Francois A. Badoux wrote:

Finally, the company will be renamed before Sun'n Fun (it changed
ownership).  I will greatly appreciate the feedback from this newsletter's
readers on the following short list of names (suggestions are also welcome):

- Raven Motor Corp  (RAVEN=Rotary Aviation Engine)

Not too bad, although the raven is considered a portent of death (or at least
bad luck) in Western culture.

- Crane Rotary Engine (Crane, the bird, not the construction version)

As you point out: there's built-in confusion.  The crane is considered a good
omen in the Orient.  Some people consider it ungainly, however.

- Stratos Rotary Engine

Cloud reference; not bad especially considering the turbo-charging or
turbo-normalizing aspects.

- Futura Rotary Engine

A new Ford automobile.  Stay far away unless you enjoy receiving "cease &
desist" letters from a big law firm (even though there's no good legal
reason).

- SAMTEC Rotary Engine (for Swiss-American Rotary Technology...)

Uh, considering how much money the Japanese have poured into the Wankel engine
design, I'd say this is a rather insulting name to them.

- EUREKA Rotary Engine

As Paul pointed out, Eureka is a brand of vaccuum cleaners.  Do you really
want people to say your company (or its products) suck?  :-)

- Mistral Rotary Engine

A cold north wind.  Doesn't sound too nice.

- Sirius Rotary Engine

A well-known star.  Also, a satellite radio company.  Dunno if this would
generate "cease & desist" letters.

- Sierra Rotary Engine

In the USA, the Sierra Club is a well-known (and much despised by some)
environmental organization.  This name will engender automatic dislike among
some, and curiousity about your engine's "green-ness" (which it doesn't really
have) among others.  Not a good choice.

Of the choices listed, I find Stratos and Sirius the best candidates.  Raven
is an ok choice since the "death" reputation is definitely not widely known,
but the bird is considered somewhat aggressive (a good thing for an engine to
have).

You could go with the obvious: Trochoid Rotary Engine.  Trochoid is
descriptive, pronouncable, "techie-sounding", and non-infringing.  For a small
fee you might even convince Matt Stillerman to surrender trochoid.com for your
company website.

Russell Kent

 
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