Mar 15

Naming Things

I am a big believer in naming things. I like handles that are easy to say and spell, and that have some meaning too, sometimes more than one.

I’ve named:

-the Palladium (now Canadian Tire Centre)

-Robertson Mews (a mixed use neighborhood)

-Riddell Village (now Briarbrook)

-Mallorn Centre

-Royal Bank Pavilion

-Roberson House

-Manchester Development Corp

-Blue Heron Storage

-Presidential Executive Travel Apartments

-Phelona Therapies

-Ottawa Business News (now Ottawa Business Journal)

-Pheobe Services

-Mill Hill road

-Terrace drive

-Palladium drive

-Dunrobin Lake

-Constance Creek drive

-Duck Pond place

and 100s of other properties, businesses and streets. 

I also like adding (hopefully) clever taglines. You can read more about that here, https://profbruce.tumblr.com/post/103861541279/some-taglines-i-like-wheres-the-beef-wendys.

It costs you practically nothing to do, and can add a lot of value. It’s a lot nice to say you live in “Robertson House” than “I’m at the corner of Robertson and Mill Hill roads”.

I’ll pick a name from a map of Britain (practically guaranteed to be in English) or look at the history of the street, house, land, neighborhood, ownership to choose a name that has some local meaning.

I took the above photos from Lizzie Borden Took an Ax, the 2014 movie starring Christina Ricci. Why? 

Not to celebrate the fiendish murders of her father and stepmother that she (allegedly) perpetrated on their innocent persons, but because, if you look closely at the above series of images, Lizzie and her sister Emma (played by Clea DuVall), are emerging from a home they’d purchased at the end of the film (bought, mind you, with funds they’d inherited from dear old, recently departed dad) named MAPLECROFT. 

Now I would never name a place “Maplecroft” unless you perversely wished to celebrate Lizzie’s deeds, but you can see it’s an old tradition.

Having said this, parents used to sing this “lullaby” to put their children to sleep:

Lizzie Borden took an axe

And gave her mother forty whacks

When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one

Go figure.

@ profbruce

More on naming things, https://profbruce.tumblr.com/post/63373903254/naming-things

How to register your name, https://profbruce.tumblr.com/post/138216199164/register-your-business-name

How to fix a bad name, https://profbruce.tumblr.com/post/138021919919/carp-road-corridor-business-improvement-area

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I know what I’d do with this home! 

I’d rename it “Hello Kitty House” and make it a profit center by giving tours and birthday parties for Hello Kitty fans.

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About the Author

Bruce is an entrepreneur/real estate broker/developer/coach/urban guru/keynote speaker/Sens founder/novelist/columnist/peerless husband/dad.

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