I’ve always enjoyed neologisms, even before I knew what neologisms were. As a kid, I’d combine words to describe various bodily (often gross) functions that occasionally occurred at he same time. For example, a violent sneeze that causes one to release a fart was named a “snart.” Here’s the equation: sneeze + fart = snart (simple mashup mathematics).
Neologism A neologism is word, term, or phrase which has been recently created ("coined") —often to apply to new concepts, or to reshape older terms in newer language form. Neologisms are especially useful in identifying inventions, new phenomena, or old ideas which have taken on a new cultural context.
What does that have to do with business names? Well, when my wife and I were trying to decide on a name for our new business endeavor, it really came in handy. Both of us had spent quite a few agonizing hours trying to come up with a good name for the business. The moment of epiphany came when I was in my youngest son’s room lying on his bed. The whole family was in the room playing (myself, my wife and our two sons). My wife kept tossing out name suggestions that I kept rejecting (with a bit of an edge because it was interfering with my unusual cognitive processes). Finally, I said, “This is going to sound strange, but how about “Georney” spelled with a “geo” instead of “jou.” She loved the name, but said that it should be plural (she’s responsible for the “s”). Thus, Georneys (pronounced “journeys”) was born.
Getting back to neologism: Georneys is, of course a neologism that is made up of the two words “geography” and “journeys.” Since Georneys deals with geography plus some of life’s journeys (lost children as well as a service yet to be announced) it seemed to be an ideal name. That ended the business naming agony.
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