Everyone complains about them. Is there a remedy? — Here are two things people are likely to say when I tell them I create names for a living: “Wow, really? Sounds like a lot of fun!” “Do you make up those crazy drug names?” To #1, I reply honestly that, like most professions, name development is often fun and…

Don’t overlook the story potential in your characters’ names. When Ex Machina, a feature film about artificial intelligence written and directed by Alex Garland, was released in 2015, reviewers called it a “futuristic shocker” and a “dazzling sci-fi thriller,” praising its sleek design — the film won the Academy Award…

The name has never meant “no go.” — It happened again yesterday: A person I follow on Bluesky — a smart writer whose comments I usually trust— marveled at the sheer boneheadness of General Motors to have sold an automobile called the Chevrolet Nova in Mexico and South America. …

Most new words live tragically — or comically — short lives, while others are surprising survivors. — As slang terms go, nerf is old enough to qualify for Social Security benefits. Its first appearance in print was documented in 1953, when it was used by auto racers to mean “to nudge something with a bumper in passing and knock it off course.” In 1970, NERF — that’s…

Number one: Everyone looks better in a hat. — When movie theaters shut down in the early weeks of the Covid pandemic, I created my own home-based film festival. The festival had a theme: Together with a few like-minded friends, I began streaming film noir — the dark, dangerous, fatalistic movies that emerged in the troubled aftermath of World…

“The Diving Fool” wasn’t written for readers like me. I loved it anyway. — When I was 10 or so, I chanced upon a short story that changed my life, at least for a while. …

I’m finding something there I’m missing on other platforms: community. — I joined LinkedIn in March 2004, two years after the company’s launch, out of a sense of duty. I was an independent contractor who wasn’t looking for employment, but joining LinkedIn was what every responsible professional person did. If you wanted to be visible to colleagues and (in my case)…

Ex-Twitter’s new tagline is a flaming disaster. Maybe that’s not an accident. — Whenever I come across a bit of branding language that strikes me as odd or wrongheaded, I make an effort to look at it from the brand’s perspective instead of from my own. Sure, I’ve been paid to create distinctive names and taglines for my clients for some 25 years…

When it was good, it fulfilled the promise of the internet. — Since Elon Musk took over the company in November 2022, Twitter has been disintegrating in stages — and by “disintegrating” I mean “losing its integrity” as well as “falling apart.” The latest fragment to crumble has been the bluebird logo, replaced by Musk’s favorite letter, X. (See: SpaceX, Tesla’s model…