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Stanley Kubrick — Thoughts on Storytelling
Stanley Kubrick made a great point about indirect storytelling that gets to an important tenet of naming (emphasis is mine):
“If you really want to communicate something, even if it’s just an emotion or an attitude, let alone an idea, the least effective and least enjoyable way is directly. It only goes in about an inch. But if you can get people to the point where they have to think a moment what it is you’re getting at, and then discover it, the thrill of discovery goes right through the heart.”
I’m a strong advocate for ambiguous names that make people think. When you use an ambiguous or unexpected name, you create a “mind puzzle” with your branding that requires the customer to think about the connection to your product and will spend time trying to figure out why the name was chosen. This can lead to higher recall of the name later and positive attributions to the product. If you use a slightly ambiguous name, the consumer might actually enjoy the “mind puzzle” and won’t have to work too hard to get your point. When consumers solve the puzzle, they will then have a sense of accomplishment because they were able to figure it out. And as Kubrick says, that thrill of discovery “…goes right through the heart.”
Generic or descriptive names are direct names that are not distinctive. Yes, calling your food chopper…
