Ali Sell, Author at Zinzin

May 11, 2023 By Ali Sell

The Mother of All Brand Names

What inspires a great brand name? For Zinzin, it’s getting outside of ourselves, our specialty, our industry. Sometimes, stepping outside of our familiar spaces sparks unexpected connections and other mind wanderings. For instance, we’re big fans of poetry, great literature, artists, and films.

On the other hand, sometimes inspiration for a great brand name lies closer to home. Very close to home. Ok, I’ll cut to the chase: it’s your mom.

Well, not your mom. But the “royal mom.” Is that a cheeky, new nosism? According to Wikipedia, the royal we (pluralis majestatis) refers to a single person holding a high office, such as a monarch, bishop, or pope…or mom, this Zinzin-namer (and mom) attests.

March 10, 2023 By Ali Sell

Moomins and the naming genius of Tove Jansson

Namers find inspiration in people, places, and things both far and wide. However, art and literature are often at the heart of our creative wanderings. The process, expression, and advice of great writers is like nourishment for our naming souls. For instance, Zinzin has written blog posts on Elmore Leonard, Jack Kerouac, and Don DeLillo and Jhumpa Lahiri, among others. With all due respect to those great writers, perhaps no one nourishes and inspires this namer more than one of the greatest writers and artists of all time, Tove Jansson.

Tove Jansson blew the lid off what it means to be a creative force in the world. She was an internationally acclaimed author, novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author. There’s so much to cover when Tove Jansson is the subject, because her work is vast and varied. However, this blog post will focus on…you guessed it…names! And she created some fabulously fun ones.

February 6, 2023 By Ali Sell

Super Bowl LVII: Naming Rights vs. the Right Name

It’s that time of year, sports fans — the Super Bowl is almost here! If this Zinzin namer loves anything as much as naming, it’s sports. And on any given Sunday, the two align in glorious strategic formation.

The game plan here is to explore the topic of naming rights. Not so much the right to bear names, but the way corporations purchase the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of time. When it comes to the Super Bowl, to own naming rights is like a brand building blitz. But is it a practice that can last with price tags up to $700 million?

December 21, 2022 By Ali Sell

Top 10 words of 2022, according to Merriam-Webster

Gaslight (1944) - movie title — *Gaslight*, 1944.

Fellow namers and word nerds, have Christmas and Hanukkah come early? Merriam-Webster, America’s “leading provider of language information,” recently announced its top 10 words of 2022.

December 1, 2022 By Ali Sell

Holiday scents & nonsense: evocative candle names

Ahh, the cozy, inviting scents that fill our homes over the holidays — cinnamon, gingerbread, spruce, cedar, and…broken rosary, or old books?

Believe it or not, these are some of the holiday candle scents available this season. What does a broken rosary smell like, you ask? Apparently, it’s woody and floral (with a hint of Catholic guilt?), and it can be yours for $44.

Within recent years, scented candle names took a distinctly evocative turn. They went from being merely descriptive to evoking emotions, memories, and experiences. And as the holiday shopping season approaches, they’ll be everywhere. Traditional ones, like Yankee Candle’s basalm & cedar or peppermint pinwheels, are still around, of course. But Zinzin’s finely tuned naming noses sniffed out some doozies. So, let’s follow the holiday scented trail of this candle naming trend — will it wax or wane?

November 9, 2022 By Ali Sell

Agnes Martin’s painting titles: naming lessons on & off the grid

To keep the creative juices flowing in our naming hearts and minds, we here at Zinzin like to explore topics tangential to our task at hand — creating powerful, evocative names to help brands build positive, emotional connections with audiences. While it’s well known today that the strongest brands make emotional connections, I think artists figured this out a long time ago. Namely, one of the most influential American abstract painters of the 20th century: Agnes Martin.

Famous for her grid paintings born from an ordered process approaching science in its rigor, Martin’s goal was to evoke emotional states that connect with the viewer. What’s awesome, Zinzin friends, is that we use a similar approach to naming.

Moreover, Martin had specific opinions about naming (giving titles to) her paintings. So, let’s explore some of the work of the infinitely fascinating Agnes Martin, draw inspiration from it, and see what naming lessons we can learn.

November 4, 2022 By Ali Sell

American brand names & Indigenous cultures: changing the narrative

The FX Series Reservation Dogs is changing the narrative.

Zinzin believes that language is alive and on the move. It’s like a living, breathing organism – always changing, morphing, evolving. Cultures change too, and names come and go over time. But some don’t. Why has one naming practice, in particular — brands named after different Indigenous cultures — lasted so long in America? And how is it changing? Let’s take a look at some American brand names derived from Indigenous peoples and cultures.

October 28, 2022 By Ali Sell

Nicknames of the Houston Astros & Philadelphia Phillies — 2022 World Series fun

The World Series is here! This namer is a big fan of Major League Baseball (MLB), and Zinzin always loves to explore worlds outside of its own to find naming inspiration. So, let’s look at the rich naming traditions in the world of baseball, where the use of nicknames, in particular, is as fun and fascinating as the sport itself. More specifically, let’s look at the team naming history and current (active roster) player nicknames of the two teams in the 2022 World Series: the Houston Astros and the Philadelphia Phillies.

September 27, 2022 By Ali Sell

Grunts, squeals, and clicks: naming in the world of nonhuman animals

What do humans, bottlenose dolphins, sperm whales, and green-rumped parrotlets have in common? Any guesses? Need to phone a friend? Give up? Ok, I’ll tell you: it’s learned language, even naming! In this sense, I’m talking about the ability to create a signature call, like a name, and communicate with it. (But if you ever hire a green-rumped parrotlet to name your company or product, let us know how it goes.)

While Zinzin knows just how important names are to human animal identity and culture, we’re fascinated by the way they impact nonhuman animals as well. Why? Well, I guess the short answer is that we namers at Zinzin are a curious bunch and love language. We revel in the fact that language is alive on the move: it’s a living, breathing organism, always changing, morphing, evolving. By understanding how other species create and use names in their worlds, perhaps we’ll learn more about ours too.

September 16, 2022 By Ali Sell

Wiesn up! Oktoberfest is a 212 year-old lesson on fun, fellowship, creativity, and very good beer

In naming, Zinzin loves the practice of getting outside of ourselves, our specialty, our industry. It keeps the creative juices brewing, because great names are all around us. They bubble up within the language of poetry, literature, art, science, nature…and beer. That’s right! Oktoberfest 2022 is upon us, and this Zinzin namer is ready to be inspired by its history, traditions, and quirks.

Alas, I’m not typing this post directly from Germany, but let’s step outside of naming for a few minutes and travel-by-brain to this 200+ year-old festival devoted to Bavarian culture and beer. It’s sure to leave us amazed, enlightened, and perhaps a little thirsty.

September 1, 2022 By Ali Sell

Heterosigma akashiwo: a bloom by any other name would smell as sour

When a name catches my eye, I’m tickled pink. But this one has me seeing red.

Heterosigma akashiwo is the scientific name of marine algae that aggregates into harmful blooms, resulting in red tides. These red tides, or harmful algae blooms, are currently blooming to unprecedented levels among Bay Area waters, to the detriment of marine life and the bewilderment of scientists.

Appearing in the news throughout the summer, Heterosigma akashiwo has scientists and conservationists scrambling to learn more. Meanwhile, I scrambled to learn more about this eye-catching name that’s admittedly kinda fun to say, and how it came to be.

August 19, 2022 By Ali Sell

Viral naming: WHO asked whom for help renaming monkeypox?

Zinzin has named a lot of things, but we’ve never named or renamed a virus. Alas, the World Health Organization (WHO) didn’t ping us to rename monkeypox, but it did ask all of us for suggestions, specifically for a new disease name, in an open online forum.

However, when we read a recent news release by WHO titled, “Monkeypox: experts give virus variants new names,” we namers-by-profession couldn’t help but wonder…WHO used what experts? How did they arrive at these names? And what are the new names?

In this post, we will break down WHO’s naming process so far, using their press release (linked above) as our primary reference.

June 22, 2022 By Ali Sell

Tech Company Naming: Get your SaaS in gear

At Zinzin, we love to name drop. Especially, when it’s a name we created for our fabulous client, Antimatter, doing sassy new things in the world of software as a service (SaaS).

That’s right; we said it: sassy.

Let’s take a look at two seemingly unconnected dots: the B2B SaaS infrastructure company, Antimatter, and why the word “sassy” is more than our attempt at being cute with SaaS. Zinzin believes both characteristics — serious and sassy — can successfully co-exist in a name when it maps true to its brand positioning.

Aside: We freely admit that we love to play with language. It’s part of Zinzin’s naming process. And it’s often how Zinzin brains make the most unlikely creative connections for our clients.

June 13, 2022 By Ali Sell

NBA Finals fun: Nicknames of the Golden State Warriors & Boston Celtics

Call us crazy (or just plain Zinzin), but naming is in our DNA, even when we’re watching the NBA. In honor of our local team, the Golden State Warriors, and their awesome run to this year’s NBA Finals — their sixth finals appearance in the last eight seasons — we take a brief look at Warriors naming history and current player nicknames. We also included a nicknaming-nod to the Warriors 2022 Finals rival, the Boston Celtics…because we may be “Zinzin,” but we love a good (naming) showdown.

Ali Sell

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