Origin of Brand Names

A few will be aware I have been known to speak on various subjects over the years. Fundamentally these all revolve around my favourite subject of etymology. Have always enjoyed bringing this fascinating subject to others. It’s not for me to say whether the audiences have, although many have asked me to return.

Thought it might be worthwhile sharing a snippet or two from these etymological presentations, continuing with Origins of Brand Names. Daz, Marmite, Polo, Vimto, Steradent - such odd words and yet we recognise them instantly as product names. Many of us will have added them to our weekly shopping list without a second thought and yet there must have been a time when someone sat down and considered a selection of names before deciding the best suggestion for the new washing powder was OMO. This talk looks at a number of the classic and modern brand names and explains just why they are known as they are. There is a PowerPoint presentation to accompany this talk if required.

Persil was sold with green granules or grains among the powder. These did absolutely nothing for the wash, but did give the product its name – persil is the French for ‘parsley’.

Oxo – there are more brand names using the letter ‘O’ than any other vowel, while the letter ‘X’ is far more common than the consonant would normally be. Thus no surprise to fine OXO, but also this represents what Desmond Morris referred to as a ‘threat-faced brand name’ – it dares you NOT to buy it. Another produce would be OMO (washing powder from yesteryear). Compare the number of businesses featuring an owl as their logo – same idea applies.

Subbuteo – was launched as a tabletop football game launched by Peter Adolph in the 1940s. He wanted it to be a hobby, rather than a toy, envisaging leagues in neighbourhoods as all manner of football fans played against their chums. To make it sound more of a hobby, he wanted to call it such, but could not register the name. So he took the name of the bird, the hobby, and looked at its scientific name Falco subbuteo and seeing the second element contained the phonetic ‘boot’ opted for the name of Subbuteo. Note while football is most commonly associated with the name, Subbuteo have also produced versions for cricket, rugby union, rugby league, and hockey. Football supporters might be interested to learn there is a Subbuteo football world cup, won most often by Italy, and only once by England – and has never been won by a team from outside western Europe.

If you think you know someone who would like to hear me speak on this subject, drop me a line.