Sports venues to babies: naming is a matter of the heart
- Mary Priller
- Apr 29
- 5 min read
Updated: May 7
AI has changed the game; the processes, strategies, corporate mindsets to conveniences like having a personal kitchen assistant for dinner planning on-call. Changes too, for the name game (also a popular music hit in 1964), the brands, the identities, the who we are. From the birth certificate to namesake bridges, venues, airports and stadiums, our bestowed calling card sets in motion those important memory-making first impressions and trust building. Speaking of dinner, according to DoorDash, one in four millennials, or 27%, have ordered delivery three or more times in a single 24-hour period. Not only is DoorDash making huge inroads as one of the tech/local commerce logistics company giants, they are front-and-center in the name game, partnering with Major League Pickleball (rebranding to MLP by DoorDash). That's very robust and forward thinking with sponsorships in pickleball properties expected to reach $35 million. I'm curious what may have gone into the name-wrangling for their vibrant moniker and assume one of the prompts included the phrase, "Options for a brand identify having one or two words or a combination of both."
Inspo, baby!
Babies, and welcoming the newest, are the inspo for this blog. The thought of baby names brought excitement and online searches; things like “most popular, most unique, traditional, posh, vintage, and royal” being Googled. My call-to-action was set in motion by the conviction of the proud parents-to-be (my son, Christopher, and lovely fiancee, Allison) wanting to keep Little Bean’s name (my silly name-before-the-true-name) a secret. These months-long not knowing seemed impossible. A deeper look at naming in the AI-powered space ensued, giving me a tactical lift and a feeling I was making some headway before delivery day.
For inspiration, I thought of the naming of big venues. New Jersey's MetLife Stadium and Chicago's United Center are two of the most prominent. Sports brand spending was nearly $900 million across major leagues for venue rights deals. This clearly shows how important a name can be for corporate and brand paydays. Like choosing a baby’s name, the potential impact and perception felt by audiences (customers, stakeholders, employers or even friends and family), can be far-reaching.
How does AI get in this game? A defined naming architecture helps clarify the relationships and rules for naming, according to brand agency, MBLM. Whether product, business, or creative, the process of naming can be complex and time consuming. However, AI is making leaps and bounds, with new ways of combining precision and creativity. Millions of bits of information that AI can generate offers vast options of unique and relevant names. The benefit with AI, overall, is the identifying of patterns and trends we can’t catch. Upticks also come with its board-based look at things like social media trends, keywords, consumer interest, analysis, and rulenaming for attracting attention and interest.
My baby-naming enthusiasm felt supported and channeled with this AI-assist labor of love. I just had to deliver the prompts to determine the best rules for name development and what the system boasts as "smooth model operation." Off I went with the basic starting point, leading with, "List baby names for girls that feel vintage, yet modern, and are bold." to "Provide a list of the top trends for baby girl and gender-neutral names for the last five years.” I used the basic AI/ChatGPT, but you can add some bells/whistles with BabyNameGPT, a specialized prompt designed to generate personalized name suggestions and their meanings.
Popular and neutral names such as Emma, Carter, Avery, and Quinn served up. Appears there are countless name-type studies that show everything from a relationship to a name and the completion of higher math and science courses, masculine names in legal professions, to success in the workplace. Naming a human is daunting. I put stock in the findings that there are acceptance and success of names that are easy to pronounce. Research found that people like other people more and form a positive first impression of people with easier names to pronounce. That makes sense; the ability to recall, simplicity, coupled with our natural desire to relate. Check-ins with my son, gentle nudges, and a plethora of guesses, were to no avail. I even offered to buy my way with a letter like Wheel of Fortune. Our calls always began with me delivering a laundry list of options, like Everly, Sara, Beckett, Victoria, Sadie, and Madison, for the “What's her name?” question-of-the-day. I think I had about 168 to try. By the will of the Name gods or divine intercession, on hospital day I blurted out, “It's Laney!” I had named the name! Laney James debuted on April 8. I wish everyone could share in this beam of sunshine I feel so blessed with since she arrived.
AI: n-a-m-e game
As names and the name game go, they have always been a crucial part of communicating, defining who we are, brick, building, or entity. There’s the traditional naming circles, more manual, relying on human creativity, intuition, histories and cultures, memorable moments, even pop culture weaved in.
For example, my oldest son, Jonathan, was named after a pet skunk (really!), Christopher, after Saint Christopher, and the youngest, Colby, named for Colby Donaldson, the legendary castaway on Survivor All-Stars. Then, there’s the AI-powered naming process. Harnessing LLMs delivers countless options in a blink, representing a significant shift to a way not possible before. The focus groups, storyboarding, vision boards and research blending to more data-driven, rapid, and iterative process.
Names are foundations, catalysts and springboards. For businesses, critical for branding, standing out in a crowd, and driving connection and trust that build support and funding. Person-to-person, the same applies. It's about the connection, from native ancestors who carried names from nature, spiritual and life events, the cultures of our grandparents, the rooting of generations, the branches of a family tree. If this were a race, I would give the edge to the human factor, the offline, taking the naming lead (at least in the baby sphere). It allows for authenticity, experiences, the love, the drama and everything in between. Things like the family debate to consider “Edna” as an option, my mom’s middle name, granted an audience that machine learning wouldn't begin to think about (—and sorry, “E” fans; it was a no-go).
In the end, a name is a matter of the heart. The search, its purpose and meaning, importance and significance, thought-provoking and intentional. From boardrooms, million-dollar naming deals, scoreboards high above, to dinner table chats (or DoorDash deliveries), phone call check-ins, and newly swaddled special deliveries, everyone just wants to be memorable.
Welcome to the lineup, Laney James!
