A recent study published in the Journal of Marketing suggests that feminine-sounding brand names appeal more to customers than their male counterparts.
Aside from actually using a woman’s name (i.e., Victoria’s Secret, Liz Claiborne, Vera Wang, etc.), what makes a brand name sound feminine? The researchers say:
Women’s names tend to be longer, have more syllables, have stress on the second or later syllable, and end with a vowel (e.g., Amanda).” Meanwhile, men’s names “tend to be shorter with one stressed syllable, or with stress on the first of two syllables, and end in a consonant (e.g., Ed or Edward).”
The reason for this natural affinity can be traced to our most primitive roots, the researchers say. In addition to implying a positive outcome, linguistically feminine names convey warmth. In our prehistoric past, the perception of warmth helped us make a snap decision when encountering someone new. If the stranger was not warm, the caveman’s lizard brain kicked into fight or flight mode.
Read the full study here:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022242921993060
Whether developed for B2B or B2C, a name’s perceived warmth contributes to the overall effectiveness of the brand. Warmth is one of the 17 traits in a name that we examine and score through our proprietary name evaluation method. When you engage Pollywog to create your new brand name, you’ll see how each of the names score in all 17 traits for a well-rounded understanding of each name option.
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