Brand Names

Name recognition can be huge. As an individual, you know you have hit the big time when you are universally recognized by your first name, like Madonna, Elvis, Oprah, Napoleon, Aretha, Brutus, Hillary, Tiger, Cher, Judas, Jesus, and Santa; or your last name, like Ali, Gandhi and Madoff. That’s quite a mix. Prince was apparently not satisfied with this level of recognition so he took on the moniker of “The Artist formally known as Prince” for a short while. But that backfired and now he is just Prince again, I think.

If you are seeking broad appeal, it really helps to have a unique given name, or to assume one. There have been a lot of famous Bob’s and David’s but those names are far too common to stand alone. Meatloaf, Pele, Sting, Stonewall, Bono and Twiggy are much better if you want to be remembered. In the event you are stuck with a name like William, a catchy nickname can sometimes push you up the “top of mind” list. Billy the Kid did it, though a bit notoriously. Lady Bird, Blackbeard, Old Hickory, and The Fonz also enjoyed some success. However, with the exception of “pro” wrestlers, you cannot give yourself a nickname. You have to rely on others to pin it on you, and that can be risky.

Sometimes an adjective is all that needs to be added to enhance name recognition, such as Honest Abe. Be careful though because the purpose of an adjective is to describe a noun and the combination can be hard to shake. Plenty of people have struggled to live down or live up to their nicknames. Wild Bill, Cool Hand Luke and Pistol Pete are pretty fitting. Weird Al works for Yankovic’s wacky shtick. Bozo the Clown works as well but no one else wants to be known as a Bozo or a clown, unless that is their profession.

I know of two final ways to work the name game – you can try to use your initials or partner up with somebody else. While companies like IBM and AT&T are household names, it is much harder for individuals to go the initial route. You have to be huge, like JC. As universally recognizable as MJ may be, even those initials require context, i.e., entertainment or basketball. JFK, FDR, and GW work without further elaboration. If you decide to team-up with a partner, your two names together often provide all the necessary context. Bonnie is a pretty common name. Clyde is perhaps less common. Put them together and you have instant name recognition. Again though, be careful who you pair yourself with since it is nearly impossible to separate names and personalities once they become linked together. Sonny had to change careers. I believe the Lehman brothers split town.

The point of all of this is that our performance, our track record, gets bonded to our name. That can be a very good or a not so good thing. For example, Judas and Brutus did not fare well. Worse, their names have gone on to live in perpetuity and have become synonymous with words like betrayer and backstabber. Those particular associations are provocative but tend to turn people off. You would not name a financial institution “Judas Bank & Trust” or a venture capital firm “Brutus & Associates.”

Our names are in effect our personal brands. With the explosion of social networking, blogging and e-commerce, everyone is now essentially in the branding game. Yet, unlike companies, our personal names are über-brands – they are the essence of who we are in the eyes of others. Our names evoke a mental image and emotional response from others. It makes good sense to work on our branding. Oddly enough though, we do not do this by promoting ourselves but rather by serving others. Some public figures and well known companies get this principle and live it out very successfully. They serve by sharing their very best talents, services and products with their fans, constituents and customers. For the rest of us – who may never achieve notoriety outside our relatively small circles of influence – we still have the opportunity to positively impact others within our families, worksites, communities and places of worship. Building a good name involves a lifetime of work and we will have our ups and downs. Some of us may even have repair work to do. The time has arrived for each of us to become full-time managers of our personal brand.