November 14, 2008

Curious George: Hip Business Name? I need help coming up with a new name for my handcrafted jewelry business. It needs to be hip, and Monkeys are the hippest people I know.

I have my shop on etsy.com, and since they have millions of users, most of the hip names are already taken. I want something with a bit of street cred, but not to much, because I don't want to scare off the Boomers. Something arty but not too freaky would be good, also. I've already tried Soho, Tribeca, Boho (which I wasn't crazy about anyway), SanteFe, laundry, and I forget what else. I considered "junk", but it was taken. (Probably just as well...) I can't really base it on a particular style of jewelry, because I have severe A.D.D., so therefore I have a group of items that are very minimalist, some that are Southwestern and rustic, and some that are ornate and Victorian. Things like "Eklektica" are already way overused. I'm also fond of traditional Jewish names, but Dava, Chava, Chana and Tovah are already taken. Oh yeah, and according to marketing gurus, ideally it should be no more than two syllables, and they should start with hard consonants. And I want something that screams "Someday I will the the hottest brand in the country, and teenage girls will want to wear my name across their buttocks, but I won't let them because I have standards!" A sense of humor is welcome. i.e., I was considering "Gauche", but it's already taken. Help?

posted by fairywench 15 years ago
  • My favorite hip little jewelry store name is Fly High Little Bunny. Clearly this name is taken, but could a good idea be gleaned from this one? Monkey in the Middle Sailboat Simian Lemur in Love Or, perhaps, a palindrome. That way, when it is spelled across a 14-year-old's butt, it will have a pleasing symmetry. I can't think one up, 'cause I have had too much beer. Anyone?
  • Fly High Little Bunny? In Houston?
  • Mahna Mahna
  • Ooh, gomi, I LIKE that! My brother and I used to sing that for hours and hours and drive our mother crazy. Of course, now that she's retired and has free time, she's getting her revenge...
  • Mahna Mahna was originally written for an italian softcore porn movie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mah_Nà_Mah_Nà
  • Yeah it gets stuck in the head alright - which is why I thought of it (^_^). *waits to be able to get pants with it across her bum*
  • Mahna Mahna, totally. YOU MUST DO THIS.
  • People would always remember where they bought your stuff. "Hey, where did you buy that ring?" "Mahna Mahna." "Doo doooo do do do...wait, what?"
  • Bauble-hed.
  • If you name your shop mahna mahna, I will never forget it. In fact I can't forget it.
  • Bahna Bahna? Nah.
  • Magpie's Delight. (On a cursory Google search, it seems to check out.)
  • FitKisto It's got a certain something... Noliti Designs (noliti was a word generated by one of those human verification things for me ages ago - I was going to use it as my 'front', but then that whole lemur thing came along. You can have it)
  • I expect "Family Jewels" has gone already. Although Mahna mahna is sweet, here's a couple off the top of my head (which doesn't leave much): Blingles Djemmery Khayarma
  • Mahna from Heaven?
  • A.D.D. would be a good name, if it describes your style. Plus, it looks like "add." Your advertising could include a line about "ADDing accessories." Of course, people would probably ask what it stands for. "Alluring Design Details?"
  • Call yourself Truckles. I learnt that word this week and its the best word I've heard in ages
  • Monkeys are the hippest people I know This is sad.
  • Why not FairyWench? I'd think either Celtic or Victorian rather than southwest though.. Oh, and parents might not want that across their daughters' bums.
  • Mmmmm... Bums.
  • AgAu - if you work in Gold and Silver.
  • The Treasure Trove of Fairywench,
  • Aren't all hip stores named after verbs now? In my town we've got "Graze" (restaurant), "Imbibe" (bar) and "Exhale" (I don't fucking know) for instance. Surely, if you're going for hipness you should consider a name like "Glimmer" or "Shine" or "Sparkle" or something. Of course, that trend is bound to be all washed up in another year or so. If it isn't already.
  • The Wench Connection
  • I quite like Truckles. Say it. "Truckles".
  • I'd suggest 'Akrasia', but I'm saving that for my boat.
  • can you go blue at all? -- The Shit --
  • Look at My Ass Rear Entrance Cheek to Cheek Butt Full O' Jewelry Anus Amazing Bum Wrap Hynie Bubbles
  • Oh! Oh! Oh! wait for it... Planet Uranus
  • *sends RalphTheDog to sit on the time out mat for a bit*
  • I want to reply to some of these, but I'm laughing too hard! Give me a minute....
  • * DINGLEBERRIES *
  • Okay...whew..breathing again... Lemur in Love - Has a certain something. Maybe too much something, though. Hmmmm Bauble-hed is wonderful, but I'm afraid "hed" will cease to be hip fairly soon, and become as dated as 80's big hair. Bahna Bahna makes me think of the Krishnas. Not sure about that..... I do like the Magpie reference...keeping that one on the short list. Noliti isn't bad...makes me think of mojitos tho. Khayarma is good, but might be a bit too ethnic sounding. And only some of my stuff is ethnic. Keeping it on the list though. A.D.D. actually is one of my favorites. I can see that as a logo on an overpriced purse. Not that I want to make logo-encrusted purses, I just want to inspire in people that insane desire to spend too much money on something just because of the name. :) Truckles has a nice industrial feel...it's a maybe. Fairywench...has too much of a renaissance faire connotation. Rennies usually like my jewelry, but I don't want to scare off people who are turned off by that stuff. Also, there's the issue that I've been using that name for years and have left inflammatory, uber-left-wing, militant feminist, and anti-church smartass comments all over the intertubes while signed in as such. (Especially on that porn forum when the discussion turned to goatse and the guys who were screaming "show us your boobs" suddenly decided that the gay guy who posted the goatse pic should be banned. Damned hypocrites.) AgAu has potential. Rather clever, actually. :) The verb thing doesn't seem to work for jewelry - Glimmer, Shine and Sparkle all sound like Mariah Carey Albums to me. The Shit is interesting...or just Shit. Come buy my shit! I could license George Carlin's image as my logo. "My shit will fit in your pocket!" Ralph...Ralph...Hynie Bubbles? Geez, everyone knows it's spelled Heinie. I may use dingleberries as a special line of Christmas products. :) But so far, Mahna Mahna is definitely leading. I really do like that. And yes, it is sad that monkeys are the hippest people I know. But I live in Houston, so it can't be helped. Ralph, you are still in time out.
  • Thank you all, by the way. This has already turned out far better than I thought it would, and the weekend's only just begun.
  • Monkeyfilter: Come buy my shit!
  • I used to looooove Fly High Little Bunny when I lived in Houston. Ah, memories! Do let us know when you pick your name -- the holiday season's coming up, and I'm sure people need shiny things!
  • Hey, how about Shiny Things. Have no creativity today.
  • Oh, I just had a thought* - a long time ago, I used to be called Jabberwocky Designs. Any opinions on that one? *or maybe it was gas.
  • How whimsical is your work? Anything called "Jabberwocky" better be hard-core whimsical. We're talking Froud levels of whimsy here.
  • Do you have any pictures of your work? Might help get the old inspiration juices flowing.
  • I've already tried Soho, Tribeca, Confuse everybody and call it Houston St.
  • Might be problems with Jabberwocky, being a movie title. There's always Jubjub or Bandersnatch. Brillig?
  • I don't really do whimsical. The name Jabberwocky was good for making people curious to check it out, though. Curiouser and curiouser... I have a few pics posted online right now, but they're only representative of a small part of my work. Plus, I don't want to have it in any way seem like I'm using MoFi to advertise my stuff. KevvinSevvin, that's pretty darned good. Adding that one to the short list. Pronounced Howston, of course!
  • Oh, Brillig! I also like Slithy Toves and Borogrove. And "Callooh!"
  • Brillig's a good one; connotations with brilliant and briller.
  • I read an article some time ago about successful sites and their names. The article pointed out that the huge huge HUGELY successful sites all had two syllables names, accent on the first. BAH-bah. and they used nonsense words, instead of descriptive words. Like: E-bay, YA-hoo, GOO-gle. So Brillig does seem like a great name.
  • MO-Fi.
  • TES-tes.
  • BULL-shit
  • PA-lin er, no...
  • the difference being?
  • And after all this, I'm suddenly getting a bit of notoriety on Etsy - under my old name. I even made the front page, yay!* So now I'm afraid to change the name, lol. I may have to open a second shop just to use one of these great suggestions. *albeit at 2 a.m. on Monday morning.
  • The Jeweled Ziggurat? (No results on Google for that - until NOW.)
  • Worth a try maybe, a couple years ago?