I think the name pioneer evokes a sense of trying something new. First through the wall kinda thing. For a battery charger that might not be such a good idea unless there is someting that makes it a game changer.
Something that sounds like best of the best like "the XTAR BC8 platinum" or "XTAR energy BC8". Maybe name the products after animals. The XTAR BC8 falcon" or XTAR eagle".
But really just XTAR BC8 is fine in my view.
Good points. Some of the aspects i referred to that make Pioneer such a great global trade name are also that it is or appears to be a 'proper' word (for many), rather than being a previously undefined, fabricated (obscure) one. It also
seems to be 'pronounceable' by many people globally, who often know something of what it means, and often for those of differing primary languages. Being a both an existing, defined word and widely pronounceable (at least to some degree), makes it
memorable for many people. Being pronounceable, and at least perceived to have a meaning outside the small circle of people who came up with it is are pluses.
Memorable is a primary objective for a trade name. If someone asks 'what kind of xyz is that you have?', it's good if I can both remember it and somewhat know how to pronounce it. 'Word of mouth' advertising depends on such things. A word that previously meant nothing, (while being easy to trademark), &/or is difficult to figure out how to pronounce outside of the few who have experience with it (especially if it's sort of highly language dependent), can make it a poor choice. The Japanese have a great track record when it comes to good global trade names, although they do at times come up with some very silly sounding ones (particularly if it's primarily a JDM thing), even though they may play well in their home market. They're particularly good at coming up trade names which play well globally, which is critical when dealing with something targeting global markets. The poorest global trade names are those which have no previous meaning, and /or are also very colloquial in nature.
I know nothing about Marketing, but I can say that there are many tradenames which I don't have a prayer of pronouncing, and are obscure / have no imaginable meaning for me. Those are the ones I don't have a chance of remembering, and I do know enough to know that makes for a bad trade name.
I should also point out that the criteria is somewhat different for a brand name, vs a specific product name / designation. Although I have no 'background' in this, I have given it some thought, because I find it interesting; in addition to the fact that I'm a big believer in: 'Words matter', in general.
The ones you mention sound like good ideas to me too Byk, for a specific product.
The biggest issue is that the better the name, the more difficult is will be to trademark it. The world seems to be running out of really good names for stuff!
For example, Pioneer BC8? Thanks for your kind comments!
