English surname from several villages called Westley or Westleigh, meaning “western clearing.” Wesley is a given name because of John Wesley (1703-1791.) An Anglican priest who tried to reform the Church of England by promoting evangelical conversion, he ended up founding Methodism. Wesley was also an abolitionist and accepted women preachers.
In 1880, Wesley ranked 109th as a baby name. It plateaued between 151st and 171st from 1940 through 1975.
On Sept. 25, 1987, fantasy film “The Princess Bride” was released. Cary Elwes played Westley, farmhand turned pirate who’s killed by Prince Humperdinck, revived by Miracle Max and saves beautiful Buttercup from marrying the villain. In 1988, spelling Westley ranked 562nd, its highest ever.
Three days later “Star Trek: The Next Generation” premiered, with Wil Wheaton as teen Wesley Crusher (named after Gene Roddenberry, whose middle name was Wesley). Baby name Wesley ranked 92nd in 1987, highest since 1979.
Want to know more? Read on to find out more about Wesleys in history!
About Names: Phyllis flourished thanks to poetry, prose and TV
Phyllis Diller
Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his July 17th column, he looks at the history of the name Phyllis.
Phyllis is Greek for “foliage.” In Greek myth, Thracian princess Phyllis marries Demophon, King of Athens. She kills herself when he abandons her. An almond tree on her grave blossoms when Demophon returns. Classical poems retold Phyllis’ tale. When Renaissance Englishmen rediscovered these in the 1500s, Phyllis was confused with Felis (a form of Felicia) and became an English girl’s name. Romantic poets in the 17th century loved the name. John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1647-1680), wrote “Phillis, be gentler, I advise; make up for time misspent. When beauty on its deathbed lies, ’tis high time to repent.”
Phyllis peaked in 1929 at 24th. It stayed in the top 50 in the United States until 1950. It then fell, leaving the top thousand in 1985. It had one minor uptick in 1975, when “Phyllis,” Cloris Leachman’s “Mary Tyler Moore Show” spinoff in which snobbish Phyllis Lindstrom has to move in with in-laws and get a job, debuted. Only 21 American babies were named Phyllis in 2017.
Want to know more? Read on to find out more about Phyllises in history!
Say goodbye to AdWords and DoubleClick: Google rebrands
After 18 and 22 years, respectively, the AdWords and DoubleClick brands will soon cease to be. As part of a comprehensive effort to streamline its offerings, Google’s flagship advertising products are getting new names and reorganizing to better reflect their current capabilities and where the company sees trajectories for growth.
There will now be three primary brands:
- Google AdWords is now Google Ads.
- DoubleClick advertiser products and Google Analytics 360 Suite are now under the brand Google Marketing Platform.
- DoubleClick for Publishers and DoubleClick Ad Exchange are integrated into a new unified platform called Google Ad Manager.
Along with the new names, these Google brands are getting new logos. To find out more, read this informative article at Search Engine Land!
Pluto Was Named by an 11-Year-Old Girl
Venetia Burney
The English names for our nearest neighboring planets come from the Romans, who named Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus, and Mercury after their gods and goddesses. So what about Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto? These outer planets were officially classified as planets in 1781, 1846, and 1930.
An 11-year-old girl from Oxford, England is credited for naming Pluto. Venetia Burney suggested the name to her grandfather after being inspired by the Roman god of the underworld. Her grandfather, Falconer Madan, was the Librarian of the Bodleian Library of the University of Oxford. Madan passed the name to Herbert Hall Turner, an astronomy professor, and Turner cabled the suggestion to colleagues at the Lowell Observatory.
To learn more about how the outer planets were named, click through to this article at Curiousity.com!
Open Position: Place Name Research Associate, University of Glasgow
Job description: To make a (leading) contribution to the project: ‘The Place-Names of the Galloway Glens’ working with Prof. Thomas Clancy and Dr Simon Taylor. Specifically, the job requires expert knowledge in the areas of Scottish place-names, and place-name survey. The successful candidate will also be expected to contribute to the formulation and submission of research publications and research proposals as well as help to successfully deliver this project as opportunities allow.
This position is part time at 17.5 hours per week and has funding until 31 May 2019.
Deadline for applications is 31st July 2018.
To apply, please visit the website at Jobs.ac.uk
To read more about the Galloway Glens Landscape Partnership, please visit their website.
Tronc finally changes its name back to Tribune Publishing
Tronc, one of the most lambasted corporate name changes of the digital era, is going to return to its original name, Tribune Publishing. Ex-chairman Michael Ferro pushed for “Tronc” in June 2016. It supposedly stood for Tribune Online Content, but was widely ridiculed at the time of the announcement. Even Soon Shiong, the second-largest shareholder in Tronc after Ferro, had called the name “silly” in a tweet and urged a change back to Tribune Publishing.
The Tronc name has been seen as an out-of-touch way to modernize the look and feel of a company partly responsible for the waning relevance and resource depletion of the country’s major daily newspapers. The name change took place back in 2016 as part of a broad rebranding of the Chicago-based business, which at the time was grappling with its outdated business model, lackluster public image, and its inability to adapt to a media landscape increasingly less dependent on traditional newspaper publishing. The change was also a way for Tronc to differentiate itself from the Tribune Media company from which it was spun off.