Research On The Application Of Linguistics In Brand Naming

As is known to all, almost everything in this world has a name. A good name is vital to an enterprise and its products. An excellent brand name is helpful to brand mould and product marketing. On the contrary, although we cannot say it will decrease selling, an inferior brand name has no advantage to branding. So it is practical to carry out a study on brand naming.In the past, brand naming was based on people's names, places, etc. The resulted brand names were not benefit to brand construction. With the increasingly fierce competition in the market economy, more and more enterprisers have noticed the importance of a proper brand name. Meanwhile, since the constant emergence of new products and the curtailment of the producing cycle, brand naming seems to be urgent. To establish a good brand and avoid misunderstandings caused by linguistic factors, linguists begin to participate in brand naming actively.With the development of science and technology, the subdivision and cross-analysis of various subjects, the researches on brand naming become meticulous. At present, varieties of articles concerning brand naming are available. But until now, few articles from application researches on brand naming have been found. So, the author attempts to carry out an application research on brand naming with the help of linguistics. Although it may be far from being adequate, the author hopes it could provide some insights for brand naming.In this thesis, the author analyzes brand naming from the perspectives of phonetics, morphology, and semantics. The application research is the core of this thesis. The author participates in a naming group to design an English name for an American-venture medical apparatus company. The procedures of naming are divided into the followings steps:①Brand name positioning. The naming group investigates the market orientation of the company, the target consumers of the products, and the condition of other competitors, etc.;②Candidate name generation. Considering from the perspectives of linguistics, marketing, laws, etc. and by using the methods such as brain-storming, we generate ten candidate names;③Candidates analysis. The author analyzes the candidate names from phonetic, morphologic, semantic factors. Combining with the knowledge of laws, marketing, etc. the naming group determines four names to do consumer testing;④Consumer testing. The author designs a questionnaire to test the preference of the four candidate names. The author also takes the responsibility of data collection and analysis.⑤The final decision of the brand name. Finally, with the help of the research and analysis of the naming group, management makes the final decision and chooses the name that maximizes the firm's branding and marketing objectives and then formally registers the name. In the end, the author shows the important role that linguistics play in brand naming.This application research shows the significance of linguistics in brand naming. The author bases on linguistics, uses the knowledge of linguistics in the procedures of brand naming, combines with the knowledge of other disciplines, and finally determines a brand name which not only conforms to linguistic rules, but also meets the requirements of other disciplines. Meanwhile, the author points out the limitations of this research. It is also suggested that sociolinguistic research can be taken into consideration in the process of brand naming. Thus, we can enrich our researches on linguistic features of brand naming.