No Kings: Fastest Name Adoption Ever?

On May 5 the non-profit Indivisible and partners announced the NO KINGS Nationwide Day of Defiance. Set to take place in 40 days, 100 events were mentioned, yet by June 14 events took place in over 2100 locations. Organizers claim 5 million participants; "Strength in Numbers” says 4-6 million.

How did this happen? Assuming viral spread, what is interesting is not just these numbers, but why awareness and buy-in grew so quickly. What part of this success was due to characteristics of the NO KINGS name? How can we apply similar methods, when creating and selecting new names?

Some name characteristics demonstrated by No Kings are discussed here:

- Along with Ma Ma, Da Da and some others (dog, cat, bye bye) child development experts list No among a child's first 10 words, certainly among the first 25. “No" is a powerful word choice for NO KINGS, with clear meaning even a baby can understand. Short and universally understood is good.

- Is there a disproportionate use of the hard c/k sound by top brands? How significant is KING? “C” is the first letter of 5.2% of English words, "K" of .77% yet in the S&P 500 8% of company names, 40, begin with a hard c/k. This is more than expected. And only 9 of the 40 start with "K." Could the choice of a hard c/k name especially with the rare "K" have aided the noteworthiness of KINGS? I'd say yes. Perhaps as significant, for linguists “K” is a “stop” (B T P D and G are the others). To produce these sounds you stop the airflow, making stops especially quick to pronounce. Linguists say this assists recognition and recall.

- Marketers like two-syllable names for their brevity, their small footprint, and their memorability. And this is true, whether real words (Best Buy, Match Group, Ross Stores, The Gap), real or partial words with an intercap (FedEx, BlackRock, CarMax, CrowdStrike, DoorDash, GoPro, MetLife, PayPal), or without (Facebook, Netflix, Allstate, Coinbase, Costco, Salesforce). NO KINGS employs this pattern.

- As a call to action or political statement, the best of these are powerful, specific, and succinct. Stop the Steal (2016, 2020), Sí Se Puede (1972, as Yes We Can, 2008), Power to the People (1960s), I Like Ike (1950), and We Want Willkie (1940) illustrate that this formula of punchiness with few syllables is a time-honored technique. We even find some political examples using “No" such as the German "Nein Danke." And as Nancy Reagan taught us in the 1980s, "Just Say No.”

- Indivisible and its partners were clever to adopt a crown to go with the NO KINGS name. Whether inspired by Burger King's paper crowns, the graffiti crown of Jean-Michel Basquiat, or every Disney princess, anyone can draw a crown. Add to that an “x” cross-out and you have the elements for a self-made expression of NO KINGS: a poster, a placard, a social media image. While reiterating one’s name by depicting its meaning is mostly out of favor (see wordmarks for two-syllable names above), there exist great examples of this approach — Apple (1977), Target (1962), Dove (1955), Shell (early 1900s), and Nestle (1868) — providing precedent for NO KINGS + crown. A name that can be depicted can increase it engagement and memorability, and is well worth considering.

SB Master

Founder, Master-McNeil, Inc

www.naming.com

and

Naming Matters

www.namingmatters.com