two cents: brand naming struggle
We’re about to start a new business. It would be great for the image of the brand to name it an international name. My concern is that the general market might not understand some of the names we came up with. Should we choose the English name and have the meaning translated for the Arabic version?
Imagine a friend of yours introducing himself to some non-Arabs saying, “Hello, my name is Friday,” thinking that they wouldn’t understand what Jum’a means. And what if TIME magazine changes to Alwaqt for the Middle East edition? There are many brands that come from markets far far away holding foreign names but became meaningful with time. Do brands like IKEA, Volvo, NIKE, Starbucks and Rolex ring a bell? A brand name doesn’t have much value at the beginning; the experience a customer gets from that brand does. Having said that, it doesn’t mean that you can name your brand “Ikhbeghtud” and expect great success.
Translation is the process of translating words or text from one language into another. You don’t want that; remember, your friend, Jum’a? What you’re looking for is “Transliteration”; that’s writing a letter or word using the closest corresponding letters of a different alphabet or language. That’s how you read Starbucks in Arabic on the shop’s signage. That’s how you write your own name in English, for example. What’s good about transliteration is that it keeps the sound of your brand name as close as possible to the source language.
However, knowing the difference between translation and transliteration won’t solve your dilemma. You need to keep in mind that good brand names are clear to read and write, easy to pronounce, memorable and are not offensive to other cultures and markets, if you’re thinking international. Only sometimes, with a bit of luck and deep pockets the brand name you wrote on a napkin at a restaurant after dinner can work. But in general, brand naming is a structured process that requires guidance and experience…and that’s just my two cents.
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