WHATS IN A NAME

What’s in a name

Have you ever wondered how some companies arrived at their name? Starbucks, for instance. Company legend says that the 3 founders of Starbucks chose the name in honor of Starbuck, the coffee-loving first mate in Herman Melville's Moby Dick, and because they thought the name evoked the romance of the high seas and the seafaring tradition of the early coffee traders.

What about Google? Based on the mathematical term "googol", coined in 1938 to equal 10100, a number much larger than any practical counting operation would require. In September, 1997, so the story goes, some Stanford grad students were helping Larry Page choose a name for his search engine. "Googleplex," someone suggest, "Googol," Page replied. Someone typed

g-o-o-g-l-e into their browser, to see if the name was taken, and made the most famous spelling mistake since p-o-t-a-t-o-e. The name was registered within hours.

Most companies use their family names; DuPont, JCPenney (James Cash Penney, and yes, Cash was his middle name), Henry Ford with Ford Motor Company.

Some names are descriptive; Electronic Data Systems -I suppose if you needed it, you would know what it is. Some names are less descriptive - General Motors, General Mills, General Tires, General Hospital, General Dynamics, etc...and last but certainly not least, General Electric (which really doesn't fit anymore, since they own everything.)

We thought long and hard about naming our art gallery. We had lots of ideas like; 'Thompson’s Art Gallery'?  We are proud of our name, but does it really need to be attached? ‘Art Creations’? overused with no meaning, ‘The Art Shop’? which sounds like were working out of our garage.

We chose Overdue Recognition Art Gallery because for too long, African American artists have struggled for recognition against their peers. Our gallery is a forum for artists to demonstrate their brilliance, integrity and skills to achieve the recognition that is long overdue.

We want our name Overdue Recognition Art Gallery to be the first name you think of for African American Art.