SpringBack is one of those names, like Heartstring, that works on multiple levels and is simultaneously both descriptive and evocative. In the literal sense, SpringBack recycles old mattresses and box springs that often otherwise end up in dumps, landfill or streets, because they are relatively difficult to recycle and few companies want to take on that work. The average mattress contains foam that can be recycled into carpet padding and 25 pounds of steel springs. But there’s a secondary, social benefit as well as the environmental benefit: SpringBack only hires ex-convicts, providing them a chance to re-integrate — to “spring back” — into society. Combine all this with an evocation of “Springbok” — a graceful South African gazelle noted for springing lightly into the air — and you’ve got a winning brand.

[ SpringBack | NPR story about SpringBack ]

There are a handful of genuine wooden baseball bat brands, of which Louisville Slugger is the most famous. But the coolest bats have to be those made by the Texas-based Warstic Wood Bat Co. For Warstic, baseball is battle, and the drama played out at the plate between pitcher and batter is our modern samurai epic. Each Warstic bat features a unique “Wartip” color stain and a trademark “Warstripe” emblem, evoking the “war paint” of Native Americans.

Warstic, however, plays it cool by not being over-the-top or in-your-face with the “war” and “battle” metaphors, as demonstrated by the spelling “Warstic,” which could even be the name of an obscure Polish batmaster, in lieu of the more obvious — and less interesting — “War Stick.” Mainly, the brand conveys a heightened state of mind, one of Zen-like concentration in the middle of the heat of battle, evoking “The Art of War” more than war itself. In their very name, Warstic knocked it out of the park.

[ Warstic ]

General Assembly is a communal office campus in downtown New York City, where entrepreneurs can rent office space for their startup company and immediately join a thriving tech community, meet other entrepreneurs and investors, and have access to complementary technologies and a talented labor pool. It’s a great concept, with a perfect name that works on multiple levels. The first reference in the name is to the United Nations General Assembly, the only one of five U.N. organs in which all member nations have equal representation. Through this metaphor, the name General Assembly very effectively conveys the key concept of a participatory environment for “everybody” with a serious start-up business.

Further, the name General Assembly evokes an old-school industrial manufacturing company — think General Motors — which adds the gravitas of real-world tangibility to the gleam in the eye of an entrepreneur or the dream on the page of a business plan. And the name lends itself to iconic abbreviation in its logo, which features “GA” in the middle of a gear, further reinforcing the industrial references. These brand cues of tangibility and realness, in a realm where far too often new ideas disappear in to “vaporware,” is extremely compelling, and reflects the same kind of thinking that went in to the company name we created for the software company Rivet. Great work, General Assembly.

[ General Assembly ]

A great American sports car, the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray was manufactured in two distinct flavors, from 1963-1967 and 1968-1982. You could imagine a naming committee shooting down the name Stingray with arguments like, “it’s a slow, bottom-feeding fish, not the message we want attached to this fast sports car.” But of course, people don’t deconstruct names like that, which Chevrolet was smart enough at the time to recognize, and the name went on to become part of American cultural history, evoking a smooth, sleek, powerful, mysterious and even dangerous feeling. Plus the sleek car looked a little like a stingray. A true masterpiece.

[ Stingray ]

We think of hindsight as being fixed, not relative, which makes the idea of some hindsight being more advanced than others that much funnier, and strangely compelling. The Center for Advanced Hindsight conducts “Research Into What Might Have Been – or What Definitely, Most Likely Will Be. They are, of course, about being better at forseeing the future — that, after all, will make their hindsight more advanced, in hindsight. Follow? No worries, it’s still a cool name.

[ The Center for Advanced Hindsight ]

A name we created for an inflight wi-fi Internet access product, now used by numerous major airlines. This name has is all: meaning, energy, attitude, and it maps to the experience of using the product and of travel in general.

[ Gogo: case study | website ]

This isn’t a name per se, but rather a diminutive chunk of text in quotes (“33”) that’s been on the back of Rolling Rock beer bottles since the 1930s. Nobody quite knows what it means, and the brewer has been smart enough never to reveal a meaning, so “33” for us stands as shorthand for “mystery” and “the unexpected” in naming and branding. It is, in fact, a criteria included in Zinzin’s Name Evaluation process: “33” is that certain something that makes people lean forward and want to learn more about a brand, and to want to share the brand with others.

[ Rolling Rock's “33” page ]

Yes it’s a pun, but a nice one for men’s denim jeans created by a company, Betabrand, that does a great job of creating and burnishing its distinct personality. Not your father’s jeans from a company that’s not your father’s clothier.

[ Sons of Britches ]

Betabrand is an online-only clothing company based in San Francisco. They design, manufacture, and release new clothing “inventions” every week, in collaboration with local designers a growing global community they call Betabrand Model Citizens, an amateur fashion-photo force. Their name cleverly co-opts the language of cutting edge technology innovation — “beta” — and puts it into service of selling not just clothes, but lifestyles and attitudes; in short, this is the forefront of brand innovation — it’s the Betabrand. Extra indie cred for invoking the great 1996-2004 Scottish band Beta Band.

Betabrand carries their flair for naming over to their products as well, with such names as Cordarounds, Japants, DARPA Hoodies, Bike to Work Pants, Sons of Britches, Cornucopia Bags, the Vagisoft Blanket and more.

[ Betabrand ]

This is the grandaddy of all names with negative associations, as it is a slang phrase that is entirely negative, connoting a poor, hot, corrupt Third World dictatorship utterly beholden to outside interests. You could imagine a naming committee choking on this name: “It’s so negative, maybe even racist?” “People will picket us?” “We’ll come off as arrogant imperialists!” All true (except for the picketing), and yet…no picketing. No protests, no rage against The GAP, no boycotts. Consumers don’t take names literally! And metaphorically, a little “imperialist” flavor goes a long way toward making khaki and loafers something that Banana Republic can charge a whole lot of bananas for.

[ Banana Republic ]