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Saturday, March 27, 2010

Product Names and Female Names

Little project I'm working on at the moment is to look at where products use female names as their brand names - I have posted about the Renault Zoé car in the past, Allegra is often brought up as a brand of allergy medicine, Flora is a margarine, Lenor is fabric softener and Ariel is a detergent. But I want to look beyond the more famous examples, to look at what names are used for general products. Wedding dresses are frequently brought up as an example of female names being used as product names - I have thus far compiled the information for Maggie Sottero dresses and Vera Wang. Furniture ranges can also have female names - though they often also use place names as well, so I've looked at John Lewis furniture. I've looked at Clarks' Shoes as well, and car names.


I would hypothesise that you can make some kind of socioeconomic judgement based upon the names used for various products, whether more prestigious type names are used by more premium products. Some thing like wedding dresses may be a good guide for this, though I currently haven't found any prices to be able to make such judgements.

Some names that are used for numerous different products include: Amelia (John Lewis Furniture, Vera Wang dress), Anna (Maggie Sottero dress, John Lewis furniture), Ashley (Maggie Sottero dress, John Lewis furniture), Blossom (Maggie Sottero dress, Vera Wang dress, Clarks shoe), Carla, Carmen, Carrie (all Maggie Sottero dresses and John Lewis furniture), Cassandra, Claudette (both Maggie Sottero and Vera Wang dresses), Daisy (John Lewis furniture, Clarks shoes), Diana, Dominique, Dylan (all Maggie Sottero and Vera Wang dresses), Elise (John Lewis furniture and Lotus car), Elizabeth, Greta (both Maggie Sottero and Vera Wang dresses), Iris (John Lewis furniture, Vera Wang dress), Laura (Maggie Sottero dress and Skoda car), Madison, Margot, Marilyn, Mia (all Maggie Sottero dress, John Lewis furniture), Natalie (Maggie Sottero dress, Clarks shoe), Odessa (Maggie Sottero dress and Vera Wang dress), Olivia, Ophelia, Patricia, Riley, Ruby, Skye (all Maggie Sottero dress, John Lewis furniture), Stella (Maggie Sottero dress and Subaru car), Tatiana (Maggie Sottero dress and Vera Wang dress), Vanessa (Maggie Sottero dress, John Lewis furniture), Victoria (John Lewis furniture, Ford car), Zinnia (Maggie Sottero dress and Vera Wang dress) and Zoe (Maggie Sottero dress and Renault car).

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Names and Authenticity in Historical Fiction (1980s)


This is part 3 of the Names and Authenticity in Historical Fiction, meant to be helpful posts to see if a name chosen for a novel is particularly apt or jarring for fiction set in the 1980s. The 1940s can be found here, and the 1960s can be found here
UK:
Popular: Sarah, Laura, Gemma, Emma, Rebecca, Claire, Victoria, Samantha, Rachel, Amy, Jennifer, Nicola, Katie, Lisa
Emerging: Lauren, Emily, Sophie, Jessica, Holly, Jade, Eleanor, Abigail, Alice, Georgina, Chloe
Dated: Anne, Mary, Jacqueline, Christine, Jane, Susan, Anita, Ann, Beverley, Carol, Denise, Diane, Gillian, Janet, Linda, Patricia, Sandra, Sharon, Tracy
USA:
Popular: Jessica, Jennifer, Amanda, Ashley, Sarah, Stephanie, Melissa, Nicole, Elizabeth, Heather, Tiffany, Michelle, Amber, Megan, Amy
Emerging: Emma, Hannah, Olivia, Abigail, Alexis, Alyssa, Brianna, Jasmine, Morgan, Julia
Dated: Susan, Linda, Donna, Sandra, Deborah, Tammy, Pamela, Lori, Brenda, Barbara, Sharon, Debra, Teresa, Nancy, Cheryl
France:
Popular: Aurélie, Émilie, Céline, Virginie, Élodie, Audrey, Stéphanie, Julie, Laetitia, Sabrina, Mélanie, Jennifer, Laura
Emerging: Alice, Alicia, Alison, Cassandra, Charlotte, Clémence, Émeline, Gwendoline, Juliette, Laurène, Lucie, Marie, Maxime, Mélissa, Pauline, Priscilla, Sarah, Solène
Dated: Agnès, Anne, Béatrice, Carole, Catherine, Christelle, Christine, Corinne, Delphine, Fabienne, Fabrice, Florence, Isabelle, Karine, Magali, Muriel, Nadine, Nathalie, Pascale, Patrice, Patricia, Sabine, Sandra, Sandrine, Séverine, Sonia, Sophie, Stéphanie, Sylvie, Véronique
Australia (Victoria):
Popular: Sarah, Jessica, Rebecca, Melissa, Lauren, Emma, Nicole, Amanda, Kate, Laura, Michelle, Amy, Lisa, Stephanie, Samantha
Emerging: Olivia, Chloe, Sophie, Zoe, Lucy, Caitlin, Ashleigh, Ashlee
Dated: Susan, Karen, Julie, Sharon, Leanne, Helen, Debra, Wendy, Sandra, Linda, Tracey, Robyn, Donna, Deborah
Norway:
Popular (peaking): Camilla, Caroline, Hanne, Iselin, Karoline, Kristine, Line, Lisa, Mari, Maria, Sandra, Silje, Stine
Emerging (growing): Amalie, Amanda, Andrea, Aurora, Eline, Elise, Emilie, Hanna, Helene, Hilde, Ida, Ingrid, Julia, Julie, Kaja, Malin, Maren, Marte, Martine, Oda, Pernille, Ronja, Sara, Sarah, Sofie, Sunniva, Synne, Thea, Tiril, Victoria, Vilde
Dated (declining): Anita, Ann, Anne, Bente, Elin, Ellen, Eva, Hege, Heidi, Irene, Kristin, Lene, Linda, Marianne, May, Mette, Mona, Monica, Nina, Tone