No Cigar

Four worthwhile businesses. Four company names that miss the mark.

Xconomy seems like such a smart company. It's "dedicated to providing business and technology leaders with timely, insightful, close-to-the-scene information about the local personalities, companies, and technological trends that best exemplify today’s high-tech economy." The name is apparently a blend of "exponential" and "economy." But all it suggests to me is a bunch of former prisoners making a fresh start, perhaps in the license-plate business.

Zafu is another great concept saddled with a perplexing name. Zafu helps women find "the perfect pair of jeans or the ideal bra"--two items of apparel that are notoriously, frustratingly difficult to fit. Enter your measurements, your preferences, and your gripes (jeans that always gape at the waist, bra bands that are always too tight), and the Zafu algorithm determines which specific products you should buy. It's not a commerce site, but it partners with retailers that offer the recommended garments. As I said, it's a great concept. So why did the company pick a name that (a) conveys no benefit at all and (b) sounds like Snafu?

Astia is what the Women's Technology Cluster decided to rename itself. It had its reasons for the change, which it takes pains to explain: the organization works with women and men; technology "is typically interpreted as referring to high technology," not all the other forms of technological innovation; cluster "was appropriate when we had principally onsite portfolio companies, but we have now moved completely away from this." As for "Astia," the name-change page gives two Latin sources: Astelia ("a plant, thereby connoting the growth of the companies and leaders we work with") and Astrum ("star, an allusion to the rising star of women entrepreneurs"). Well, that's all very sincere and lovely. But it's not what I get from "Astia." I get, "If I astia once, I astia a million times." The association with Latin-for-star and "a plant"--just any plant? how about some specifics?--is so remote as to be meaningless. I certainly don't perceive the organization's purpose from the name. I suspect this was a case of trying too hard to be a blank canvas; as the name-change page says, the organization "didn't want to alienate any key groups in our community." Yet despite all the rationalizations, Astia still focuses on women-led companies, and it still focuses on technology. The name, meanwhile, has no focus at all. (By the way, none of this is meant to detract from the organization itself: as both WTC and Astia, it's top notch.)

Trikke is pronounced with a long I: "trike." But I'll bet that wasn't your first guess. Standard English pronunciation rules mean the doubled K causes the I to be pronounced as a short vowel. And that's, well, tricky. Again: great product concept--a three-wheeled "cambering vehicle" that lets you use your whole body to navigate your commute. In the video, it looks like big fun--urban skiing without the balance challenges. But whenever you have to open your About page with a pronunication guide you've got one strikke--sorry, strike--against you.

Comments

[Orange]

I had the same reactions you did to Astia and Xconomy. As for Trikke: I hear the white supremacists are holding out for the Trikkke.

[Tate]

As usual I love your coverage of the names. When I read Zafu I'd gotten a similar first impression - snafu. Then I wondered if Za was slang for fitting, bras, or something. ...like maybe it was going for a kung-fu reference...

Anyhow - my real reason for writing this is to comment on the Trikke itself. I cannot believe that anyone would actually ride this for recreation. It isn't because it wouldn't be fun... it's because the way you ride it is by swerving back and forth - taking up about three or four times your width. In DC you'd be clobbered by either a truck or biker inside of two minutes (depending upon whether or not you chose to weave in traffic or on a bike path.)

It's worse than Roller Bladers with their legs stickin' out. This is your whole body impeding traffic.

No thank you.

[Nancy Friedman]

Tate: As far as I know "Za" isn't slang for anything. But I'm willing to be corrected. I emailed the company a couple of months ago, asking for the story behind the name. I never got a response.

As for the Trikke, I agree that it sounds very risky. But learned about it from a satisified customer. Not a young hotdogger, either--a serious-seeming 40-something guy.

[Rebecca Nathenson]

Nancy,

Random stranger here (found your blog through Jon Carroll).

My guess is that "Zafu" comes from the term used to describe the puffy pillows that people sit on to meditate. Perhaps because you need to be comfortable to sit on one of those pillows for more than a couple of minutes, and therefore you need jeans and a bra that fit right? Yes, yes, I know, it's the naming equivalent of backronyming, but it makes a good story!

(Incidentally--my mom calls her zafu a "zaftig," and, sure enough, it is a particularly puffy example of its species.)

[Nancy Friedman]

Rebecca: Thanks for the interesting suggestion! I remember hearing of zafu pillows once upon a time; I never would have connected them to Zafu.com, however. At least it's a story and not just a random word. ("Zaftig" may be an even more apt association for Zafu.com--I wonder how many customers would describe themselves that way!)

[Michael]

I'm one of those 40-something satisfied Trikke customers [actually, I'm 50 and this article was written on my birthday when, coincidentally, I just received my Trikke from UPS]. Trikkes follow a predictable course--it's just not in a straight line. Trikkers know how to go straight when passing and being passed--i.e., they are courteous. And they know how to use their handbrakes as well. Crowded (car) traffic isn't where Trikkes are best. But any bike lane or wide sidewalk, any uncrowded street or plaza will do. And why would you want to? Because it's like skiing or rollerblading, only smoother and safer. And you get a full body workout while seeming to put less effort into keeping your momentum up. As one Trikker put it: "you get a free ride".

[Michael]

One other minor point: Trikkes generally require about 2 times their width for a fun and satisfying ride--very similar to rollerblading.