While gamers and techies are the coveted first adopters and litmus test for how well a processor will be received, they comprise a small segment of the market. It’s great that they still refer to products by code names–but imagine how much more branding power this product would have if the entire audience referred to it as “Skulltrail.” A name like that would spread like wildfire via WOM through a business community.

Other than throwing a wrench into Intel’s predictable (and bland) nomenclature system, it’s hard to see the downside of marketing this product as “Skulltrail” to the general market, which does not necessarily keep track of code names.

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I know this is way old now, but I agree that Skulltrail is an amazing name. Just for the record, even though it’s a ‘code name,’ most people who pay attention to these Intel processors refer to them by the codenames, as they are not secret. Just saying the Skulltrail name hasn’t died in marketing, nor have any of the other cool Intel processor names.

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And is “silverlight” not evocative of the term “silverfish”, a common houslehold infestation?

my point being if you are going to seek out arbitrary associations you will find them.

Which is another reason why evocative names are superior, as you mentioned, Nancy. They come with inherent, largely predictable meanings for people to connect with. That’s where you want them–thinking about the positive associations in your brand name rather than conjuring up sound-alikes because the name means too little on its own.