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Not another buinsess name topic!

wjvonaltwjvonalt subscriber Posts: 1
edited October 2008 in Business Planning
Good afternoon, fellow entrepreneurs.
 
I`m new to SN and these forums, but have spent a fair amount of time over the past week reading through posts and the website, and trying to get a feel for the community.  I have noted those who are very active, and hope to hear from you in response to my question!  I also think I have a good "feel" for the community here, and I look froward to becoming a part of it.
 
I am in the early stages of "reviving" a business, and am looking to re-brand.  My wife and I formerly owned a home-based travel agency named SunWave Vacations and did fairly well given our part-time effort and competing priorities until 9/11 at which point we couldn`t give travel away, and the fixed expenses made continuing on with no revenues not an option.
 
I`ve missed working in that industry, and am looking to start another business up to pick up where we left off. Only problem - I don`t want to use the name SunWave Vacations for several reasons.  First, it`s too close to other names in the industry these days, including some that were around back when I started up the first time, but I didn`t learn about until afterwards.  Also, although I did have a few corporate clients, it was a hard sell... "why should I let a company with a name like `SunWave Vacations` service my serious business needs... I`m not looking to send my employees on vacation," etc...
 
So I`m in the market for a name.  Classic problem: I`d like a unique name or nonsense word that I can brand for myself (think Kleenex; Verizon; etc) but obviously don`t have the resources of those behemoths to make it stick in the public`s mind, so perhaps a "descriptive" name is in my best interest?  I`m usually pretty good at playing word association and alliteration games until I come up with something, but after two weeks of consideration, I`m still nameless for this new startup!
 
The only idea I sorta` like so far is: "Egocede" which is a combination of a very bad translation from latin roots and a play on words for "I go."  What does the community think?  One of my concerns with this name is that "Ego" may carry a negative connotation in the minds of potential clients... if they think it through enough to separate the name into it`s component pieces. Full legal name could be something like "Egocede Travel" or "Egocede Business & Leisure Travel".
 
I also could recycle the name from a former consulting business idea a partner and I came up with, "La Voie" directly translated from French == "The Way" and could do some nifty campaigns with "You know where you want to go; we`ll get you there" or "We`re the Way"... but I don`t know.  Acronyms and foreign words are things I try to avoid as folks may not remember or be able to spell my name if it`s too abstract or "foreign" to them (no pun intended).
 
So.. there`s where I`m at.  Any advice, insight, or ideas you may have to offer are welcomed and appreciated. I look forward to hearing from you!
 
Very Sincerely,
--
William Von Alt
<xxx> Travel

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    andreahessandreahess subscriber Posts: 1
    Well, if you go with "Egocede" you might want to actually play up the "ego" part - as in, your travel, your way, it`s all about YOU!
    I don`t think too many people will get the play on the Latin, I`m afraid.
    I think the name question needs to come after the question of - who is your niche and what is unique about the service you are offering?  And what are you really selling (peace, luxury, adventure, efficiency ... you catch my drift, right?  What`s the differentiating factor between you and every other travel business?)
    Maybe if you answer those questions here, we can be of even more help on the name question.
    Blessings,
    Andrea
    http://intuitioninbusiness.com
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