final project - naming as career

A Career Guide

Naming

For linguists

Linguists in Naming

What Next?

Examples of Naming

What is Naming?

Why Become a Namer

How to become anamer with linguistics !

Start

What isNaming?

Naming is a Career

• For every product, company, or service that exists, there is likely a team of people that came up with their name — these people are namers
• A namer's job is to come up with lists of names for a specific product or brand for clients
• For example, a client wants namers to create a name for their new brand of toothpaste. A namer will generate a list of possible names and present them to the client, who decides to select or discard a name

Linguists in Naming

What Next?

Examples of Naming

What is Naming?

Why Become a Namer

How to become anamer with linguistics !

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One important part of the naming process is screening. This involves doing research in order to take into account how words might be interpreted in other languages and cultures and also how easily a name can be pronounced by speakers of various languages. Another step is checking to make sure a name you came up with has not already been taken and copyrighted.

Reasons you can be a namer

WITH a Linguistics background

How to Become a Namer with Linguistics !

What Next?

What is Naming?

Why Become a Namer

Linguists in Naming

Examples of Naming

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Having a linguistics background can give you advantages in naming!

Phonetics & Phonology - you could be the namer that lets people know that front vowels are associated with small things and back vowels with big things and use that in naming

Sociolinguistics & Cross-Cultural Communication - having knowledge about what possible meanings a word could have across different cultures and languages is crucial in naming

Linguists possess other important skills such as communication (important to work with a team and clients)

Linguists in Naming

Firsthand experiences

Linguists in Naming

What Next?

Why Become a Namer

How to become anamer with linguistics !

What is Naming?

Examples of Naming

This panel from the Linguistics Career Launch YouTube channel features three linguists and their career paths in naming

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Some Key Takeaways:

• According to Will Leben, having knowledge of phonological analyses and features is useful for naming
  • what seems obvious to a linguist won't be to others
• Learning about case studies of how people have reacted to names in the past
• Teamwork is very important in naming
• According to Eric Jackson, as a namer you need to know how to present the merit of a name and taking into consideration cross-cultural communication (is name appropriate in other languages and cultures)
• According to Laurel Sutton, client relations are very important especially if you are a namer involved in the project management side of things (less creative work)
  • learning how to accept if client doesn't like a name you made up

There are branding companies such as Lexicon, Interband, Siegel+Gale, and Lippincott, that hire namers to help their clients create a strategic name that will impress consumers. Here are some examples of the story behind the name of several well known products and brands

Examples of Naming

How to become a Namer with linguistics !

Linguists in Naming

What Next?

Examples of Naming

What is Naming?

Why Become a Namer

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Named by Lippincott! https://lippincott.com/about/naming/

Wi-Fi was named by Interband! https://interbrand.com/work/wi-fi/

If you are now interested in becoming a namer what next?

What Next?

HOw to Become a Namer With Linguistics !

Linguists in Naming

What Next?

Examples of Naming

What is Naming?

Why Become a Namer

• You do NOT have to change your major to marketing or necessarily have prior experience in branding to be a namer!
• The most important thing is knowing how to present yourself to employers so that they are convinced the skills you do have are fit for the position (which if you're a linguist you now know ways in which having linguistics can help you be a namer!)
• Reach out to people who have naming experience over email, LinkedIn, etc. and ask for a coffee chat!
• Many branding companies will publish articles about naming strategies so take some time to look at those (click on arrow to the right)
• Look for intern and job opportunities from the companies listed on the Examples of Naming slide! (Siegel+Gale usually has intern opportunities every summer)

Thank you for viewing this presentation! I hope you have learned more about naming and how you can apply linguistics to a cool industry outside of academia!

Another tip: look up naming cases where a name was successful or a failure and what kind of naming strategies you like (I had an interview for a naming internship where I was asked to give an example of a name I liked and a name I did not like)