It was inevitable that International House of Pancakes (nine syllables) became known as IHOP (two syllables), but in most people`s minds, IHOP is still synonymous with pancakes, although it does sell other items such as burgers. Last summer, IHOP launched a teaser campaign, saying it would change its name to IHOb to announce a new range of burgers. There is an unwritten three-syllable law that explains why New York (two syllables) gets its full name, while Los Angeles (four syllables) is popularly called “LA”. Similarly, Detroit is still Detroit, but Philadelphia is “Philly.” In the corporate world, Federal Express bowed to the inevitable by changing its name to Fedex, following popular usage. Similarly, Beverages & More became Bevmo and the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) is commonly known as Fannie Mae – a namesake of FNMA. These are long names. People don`t like them. They prefer short, concise and memorable names. And if your name is longer than three syllables, it will be shortened. It`s going to happen and it`s out of your control, so be warned.

As they have outgrown their product origins, Starbucks Coffee and Apple Computer have found an easier solution by removing the product from their name – it`s just Starbucks and Apple today. Dunkin` donuts tries the same trick by dropping the donuts of his name to just Dunkin` to reflect his growing focus on coffee and other drinks, as well as sandwiches (not sure). If there`s a lesson to be learned here, it`s twofold: while a long descriptive name will inevitably be shortened for reasons beyond your control, a product or geographically specific name eventually becomes a problem to deal with. Among the snake pits and landmines that take the trouble to name in the corporate world, there is a trap that always draws the unwary into the trap. I was stupid and voted because of my nickname (that`s what I`m called that) If there is no practical short form, there are always old simple initials to fall back on. National Public Radio was known as NPR for years before officially adopting initials as names. The national television networks all have long names, and they are all known by their initials – ABC, NBC, CBS, as well as cable companies – CNN, MSNBC and ESPN. My name is Samuel, I say Sam-ule, but some people pronounce it Sam-u-el, so 2 sometimes 3 Ernst & Young and Deloitte resisted the trend for years and maintained their professional superiority with their real names.

Deloitte has intelligently recognized the value of its name and built a world-class brand around it. Ernst & Young had the same luck, but unfortunately it relented in 2013 when it announced it wanted to become known as EY, leaving Deloitte to rejoice in its chance. The need for such an expensive campaign, while it may have resulted in increased sales in the short term, is almost an admission that the company has a deep-seated name problem that advertising can`t solve. Initials are useful. They can help a company escape the appeal of a restrictive geographical origin or product. For example, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation`s ambitions to expand globally beyond its origins in Asia were made possible by the use of initials – HSBC – that obscured the bank`s unlikely origins. United Parcel Service became UPS as the company evolved from package delivery to global supply chain management. According to IHOP, hamburger sales quadrupled after the campaign. In the long run, this effect is likely to be marginal – IHOP is always pancakes.

In the world of accounting and auditing, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm, finally bowed to the inevitable and joined the rest of the world when it decided to call itself PwC in 2010 and follow KPMG (a combination of Peat, Marwick and Klynveld Main Goerdeler) into the company`s anonymity. In summary, if you are considering a new name for your business name, think like Google and avoid product specificity in the name. And calculate the probability of a shortcut in advance. Just ask the IHOP people. By the time National Cash Register officially changed its name to NCR, it had long since passed the cash register. IBM is no longer International Business Machines for the same reason. Kentucky Fried Chicken became KFC in its quest to expand beyond fried chicken. A more creative solution for a long product and a geographically limited name was realized by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing when it became 3M. It`s a safe bet that a particular invention was commonly used long before the company bit the ball and changed its name. Technically three, but it`s written “Mariia”, so.

The 4-syllable band goes up!.