BGinGA keyed open a small tin of red herrings
:
3M - Granted, but includes a number. And many -- if not most -- people still think it means Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing.
IBM - Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. And many -- if not most -- people still think it means International Business Machines..
CAT - Computerized Axial Tomography.
ASM - (Who???) Assembler language.
BASF - A chemical company that most non-chemists probably know of for magnetic tape products.
Most of those are stock market-based derivative names, whose public fame was not achieved under those initials as their legal names.
I believe my contention is best illustrated that there are over 1,500 live registered US trademarks for "CM". Zero for "chanman". How many Canadian, I don't know, but I rest my case.
Right. A little more detail:
Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing quickly became known as "Three M" because the name is so long, and because ever other word in their name was generic... and because of the spectacular failure of their original business plan! They meant to mine the mineral used to make grinding wheels. They sold their first load of ore and incorporated the company... and then learned that they sold the wrong mineral. Their stuff was worthless, and their mineral rights were worthless. But the market was good, so they imported the right minerals, processed and re-sold them... and referred to themselves as 3M. Their first break-out product was abrasive in a cloth band, called "Three-M-ite." Their stock symbol later became MMM.
International Business Machines made tabulating machines, time clocks, scales... for years, they had their initials, IBM, on product, but didn't change their name until fairly recently. The company is about 125 years old, and about 100 years of that were as International Business Machines.
CAT is a brand owned and used by the company still using the name, Caterpillar, Inc.
Advanced Semiconductor Materials was, I believe, created as ASM - but this was probably in part because it was a Dutch company. You don't want to try to pronounce Dutch. But a lot of people know them as Advanced Semiconductor Materials. I wonder if the original version is English, or Dutch...
BASF - Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik - definitely German. And, like Dutch, you don't want to pronounce it. Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik was a place in
Baden that handled
anline dye and
soda fabrication. Germans are very descriptive in their names, but they take too long to say, especially for foreigners. They worked under BASF as a trademark long before changing their name.
My point? All of these companies either:
1. Made their reputation under a longer name before changing it.
2. Had an absurdly unwieldy name before changing it.
3. Had a spectacular failure to shake from their reputation, so they changed it.
Chanman, on the other hand, has a solid reputation, and rolls right off the tongue. In fact, even if you change the name to anything with "CM" in it, and even if you call it, "Canadian Mountain"... we will probably all refer to it, with affection, as a Chanman table.
I think you should think long and hard before re-branding the comapny/name just because it's personal. Here are a few companies still running under the names of their founders(s):
Walmart
Daimler
Ford
Dow Chemical (2nd biggest after BASF)
Honda
Cargill
McKesson
Pfizer
Schering-Plough
Smith & Wesson
Steinway & Sons
And these are all companies that make and sell stuff - not investment banks and service companies - and they're among the biggest and best-known companies in the world.
If your products are all going to be made under your personal supervision and made to your personal standards, don't be afraid to have your name on it. There are a lot of us who still respect the craftsman ethic, and that means being willing to put your name on it is a sign that you believe in the quality of your product.
:
