You won't forget my name, n.5
You won't forget my name, n.5
The fifth edition of the sporadic selection of brilliant naming cases.
Following up on the previous post of this series, we bring here a curatorship of new and established brands that have caught our attention in recent times. Their names deviate from conventional naming and pave the way for new possibilities and creative solutions. Understanding why a name is strong is key to creating ours — we hope this list will serve as a tool for you too.
For today's post, we selected four great brand cases in which names are compound, formed by words repeated partially or completely. From a linguistic point of view, there are many approaches and reasons for this type of construction—depending on the language and usage it can serve, for example, as a contrasting or meaning enhancer (e.g., "are you sick" or "are you sick sick?"), a linguistic tic (mamma instead of mom), a tautonym, or a scientific name (Bison bison).
Among the linguistic processes, repetition is used by a multitude of languages and cultures whether in spoken or written form. One of the stronger references of repetition in naming is reduplication, a morphological process in which the root or stem, part or entirety of a word is repeated exactly or with a slight change. It can lead to more kinds of meanings, for example:
Chinese: 人 rén (person) → 人人 rénrén (everybody).
Japanese: 時 toki (time) → tokidoki 時々 (sometimes, from time to time)
Dakota Lakota: [waʃte] (good, singular) → [waʃteʃte] (good, plural)
Italian: piano (smooth) → piano piano (very softly)
Afrikaans: sukkel (to struggle) → sukkel-sukkel (struggling on)
English: half-and-half, teenie-weenie
Brazilian Portuguese: Quero-quero (name of the southern lapwing bird, which references its singing that seems to say quero, "I want it", repeatedly)
When it comes to brand naming, it is common to think of examples such as Coca-Cola, Dunkin Donuts, Peppa Pig, Wonder Woman, Miu Miu, MadeiraMadeira, and so on. But it doesn't stop there! Check out our selection of lesser-known but super interesting examples of using this technique:
1. Mondo Mondo
Mondo Mondo. Mooondo Mooondo. MONDO MONDO. mondo mondo.
This name has such a rhythm of its own that it is difficult to affect it with the different forms of presentation. The sound of the closed vowel accompanied by the nasal creates almost an inherent accent: it fills our mouths when speaking. The sound added to the meaning link of the word "mondo", has a cinematographic character, something capable of reminding us of a soundtrack or movie. “World” is mondo in Italian, monde in French, mundu in Basque, mundo in Spanish and Portuguese, mundus in Latin. A fair share of Western cultures can connect with this word.
The brand was created in 2012 and currently offers handcrafted jewelry and fragrances. Mondo Mondo creations are instilled by references to mythology and classic art. Its jewelry is an imitation of heirlooms or a fantasy of a relic; the fragrances are tools of cinematic escape, and each scent is a world unto itself.
"MONDO MONDO is a trip and a souvenir; something we bring back from that other world, and something to prove that we were there."
2. Ripa Ripa
"Ripa" is not nasal, not rounded, and ends in an open sound. It's an easy-to-pronounce and friendly sound, as an invitation to playful relaxation. In Italian, ripa designates a river bank cliff, which leads to the idea of a more natural, less urban environment. The communication of the Milanese men's swimwear brand seems to be the translation of Dolce Vita: the quintessential Italian way of living, drawing from Italian art, cuisine, architecture, landscape, and seaside. The name, the images, and the products tell the story of a life lived with pleasure, and it manages to be so elegantly casual.
"Inspired by the aesthetics of the Mediterranean and the Italian sixties, the swim shorts and linen selection were redesigned for a more tailored cut and are manufactured in Italy with a keen eye for sartorial detail to embody the essence of l'estate l'italiana."
3. Tigra Tigra
On a first impression, you may not even know if it is a South American, South European, Southeast Asia, or some other country with warmer roots, but it is easy to assume that it is probably not from the USA or North Europe. The gra in Tigra brings heat to the name, which makes the colors of its products pulsate stronger. It is possible to infer that Tigra is related to the noun tiger, which has its etymological root in the Greek tigris, the name of the animal, which in turn derives from an Iranian source related to the ancient Persian tigra, "sharp-pointed", and from Avesta tighri, “arrow”, in reference to the way the animal jumps on prey. The repetition of the word enhances its strength, it is vibrant. Look at the images of their editorials and say if it's not a perfect match.
Founded in 2016 in Los Angeles, TIGRA TIGRA is a textile and garment studio that partners with artisan-owned businesses in Gujarat, a state along the western coast of India, to develop and produce all the designs. Bailey Hunter, the founder behind Tigra Tigra, is at the forefront of creative minds riding the craft core wave, more specifically handicraft futurism.
"All of our textiles are made using low-impact and traditional textile techniques - some dating back to the Ottoman Empire in India. None of our textile production requires electricity, as all of our textiles are made using hand-powered looms, and made in Gujarat to minimize transportation effects."
Bônus: Vase Tapis Tapis
Tapis Tapis is one of the favorite examples for its cute resemblance to a tautonym, a scientific name of a species in which both parts of the name have the same spelling (such as Rattus rattus and Bison bison bison). The brand's pieces really seem to have a life of their own, with individual personalities. The creative mind behind it is Charles-Antoine Chappuis, who sometimes signs as ch-a-ch, a shortened version that also features a repeated duo. His fantastic creations of soft amphorae are made of natural fibers and textiles that come mainly from scraps from the industry. Through handmade processes guided by experimentation that leads him to create sinuous, organic shapes and the most varied colors orchestrated in a composition that seems made to be, as it always had been—a naturalness that feels familiar.
"Objects, knitwear, performances and installations created through an experimental textile-based research and designed through handmade processes."
Please note that opinions and perceptions are written by Scharf's collaborators and do not necessarily reflect the rationale of the mentioned brands.
Signing off,
Isis May