| C is a popular letter to begin brand and business | | | | mispronounce it? Does a different pronunciation give |
| names. After A it is the second most common initial | | | | another meaning, possibly a negative or rude one? If |
| letter of the top one hundred global brands, according | | | | people do not know how to pronounce your name |
| to Interbrand's listing for 2009. The number one global | | | | they may prefer not to say it aloud to avoid ridicule |
| brand is a well-known cola beginning with C and also in | | | | and embarrassment. You might miss out on |
| the list are Cisco, Canon, Citi, Colgate, Chanel, | | | | word-of-mouth recommendations, or people may ask |
| Caterpillar, Cartier and Campbell's. | | | | for a rival brand in case they say your name wrongly |
| Do you notice anything about the C sound in these | | | | and are thought ignorant. |
| words? Yes, C can be pronounced in different ways | | | | C when pronounced like a K is one of the strongest |
| -- mostly like a K but also it can be pronounced like an | | | | sounds in the alphabet. Studies have shown that |
| S in Cisco and Citi and like Sh in Chanel. And that's not | | | | plosive sounds (like K, B, D, G, P and T where air is |
| the whole story. It is pronounced differently again in | | | | forcibly expressed from the mouth) are more powerful |
| Gucci (also one of the top hundred brands) and in the | | | | and thus more memorable. |
| UK chain of seafood restaurants Loch Fyne (not on | | | | C is one of the few letters of the alphabet to have no |
| the list). Sometimes it is completely silent, as in the | | | | straight lines or angles at all. Its curviness means it is |
| ordinary English word indict. And that's just English. | | | | often regarded as a feminine letter of the alphabet, |
| Your Polish customers will want to pronounce the C in | | | | especially when it is pronounced S or Sh. Many |
| your name as Ts and your Finnish- and | | | | female-oriented brands begin with C eg Chanel, |
| Basque-speaking customers may be unsure how to | | | | Charnos, Chantelle, Cacharel and Cimarron. It might |
| pronounce it, as C never appears in native Finnish or | | | | seem odd to ascribe masculine or feminine principles to |
| Basque words. | | | | letters of the alphabet, but the letter C was originally |
| Pronunciation of the letter C will not be a problem if | | | | based on the shape of a crescent moon (it was the |
| your name is based on an existing English word, or on | | | | Etruscans who introduced C into the alphabet -- the |
| a word that looks as if it could be English (like Compo | | | | Greeks before them had no C in their writing system) |
| or Clorox), but what about a company called Chor? Is | | | | and the moon is a symbol of femininity in classical |
| the Ch pronounced like it is in choir? Or chair? Or | | | | Greek and Roman mythology, and in many other belief |
| chute? Will your name sound ridiculous if others | | | | systems. |