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Continuing on the theme of naming companies, you should read “Company Naming Changes 2006” by Strategic Name Development. 1,900 name changes occurred last year. The company has identified nine categories of name changes:

  1. Dog Eat Dog (34%)
  2. Too Big or Too Little (29%)
  3. Build on the Brand (Building on a Strong Brand) (5%)
  4. Quick Makeover (14%)
  5. U-Turn (8%)
  6. User-Friendly Naming (4%)
  7. Buying Into the Club (3%)
  8. Rebuild, Restructure and Rename (2%)
  9. Spinning Off Into The Unknown (1%)

My favorite is “Center for Minority Educational Affairs” becoming “Center for Multicultural Equity and Access.” Three is a lot to learn from this report if you’re changing your company’s name and undertaking rebranding.