Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. This week’s column explores Diane.

California is known throughout the world, but very few people know the origin of this toponym. This article published in KCET explains where the name came from.

One of the most daunting tasks of marketing a product is deciding on its name. A product name should both spark interest and inspire trust. Additionally, in today’s globalized market, product names also need cross-cultural appeal. In the attempt to strike this commercial-cultural balance, more than one company has fallen flat.

For example, two product names which might give some North American buyers reason to pause are (1) Pee, the moniker of a cola from Ghana and (2) Barf, a popular detergent from Iran.

While some company executives spend millions each year to avoid such potential onomastic gaffs, others have made humorous naming a part of their marketing mystique. IKEA, for example, has become famous for giving its products quirky, chuckle-inspiring names. In fact, the company has developed a strict internal onomastic system for naming all of its products:

• Fabrics are given female personal names.
• Chairs and desks male personal names.
• Bathroom articles are named after Scandinavian lakes, rivers, and bays (hodonyms).
• Carpets are named after Danish places (toponyms).

According to Business Insider, the name IKEA is an acronym based on the founder’s name (Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd) and the name of a Swedish village outside of his hometown (Agunnaryd).

Thanks to its ignominious usage by law enforcement agencies beset with charges of prejudice inspired brutality against the civilian population, tasers have become a stable part of the US American lexicon. The weapon was originally designed to be a comparatively safe yet effective method of controlling suspects. However, the origin of this device’s name is also stepped in racist ideology.

As revealed in a November 2015 issue of the Guardian, Jack Cover, the physicist-inventor of the infamous stun gun, named his martial brain-child after a fictional weapon described in the book, Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle. Released in 1911, the novel tells the story of White hunter who, armed with an electric rifle, travels to Africa in search of ivory. The name TASER is an acronym composed of the first letters in the phrase: Tom A Swift’s Electric Rifle. As Guardian author J. Lartey muses, it is more than a little unsettling that this popular weapon was “first imagined in a book in which ‘civilized’ whites entered the black wilds for the purpose of plunder, only to cast themselves as the saviors of the natives.”

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. This recent column explores Kim.

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. This recent column explores Zachary.