I need to rename my company.

Jawa Ex Machina

Jawa Ex Machina

Veteran
Jawa Ex Machina doesn't really do it.

The original plan was to call it Java Ex Machina. It sounds like a cool name but is really a stupid pun "coffee machine", but the problem is there's another company in Sweden called Javafilm. They're really small and don't make features or anything, but the registration office here didn't accept the spelling because of it. So I got stuck with the w spelling and that kind of doesn't work.
Now I've got a less cool name that's really a misspelled stupid pun.

Also, no one can spell it, pronounce it or remember what it was called.

So before I release MARIANNE, I'm changing the name. I need something with two syllables, that you spell like you say it and if it's something everyone knows what it is, they'll remember it.

I'm thinking about calling it MJÖLNER FILM. Mjölner is the Swedish spelling of Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor. On a domestic level that works great.

I'm thinking it's a cool name, sounds and looks very Heavy Metal with the original spelling too. It also has a connection to my home town where MARIANNE is shot, since practically every part of the town is named after norse mythology.

With that name there's also a very logical logo, the hammer of Thor.
torshammare.jpg



There are only two major downsides with this name:
1) it only works domestically, and I want to make international films.

2) The symbol of Mjölner and norse mythology has been very much taken in by the neo nazi movement. Kind of what they did to the skinhead culture.
Obviously, I don't want to be associated with that, so that's a major problem.


Anyone got any advice when it comes to naming your company?
 
wow...so in one post, you named your company, then renamed it, then you talked yourself out of the new name.

I'm thinking of a name for you, but i'm also thinking of a name for my own thing...give me time...
 
Chris Light said:
wow...so in one post, you named your company, then renamed it, then you talked yourself out of the new name.

I'm thinking of a name for you, but i'm also thinking of a name for my own thing...give me time...
Click to expand...
...while talking to the bank about a loan they won't give me and my grandfather's lake house and playing horde on Gears of War 2.


Actually, what I need is just some basic guidelines or principles to stick to when naming a company.
I'm sure there are books about that but reading those would take precious GoW time from me.
 
It doesn't just work domestically-in-Sweden, I've known what Mjolnir was since I was a little kid. People outside Scandinavia *do* learn about Norse mythology, you know...

...and don't worry about the ignoramuses; Mjolnir is still a sufficiently distinctive and interesting word that even people who don't recognize its origin should respond to it (if you wanted to you could create a logotype with a phonetic version of the word worked in...)

Plus as you observe the built-in hammer theme for the logo is a bonus (although it might bear some research; in the USA some number of white supremacist/separatist/skinhead/neo-nazi types have adopted Thor's Hammer as a symbol...but they are sufficiently fringey and disrespected here - as they should be - that it may not really much matter).

Anyway, I'd vote for Mjolnir. It's pretty cool.

Or maybe you could use 'Hugin' or 'Munin' and your logo could be a pair of ravens...
 
Sad Max said:
...and don't worry about the ignoramuses; Mjolnir is still a sufficiently distinctive and interesting word that even people who don't recognize its origin should respond to it (if you wanted to you could create a logotype with a phonetic version of the word worked in...)
Click to expand...
Well yeah, but if I spell it MJÖLNER, every time I have a conversation with someone not from Sweden I'd have to ad the suffix "No-it's-with-two-dots-over-the-O-and-an-E-instead-of-an-I-it's-the-Swedish-spelling" to the name, and if I use the international one I'd have to do that in Sweden instead.

So that's what I mean by it not working properly internationally.

I'm sorry to hear neo nazis using that symbol abroad as well. Probably not as much as in Sweden though but still. Maybe if I changed the symbol a bit from the traditional silver neclace to something that resembles what a sledge hammer similar to that with a short handle would actually look like, it would put me far enough away from those idiots.

I'm thinking something more like this:
Mjolnir_by_fibacz.jpg
 
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So create a logotype incorporating the Swedish and the international spellings. Or spell it using the old runic alphabet which is neither specifically Norse nor specifically Swedish.

Or go with a tree-inspired logo and call your company Yggdrasil (which no one, including me, actually knows how to spell properly...) or a wolf and call it Fenris or Fenris Ulf...you have *lots* of options.

...come to think of it Jotunheim Productions sound pretty cool too. Certainly makes your company sound big.
 
Sad Max said:
So create a logotype incorporating the Swedish and the international spellings. Or spell it using the old runic alphabet which is neither specifically Norse nor specifically Swedish.

Or go with a tree-inspired logo and call your company Yggdrasil (which no one, including me, actually knows how to spell properly...) or a wolf and call it Fenris or Fenris Ulf...you have *lots* of options.

...come to think of it Jotunheim Productions sound pretty cool too. Certainly makes your company sound big.
Click to expand...
Those are all good points.

Jotunheim IS a great name. but it has the same problems my original does. Too many syllables, hard to spell, hard to pronounce and for people who don't know what it is it's hard to remember.
There's a big production company in Sweden called MEMFIS FILM. That's a brilliant name.

For a while I was thinking of calling it Odensala, which means "Hall of Odin". It's also the name of the suburb I grew up in. But Jotunheim is better.
 
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Well...pretty much everybody recognizes and can pronounce Valhalla. Although if there isn't already a Valhalla Films or Valhalla Productions I'd be surprised.
 
If you want a "memorable" name, put an "X" in it. Mine's Ultrix - in latin it means female avenger, defender and protector. Took me months of research to figure it out, but I knew I wanted something Latin.

I suggest - Jaxo Films - close to Jawa and you'll remember it. Sounds manly.
 
Latin may doornail-dead for colloquial usage but it's true that it's tough to beat for the purpose of mottoes and such:

Nullus Victoria Sed Certo Refert Nos Fortis

That's mine.
 
Sad Max said:
Latin may doornail-dead for colloquial usage but it's true that it's tough to beat for the purpose of mottoes and such:

Nullus Victoria Sed Certo Refert Nos Fortis

That's mine.
Click to expand...

No wise cracking, but it´s

Nullus Victoria Sed Certo Referret Nos Fortis
 
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Sad Max said:
Ack. Consult three people, get four translations. No wonder nobody speaks the damned lingo any more.
Click to expand...

We still learn Latin and Ancient Greek it in school over here (if you are on a non technical college preparatory high school). Some of it is burned in my brain forever, most of it I forgot.

In the moment I learn the ancient Egyptian language - absolutely useless if you are not an Egyptologist, but interesting as hell.

Frank
 
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