One of the top brands of sanitary napkins in India is “Whisper”, a name that comes from the shame and secrecy associated with buying such a product. Owned by Procter & Gamble, the sanitary napkin is called “Always” in the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany and Africa. In India and other Asian countries, however, the brand is called “Whisper”.

Now, a petition on Change.org started by Shreya Gupta of Bengaluru is asking Whisper to change its name. In a video that goes with the petition, two young women talk about the power of a name and how ‘Whisper’ contributes to creating a negative idea about menstruation. The women say that despite all of Whisper’s efforts to break the taboo around menstruation through their progressive advertising, the brand name sends out a subliminal message – that you have to be secretive about your period and whisper about it.

Read this article at The News Minute to find out more about the petition and to watch the video!

Do you know where the surnames Wright, Fletcher, Cooper, and Smith come from? They all started as the names of occupations! Many surnames come from a person’s job, although you won’t find many coopers (someone who makes or repairs wooden casks or tubs) around these days. Check out this article at Merriam-Webster that explains the origins of these names and more – including, of course, Webster!

Star map painting by Senior Wardaman Elder Bill Yidumduma Harney, featuring the Milky Way, the Moon, and ancestor spirits.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has recognized 86 new star names from Chinese, Coptic, Hindu, Mayan, Polynesian, South African and Aboriginal Australian cultures. This represents a significant step forward by the IAU in recognizing the importance of traditional language and Indigenous starlore. Among the 86 new star names are four stars with Australian Aboriginal names—Larawag, Wurren, Ginan and Unurgunite. Aboriginal Australian cultures stretch back at least 65,000 years, representing the most ancient star names on the list.

The names include three from the Wardaman people of the Northern Territory and one from the Boorong people of western Victoria. The Wardaman star names are Larawag, Wurren and Ginan in the Western constellations Scorpius, Phoenix and Crux (the Southern Cross). The Boorong star name is Unurgunite in Canis Majoris (the Great Dog).

Want to learn more? Click through to this informative article at The Conversation.

Almost 50 company names were rejected in the UK in 2017 because they were deemed potentially offensive by Companies House, the United Kingdom’s registrar of companies and is an executive agency and trading fund of Her Majesty’s Government. The list of proposed company names rejected  included Blue Arsed Fly Designs Ltd, Fanny’s Kebabs Ltd, Titanic Holdings Limited, and Wags to Bitches Limited. Some of the names may have been added later if justification was accepted. A Companies House spokesperson said it was important the register was not abused by recording offensive names.

There are more than 100 sensitive words and expressions that require the prior approval of the secretary of state to use in a company or business name. These words include benevolent, Britain/British, commission, inspectorate, licensing, standards and Windsor.

Want to know more? Click through to this article at BBC News!

Names parents choose for babies meld tradition, fashion, pop culture, ethnicity into a unique identity. The Health Department of the state of Rhode Island has provided the 10 most popular names for boys and for girls.

While simple — Emma, Olivia, Sophia, Charlotte, Isabella, Ava, Amelia, Mia, Aria and Abigail for girls; Liam, Lucas, Noah, Julian, Mason, Benjamin, Matthew, Michael, Logan and Joseph for boys — the names evidence the weighty decisions parents must make, balancing fashion with tradition, ethnic identity with popular culture, names that sound unique with ones that just sound weird.

“One of the commonest things parents are always telling me is they’re looking for a name that’s different, but not too different,” Cleveland Kent Evans, a psychology professor at Nebraska’s Bellevue University and a leading expert in how babies are named, told The Providence Journal in a previously published interview. “Culturally, one of the biggest factors now is not to have a common name. Somehow they think it’s child abuse if a kid gets into a kindergarten class and there’s another child with the same name.”

Want to know more? Read on!

One of the biggest challenges of setting up a new  business is coming up with a name that will catch the public’s attention in a positive way.  In this article by Glen Stansberry at American Express OPEN Forum, readers can learn how 16 major companies came up with their names. Here’s a sample:

 2. Hotmail

Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith had the idea of checking their e-mail on a web interface, and tried to find a name that ended in “mail.” They finally settled on “hotmail” because it contained the letters html, referencing the HTML programming language used to help create the product.

 6. Cisco

Contrary to popular belief and theories, Cisco is simply short for San Francisco. Its logo resembles the suspension cables found on the Golden Gate bridge.

8. Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola’s name comes from the the coca leaves and kola nuts used as flavoring in the soft drink. Eventually Coca-Cola creator John S. Pemberton changed the K of kola to C to create a more fluid name.