The power of names

I often contemplate what the power of names is: whether it is a personal name, a product or business. I don’t know about you, but I always envied the girls at school who had exotic or sophisticated names, and somehow they would live up to these names.

And only yesterday I was working with a client who said she thought long and hard about naming her baby, because she wanted to make is ‘strong and memorable’. Another client renamed her business because she felt it reflected her company and ‘brand’ far better than the original name did.

It is no surprise that Shakespeare summed up the whole concept of names with a famous line from Romeo and Juliet : “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” And of course this was in part referring to the family ‘names’ of the two main characters, revealing their families were enemies.

Like my client who changed her business name, there are individuals who abbreviate their name or have a ‘Western’ name because it is easier for others to pronounce the name or to remember it. Several of my Asian clients have done this for business purposes. And there are individuals, like myself, who have a professional name.

In my case, people often ask me why I have a ‘funny name’ or double barrelled name. Well it is because it is my Stage name or professional name from when I was a singer. The principle of this is that every performer has a unique name, so no one else is mixed up and if there are any fees from performing rights, they go to the correct person!

In my case, my birth name is “Susan Wright” but when I was having my name registered, I was told that an overseas exotic dancer already used that name! I put forward another name which included my husband’s surname, but another member objected to this name since she felt it was similar to her name and we could be confused. And an existing member of Equity has the right to do this. In the end I used my Grandma’s maiden name along with my birth name.

But it wasn’t as simple as this. Being a musician I was interested in the sound and the rhythm of the name, but this was a great combination. And why did I keep this name when leaving singing. Well it is a memorable, unique name, and to be honest there are people who love the story of the ‘exotic dancer’! There are individuals who remember my name and I have had people search me on google and found not only my businesses but also booked me!

So if you are thinking of changing your name, or naming a baby, think about making it memorable and have a story attached to the selection to help people remember the business or baby!

If you would like to discuss working with me contact me or call +44 (0) 800 0938 464