If Xbox wants to widen their appeal to the casual gamer, they’re missing the point with a name that needs to be explained. The casual gamer may not get that this is “the one device I need” or “the one you’ve been waiting for…” They’re likely to take the name literally, especially when it will sit on the same shelf as the Sony PlayStation 4 (the fourth-generation console). They might think this is a re-design of the original Xbox or a stripped-down version of the Xbox 360, not the latest-and-greatest.

This numeric confusion recalls another gaming name kerfuffle: the Wii U. Nintendo considered renaming the Wii U because many thought it was an accessory not a console, even after a huge announcement at E3.  The names still confuses customers to this day, prompting Nintendo to write specific marketing materials to explain that the Wii U is a new machine.  Many customers still refer to it as “the new Wii.” All this happened after public confusion over another Nintendo product, the 3DS, which customers had difficulty differentiating from the former DS. In fact, they had to print bold red stickers that said, “This is not DS. This is Nintendo 3DS.” Jeesh.

Clearly, all of these names aren’t fulfilling their primary purpose: to help customers differentiate between different products. Which leaves me wondering, what happened to “Xbox 720”? It was the rumored code name of the project, and it seemed perfectly kosher.  Or what about the other rumored possibilities, “Xbox Infinity” or “Xbox Fusion,” both of which seemed like strong candidates?  Since the Xbox 720 nickname was so widespread, will some people refer to it as that? It’s just as likely that many will call the Xbox One “the new Xbox.”

When asked whether the name “Xbox One” might be confusing to customers, Microsoft program manager Jeff Henshaw said, “…if you look at the original Xbox…there’s no resemblance anymore between the two. You can’t confuse them in anyway. So when people say ‘Xbox One,’ it’s going to be reflective of this new generation of experiences. I really don’t think there’s going to be any confusion.” Somehow, I’m not so convinced.

Yes, the name “One” communicates the all-in-one home entertainment system message and lends itself well to marketing campaigns. It’s short and packed with meaning, but the name “One” itself is diluted. Years ago, it might have been a powerful and unique, but now it’s overused, almost as much as the term “game-changer.” For example, HTC just launched its new One phone – and this is in addition to several “one” products from Google like the Nexus One phone, Google One Today, Google OneBox, and Google One Pass.

Boo to Microsoft for crowning its console with ingenious features—cloud computing and a refreshed Kinect body sensor—but coming up with such a yawn of a name.

Overall grade: C

So for all the newbies out there, here are 10 tips for bolstering your name creation process and upping your chances of developing a wide range of interesting names to choose from.

1) Have a theme party
Round up some of the people at your company who are most deeply involved with the new brand to brainstorm about what themes (aka messaging directions) you want to explore in name creation. Start with what makes your brand unique that’s relevant to your audience. Is speed one of your product’s main virtues? Does your company define itself by its ability to create rapport with clients? Tease out the different strengths and attitudes that define your brand. Then decide which are the most fundamental to your brand—and compelling to your customers.

2) Use/utilize/employ your thesaurus
Once you’ve developed your themes, start building out vocabulary around each one. For instance, if one of your themes was “speed,” a cluster of words that’s thematically related could include fast, quick, whiz, velocity, vroom…and so on. Here’s where a thesaurus will come in handy, steering you both to synonyms and related words. You should wind up with a wealth of thematically-related vocabulary to source for name creation.

3) Set the mood
Sometimes pictures can spark your imagination and take you to unexpected naming places. For each of your themes, create a montage of images on poster board, using material culled from magazines or the web. Is “speed” a sports car whizzing by? Skaters charging across the ice? A sprinter leaving her competitors in the dust? Superman on the fly? You can use all of these images, and more, to create mood boards to inspire name ideas.

4) Mine metaphors
Likening your product or company to something else, especially something concrete and tangible, is a powerful naming tool for conveying a key message. For instance, Corning Willow Glass and Corning Lotus Glass are evocative metaphorical names: one for an extremely flexible glass and the other for an extremely pure glass.

5) Play around
Take liberties with the words in your thematic vocabulary lists. Create names by combining two words (like Livescribe or ProteinSimple). Or joining words with word parts or single letters (like McBistro or vSafe). Try smushing words together (like Sprize, a blend of surprise and prize). Take out a letter or two (as in Brillian, Daptiv and Zillio.) Misspell a word phonetically to create a homonym (like Vudu or Boku.) Or add a prefix or a suffix. Have some fun!

6) Go phrase-y
A phrase-based name is a time-honored naming tool for standing out in a space and attracting attention. And while common phrases work well, so can made-up phrases. Consider Gear6, North of Nine, Citizens of Humanity and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! (Ok, that last name’s a sentence, not a phrase, but you get the idea.)

7) Ride piggyback
If a bunch of people in your company are working on your naming project, sharing and piggybacking off each other’s ideas is a great way to boost everyone’s efforts. Sometimes a group brainstorming session is a useful structure for this. But if getting everyone in the same room (or even on the same phone call) is impractical, you can still piggyback. Just ask each person to share some of their favorite ideas as they go along, so everyone can be inspired by them. Because so many people do their best creative work in private, this tactic is often even more effective than group brainstorming.

8) Travel to foreign languages
In name creation, sometimes another language can provide just the right personality for your brand name. For instance, French projects a certain feminine elegance (C’elle), while Italian suggests liveliness and style. Swahili has a musical, friendly tonality (Kijiji), and Latin is the mother of all formality (Constellis)…..Comprendo?

8) It’s ok to be punny
For a light touch and a friendly brand name, don’t overlook puns and other forms of wordplay. If done well, such clever names will engage your audience and draw them into your brand story. The book chain Book Passage, the voice-control mobile app Jukevox, and the educational program Great EdVentures are good examples of wordplay that work because both meanings (the evoked one and the literal one) tie into the brand’s identity. A word of warning, though. Gratuitous puns that don’t have that dual tie-in aren’t nearly as effective, and can border on the cheesy. Pita Pan, for instance, is the name of a Middle Eastern eatery, but it doesn’t say much about what makes this restaurant special.

9) Amp up the alliteration
It’s amazing how much more intuitive and memorable a little alliteration can make a name. BestBuy, ClearCurve, Jamba Juice, Rancher’s Reserve, Palm Pre: they’ve all got it going on.

10) Make it rhyme time
Sound is every bit as important as semantics when it comes to name creation.
That’s why brand names that rhyme can be so “sticky.” Think Vudu. Lean Cuisine. StubHub. Shake ‘n Bake. The symmetry and melody of such names make them easier to remember—and harder to forget.

So there you have it. 10 tips that should help you create names that will do you—and your brand—proud. For more ideas, check out our naming guide. And may the best name win!

Data Mining for Baby Names

The Social Security Administration has a record of pretty much everyone’s name in the United States for the last 100+ years. That’s quite a treasure trove of information, and they’ve made that information surprisingly easy to search and analyze.

This information is useful in many ways. It can both provide naming ideas as well as let you research the history of names you are considering. Even if you have already decided on a name (or already named your child), the database provides fascinating information on the history of names in the United States.

Cross-Out Elimination Method: Narrow the Universe of Names

This is my favorite method for naming a baby. It’s the one I used for my own children and works best for people looking for more common names but it can be modified to find some more unusual appellations.

1. Generate a Master List of Possible Names
Click on the “Popular Names by Birth Year” tab and select a year. If you are looking for a more common name, select the latest year. If you are open to more unusual names, you’ll want to run this search several times with several years.

Once you’ve selected the year, use the pull-down tab to select the number of names to list. You should choose at least 500 names, and may even want to go as high as 1,000. Once you have the list generated, print it out or even better export it to a spreadsheet.

2. Eliminate the No-Go Names
Go through this list one-by-one crossing out any name you don’t like. Find the name of your elementary school’s worst bully? Cross it out. Come across the name of your best friend’s child? Cross it out. Cross out any name that for any reason you don’t like or can’t use. Then, hand the list over to your spouse and let them do the same thing.

3. Create a Short List of Favorite Names
After you’ve both gone through the list, you’ll be surprised how much you’ve narrowed down the universe of names. From the names left over, you can each pick your five favorites, and see if there is any overlap.

Researching Your Favorite Names

Once you have your list of candidate names, the Social Security website offers some amazing tools for researching the history and geographical range of those names.

1. Track Popularity Over Time
Click on the “Popularity of a Name” tab and select the number of years you’d like to see. This will generate a list of years, showing how popular the name was for each year.

Many names show dramatic changes in popularity. For instance, “Emma” is one of the most popular girl names of the last decade. However, in the 60s, 70s and 80s it fell completely out of favor, after being one of the most popular names in the first half of the century. Many names go through popularity cycles like this. It’s worth knowing where a candidate name is on this cycle, whether you want to be firmly in the mainstream or leading the charge to rehabilitate a currently unpopular name.

2. Track Regional Differences
The tools here are a little harder to use, but it’s possible to see which names are popular in which states. You certainly will want to check your candidate names to see how popular they are in your own state, but you might want to pick a sample of other states to compare. The only way to do this is to generate a list of popular names by state and comb through that, looking for your candidate names.

For some names, regional differences are minor. For instance, “Jacob” was number four in popularity in Alabama in 2011 and number five in Connecticut. “Elijah,” however, was number eight in Alabama and number 36 in Connecticut.

More Tips for Using the Database Effectively

• Remember, the database doesn’t group together alternate spellings of a name. So “Kristina” and “Christina” are counted separately.
• Since the database is separated into boy and girl names, you can use it to figure out how often androgynous names are used for either sex.
• Go back 60 years or more to find once-popular names that are ready for revival. Those names probably seemed old-fashioned when you were a child, but now they may be retro-cool.

Getting the Name Just Right — For You

There’s no right way to use this database to help name a baby. Some people want a unique baby name, others want to get lost in the crowd. Having this data at your fingertips lets you choose the name just right for your family based on what matters to you.

You might be surprised to learn that the actual definition of “feminism” is pretty neutral. Merriam-Webster calls it “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes,” and Dictionary.com says it’s “the advocating of social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men.” Yup, no frenzied bra-burning implied there, just a desire for equal rights.

But for better or for worse, the term is much more loaded with negative meaning these days.  So much that perhaps it’s doing more harm than good for the movement (although this is still open to debate).  What would you rename the fight for gender equality, so that it’s less polarizing?

So far, other visitors have come up with:

• Personism
• Equalism
• Not your mother’s feminism
• Galitarians
• AllRights
• Factivist
• Second Waver

Visit PopNamer.com to vote for your favorites or propose some of your own!

Instead of popping out kids, we’re picking up pooches (and their poo) in record numbers. And why not? They love you unconditionally, while children definitely don’t. As a pet’s provider and safekeeper, you’re the sun, moon, and stars to them. Sure, with a pet comes great responsibility, but hey, at least they can walk when they’re first born.

When you adopt a rescue dog or cat, they may come saddled with a sad name. What to if you don’t like the name that your pet came with?  Have no fear.  Despite what people say, you can change the name of your pet. It’s not as difficult as is changing, say, a human name. Your dog or cat isn’t attached to their moniker like we humans are, and even an old dog can learn new (name) tricks.

If you do change your pet’s name, you just need to follow a few steps. The first step is definitely the toughest: deciding what the new name will be. You could modify the pet’s existing name to something more to your liking. Or if you choose an entirely new name, consider the pet’s appearance. Does it have any unique physical attributes?  Color, size, or spots? Also think about your pet’s personality. How would you describe he/she in one word? You might draw inspiration from the area where your pet was adopted from or the shelter’s name. Are there any special stories about how your pet was found? Finally, if your pet is of a specific breed, that could also serve as rich fodder for name ideas.

In the end, don’t forget to keep it simple. Try to stick to names of one or two syllables, to quickly grab a wayward pet’s attention. It’s also a lot easier to repeat a short name over and over, as you’re likely to do. After all, the primary purpose of a pet’s name is to establish that you’re in charge. You want your pet to come when they’re called, just like you would a petulant child. And in the spirit of simplicity, try not to get too clever with your pet’s name. Remember that the name is more for your pet, not to fulfill your need to be ironic. Choose something timeless and that will age well because the average pet, even a goldfish, lives longer than an Internet meme.

Once you’ve decided on a new name, you want to transition from the old to the new somewhat gracefully. For the first few days, I hear bribery usually works. When you want your pet’s attention, call out their new name, establish eye contact, and give them a treat. You want to teach them that no matter how your voice sounds, responding to their name is always in their best interest. Also, if you can, try not to associate your pet’s name with negative repercussions. You want them to maintain positive associations with their name—something that everyone, even the big brands that we do naming for—aspire to achieve.

If you’ve been following the marketing news, you’ll know that they’re all subsidiaries of the French holding company formerly known as PPR (an initialism for Pinault-Printemps-Redoute), which was recently renamed Kering (pronounced “caring”).

The rename was triggered when the company shed Printemps, a French department store, and put Redoute, a mail-order business, on the block: events reducing its old name, PPR, to alphabet soup.

Yet considering that the conglomerate had the benefit of at least one outside agency involved in its renaming process (Marketing Daily claims they had three), you’d think they could have done better.

Current CEO Francois Henri-Pinault hopes the name Kering will evoke a beneficent group that tenderly nurtures its brands. And the Kering name has added resonance for the Pinault family, who come from Brittany: in Breton, “ker” means “home.”

But will Kering speak to its larger audience, and if so, what will it say?

The answer is not much.

Renaming a holding company is hard. Ideally, the brand name should be broad enough to encompass both current and as-yet-unknown future holdings, while highlighting some common thread that runs through them all. Given the challenge, it’s not surprising so many holding companies fall back on vague, bland monikers that have no intuitive connection to their subsidiaries—or worse, are counter-intuitive.

Take conglomerate Philip Morris, which rightly provoked cynicism when it renamed itself Altria not long after its legal troubles with state attorneys general over the health costs of tobacco use. (Kind of hard to see the connection between the makers of cancer sticks and altruism.)

On the other hand Altegrity, a holding company formerly known as USIS, bears an apt moniker for an entity whose companies all focus, in one way or another, on the integrity of the information they provide to their customers.

But Kering, as in caring….Really? It may have some significance for the company’s internal audiences. But for outside audiences whose main point of reference will be Kering’s uber high-end fashion brands, the name fits about as well as a pair of clogs in a Manolo Blahnik boutique. Especially since the name sounds more Dutch than French: a disconnect not only with its brands, but with its provenance.

Would it have been so bad for the company to go back to its original name, which was simply Pinault? That name at least has a certain cachet that’s in keeping with the company’s stylish brands.   A lot of brands would kill for the kind of cachet that Pinault comes by honestly. Or PPR might have spared itself the angst of rebranding altogether, and simply come up with a different payoff for its three little letters that spoke to its new focus.

Or, given that they apparently wanted to make a break with their roots and reflect their increasingly global customer base, an elegant name related to lifestyle or style would have provided a broad enough umbrella for the company’s house of brands, while still relating to the character of those brands.

All of that said, after the official fanfare has died down, few people are going to be affected by what this company is called. As with almost all holding companies, it’s their subsidiaries’ brand names that ultimately matter, and in the case of PPR, those are well-established. At least Kering is inoffensive (its Indonesian meanings of “dried” and “poorly paid” notwithstanding) and relatively easy to say. But having decided to abandon PPR, it’s too bad the company alighted upon another name that’s little more than another alphabet soup. By focusing on itself, the company missed a golden opportunity to capitalize upon its stellar portfolio.

Overall grade: C

Case in point: two people filed trademarks for “Boston Strong,” a mere two days after the bombs rocked the U.S.’s premier marathon. There’s no question that this is crass capitalism run amok. I mean, have these people no shame? They barely waited for the blood to dry before they started diving for disaster dollars.

Both applicants want to use the trademark for apparel and accessories. One is a Massachusetts resident (who is being a Masshole, may I add), and the other is Born Into It, a custom T-shirt company. That company has filed trademarks for other colorful examples of Boston vernacular, including “Chowdaheadz” and “Wicked Pissah Stuff.”

In response to the media flak they received, Born Into It, released a statement, claiming that they “had no idea it [Boston Strong] would grow to where it was and become such a big rally cry for our city.” They say they just wanted to protect the phrase for the city and had no intention of enforcing the trademark, merely preventing anyone else from profiting from it.

Or is such opportunism just the American way? I know that in our sensational culture, nothing is sacred anymore. But still, there should be a grace period for certain things, like the desecration of an athletic event that used to be a pride of a city. And disasters where children die and are maimed, and where the havoc-wreakers are almost children themselves.

While some may admire the gumption of these opportunists, the law may ultimately rule against them. Both attempts to trademark the phrase may fail because “Boston Strong” has been so widely used and can’t be connected exclusively with any one organization or person. It’s part of the public domain.  For example, after September 11, 2001, the government deemed that no one had exclusive rights to the phrase “9/11.”

That being said, plenty of phrases have been trademarked successfully.  On September 11, 2001, passenger on United Flight 93,Todd Beamer, said, “Let’s roll,” which the former Todd M. Beamer Foundation (now Heroic Choices) has exclusive rights to. Emeril Legasse owns the right to shriek “BAM!”, and sports announcer Michael Buffer has made $400 million from licensing his catchphrase, “Let’s get ready to rumble.”

So yes, trademarking a phrase can be lucrative if defended properly (Paris Hilton has had trouble enforcing her ownership of “That’s hot.”), which is why I don’t buy Born Into It’s claims of trying to protect the phrase for all of Boston. And all you quick buck makers out there, dare to practice some dignity, and stop trying to turn tragedy into treasure.

From Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s to Sony’s pink speaker balls to exoplanets, crowdsourcing for names is all the rage. There’s strength in numbers, or so you’d think, right? But remember, the supposed “wisdom of the crowd” effect is often flawed, at least where more specialized creative services, like naming, are concerned.

The first forms of crowdsourcing required no fancy polls or technology, just someone asking what their friends thought. Gradually, as the Internet democratized the exchange of information and ideas, it’s become easy to ask for opinions from intricately networked masses. The spending and thinking power of the public can be harnessed for your own needs, and what could be more egalitarian and economical?

Crowdsourcing is now everywhere. You can vote for your favorite T-Shirt, plug into the collective knowledge of Wikipedia, or fundraise for your play or product on Kickstarter. One of the more direct forms is the rise of work-soliciting platforms, either for more tedious chores (TaskRabbit, Amazon’s Mechanical Turk) or complex creative work, like logo design (crowdSPRING, 99designs).

In theory, crowdsourcing creative work sounds like the bee’s knees, providing unlimited access to the world’s inspired minds. And in some cases, it works. For example, iStockPhoto shook up the image industry, creating an affordable, reliable photo source, where even amateur shutterbugs could contribute. But quantity doesn’t mean quality, and as the classic design principle goes, less is more. Although you wouldn’t think this, judging from the proliferation of naming contests and “namesourcing” sites (like Naming Force, Name Station, SquadHelp, Name Contests, Hatchwise, and the granddaddy of them all, WordLab).

Just recently, you could contribute names in official contests for a studious gnome, a river otter pup, a historic lawn in Brooklyn, or a PlayStation game. With naming contests, the sponsoring companies usually get responses very quickly and cheaply. They’re a boon for building consensus and buzz (witness Lay’s “Do Us a Flavor” contest), getting instant feedback on product ideas, and involving your customers in your brand. But if you’re more focused on the result–an actual brand or product name that needs to succeed in the marketplace–crowdsourcing falls short.

Anyone remember what happened when Mountain Dew asked customers to name its new green apple drink? An attempt to build brand loyalty turned into a PR fiasco, as customers clicked amok, voting for “Diabeetus” and “Gushing Granny.” Or when Kraft Down Under solicited names for a spreadable version of Vegemite, settling on the bland name iSnack 2.0 from some 48,000 submissions. Even people in the marketing biz fall prey to the allures of crowdsourcing. For example, ad agency DW+H hired Victor & Spoils to handle the crowdsourcing of its name and eventually settled on…keeping DW+H after reviewing 1,500 submissions.

When you crowdsource naming, you surrender control over the quality of what you get. Many of the candidates you receive won’t reflect your desired messages or tonality because you’re asking the masses, who aren’t experts in your business or category. They’re generalists, and they probably won’t take the time to get to know you too well, or as well as they should. In order to create an indelible brand, you and your branding partner need to establish intimacy. Casual encounters don’t build consistency or quality; they’re more likely to yield the least common denominator, rather than customized creativity.

There’s no guarantee that what you get is legally available or linguistically appropriate, unless you ask a bunch of trademark attorneys. You also give up confidentiality and face the threat of having your ideas stolen. You might think you’re saving time, but reviewing hundreds, if not thousands of submissions takes much longer than you think. It’s also a logistical nightmare to collaborate with a large group on anything but the simplest tasks.

Asking people to vote on names invites the smart aleck to play (as in the Mountain Dew example). Popularity is misleading, and the number of votes often has no bearing on whether the target market finds the name appealing. They’re in it to outwit, not choose the best or most appropriate name for your brand. The same is often true for focus groups, where the loudest self-styled comedians will often show off their “smarts” by tearing down the names they’re being shown.

So, if you’re looking to generate word of mouth or crowd-please, then by all means, run that contest. But if you’re looking to create a name that stands out from the crowd, don’t follow the crowd. Dare to name alone–or with a trusted partner.

The recently-departed Margaret Thatcher’s strong style of governance gave rise to many nicknames, including  “The Iron Lady.” (Less flattering ones were “Milk Snatcher” and “England’s Best Man”). What “Iron Lady”-like nicknames can you concoct for U.S. President Obama?

Other visitors have contributed:

• Go-bama!
• Barry Cool
• No Drama Obama
• The Yes-We-Canner
• The Mysterious
• Changer-in-Chief
• CEObama

Visit PopNamer.com to vote for your favorites and come up with some of your own.

CLICK HERE to read the full article including some quotes from Laurel.