Odd Re-namings

[MrRING]

Religious Man Wants to Rename Mt. Diablo

OAKLEY, Calif. - An Oakley man has asked the federal government to rename Mount Diablo, saying the current name, which means devil in Spanish, is offensive to his religious sensibilities.

Art Mijares applied to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names for the change and suggests naming the mountain Mount Kawukum, which he believes has American Indian roots.

"Words have power, and when you start mentioning words that come from the dark side, evil thrives," Mijares told the Contra Costa Times. "When I take boys camping on the mountain, I don't even like to say its name. I have to explain what the name means. Why should we have a main feature of our community that celebrates the devil?"

To make the change, Mijares would need to persuade federal, state and local governments that it's necessary. That may be easier said than done. It's been called Mount Diablo for at least 164 years, and references to the mountain permeate thousands of maps, books and historical documents.

The name Kawukum first surfaced in 1866, when a church group tried to change Mount Diablo's name for reasons nearly identical to Mijares', according to San Francisco Bay area researcher Bev Ortiz. "We abhor the wicked creature to whom the name is appropriate, and spurn the use of the name for anything noble or good on earth," proclaimed the Congregational Church of San Francisco in its newsletter of the day.

The church proposed Kawukum, spelled then as Kahwookum, "a word learned from an unidentified Indian living at the base of the mountain," Ortiz wrote in a history of the mountain's name. Members presented a name-change petition to the Legislature, but lawmakers postponed a decision indefinitely.

The name Mount Diablo grew from the Spanish name given to an Indian village set near a willow thicket in modern-day Concord, where Chupcans staged a daring nighttime escape during an 1805 military campaign. Spanish soldiers said Indians evaded them only with the help of evil spirits and named the site "Monte del Diablo," or thicket of the devil, which American explorers later mistakenly applied to the mountain.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050414/ap_on_re_us/mount_diablo

 

[Anonymous]

Even if I tried I could not come up with something dumber to worry about.

 

[austen27]

A lot of palces have changed their names to avoid offece, or move up market. Hazelgrove near Manchester used to be Bullock Cross. I think there was once a town of "Two Tits" Calafornia (presumably the feathered flying kind) that changed its name for obvious reasons.

 

[Jerry_B]

This may have been mentioned elsewhere here, but the names of several streets in London were changed (AFAIK, in the Victorian era) as they were somewhat risqué

 

[Anonymous]

The thought occurs that, in this supposedly enlightened age, we seem far more terrified of the Hoardes of Satan than Torquemada and his Inquisition ever were.

Maybe rename Los Angeles, because of references to Angels? I mean, lets face it, when you get into the whole Watcher stuff and Nephelim and what have you, Angels aren't very angelic, are they?

And let's not even think about the numerous Devil's Bridges!

 

[theredmeanie]

Taking boys camping on the mountain? :shock:

 

[MaxMolyneux]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/mers ... 168952.stm

A councillor's attempt to change the names of streets in Liverpool linked to the slave trade has been dropped.

Barbara Mace proposed abolishing names of streets linked to notorious slave traders and replacing them with ones who had made a positive contribution.

The plan was criticised by those who argued the negative parts of history should not be "airbrushed".

It was due to be discussed at a meeting on Wednesday but Liverpool City Council said the idea had now been withdrawn.

A council statement said there would be a consultation period before new proposals were brought forward in the Autumn on how the city can best commemorate slavery abolitionists.

Penny Lane

Council leader Warren Bradley said: "While we are committed to commemorating those who played an important role in the abolition of slavery, we have decided that renaming historic streets is not the best way forward."

Liverpool was a major trading port for slave ships travelling between Africa and America in the 18th Century.

Mrs Mace wanted the likes of Tarleton Street, Manesty's Lane and Clarence Street to be renamed.

But her plan would have meant the disappearance of Penny Lane - thought to have been named after 18th Century slave ship owner James Penny.

The street was immortalised by The Beatles in their 1967 hit which got to number two in the charts.

Well thats great news for Beatles fans who would of gone crazy if they changed Penny lane to some other name. :shock:

Not a Beatles fan but that would be madness.

No point anyway as there only names. The people who abolished slavery are remember in the musuems at the docks. Bet she missed out about the African kings who sold their own people as slaves.

 

[James_H]

You're right, it would have been stupid to rename the street.

 

[stu neville]

It still happens, nonethless...

'New name' for merchants' quarter

A council leader claims a controversial name for a £500m redevelopment in Bristol is to be changed.

Some groups had complained the name, Merchants' Quarter, was offensive because it glorified the city's historic slave trading past.

But Bristol Alliance - behind the project - said merchants had played a crucial role in the story of the city.

Barbara Janke, Leader of Bristol City Council, told the BBC: "I have been told the name has been dropped."

The Bristol Alliance refused to comment on the possible name change and said it would release a statement on Thursday.

The debate over the controversial renaming of the revamped area has raged for several months.

FWIW, and as at that time I was involved in a project about passive racism in further ed, most of the African and Afro-Carribean people we polled about this particular issue didn't actually give a toss what it was called. Had they called it "Slave Traders' Quarter", then fine, but merchants dealt in far more than just slaves. The change of name actually generated more heat, in the shape of "Oh for God's sake" type letters to the local press, than had been produced over the original name.

It's a case of some people actively looking for a negative connotation where most people don't find one, even if they're aware of it's potential alterior meaning or origins.

 

[stu neville]

I've always been fascinated by long-established places, buildings etc being renamed and instantly catapulting an established landmark into obscurity.

For example (and this'll make Rynner happy):

Calls to rename Bristol Airport after Adge Cutler

He was the voice of the West Country, cruelly cut off in his prime, but now there are growing calls for Bristol Airport to be renamed... Adge Cutler International.

Liverpool has John Lennon, Sheffield has Robin Hood and Belfast has George Best.

Even holidaymakers travelling to Malaga in southern Spain land at Pablo Picasso Airport.

So, with the kind of tongue-in-cheek humour the founder of The Wurzels was so fond of, bosses at a firm based at Bristol International have started an internet-based campaign to get the airport renamed in his honour.

The numbers joining a Facebook group is mushrooming daily – by 20 per cent in the past three days alone – as Wurzels fans sign up to persuade the airport to mark its expansion with a name change.....

SNIP!

....."It came from thinking of who would best represent Bristol and Somerset, typify this area and have the airport named after them."

Phil runs a private jet hire firm from the Lulsgate site, and believes Adge Cutler International would be a great name for the West's biggest airport.

"You think who else it could be, and you think perhaps of Cary Grant, but he made his name away from Bristol," added Phil.

"Adge is Somerset's answer to Jimmy Dean, a legend cut off in his prime.

"It would be brilliant – most people from the rest of the country have no idea who Adge is, and just imagine American tourists in the centre of Bristol asking for directions to Adge Cutler International.

"We had a new girl here and she was absolute Estuary English, and she'd never heard of Adge Cutler.

"We got all the music for her to listen to, and then she knew.

"A lot of the rest of our staff are from Clevedon and this area, and he's close to our hearts.

"It started as a joke between friends and it's just a bit of fun, but other airports take it all so seriously, so it would send a message to the rest of the country, and typify the sense of humour we're famous for."....

As someone has commented after the report, why not Acker Bilk International? Or Brunel International?

I want to see Dublin and Tel Aviv slog it out for Dana International.

 

[shellac7]

Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born in Portsmouth. Keep it Wurzel.

 

[rynner2]

I like Wurzel!


But I hate the modern trend to reduce company names to initials, which don't seem to relate to any normal language use.

WTF does HSBC stand for? (And who can remember what it used to be called? )

There used to be a British Oxygen Company (or Corporation) - now it's just BOC. (Apparently they don't want to acknowledge any British connections anymore.)

How I yearn for the old days of BOAC and BEA, when everyone knew the 'B' stood for British...

 

[Moooksta]

On the other hand you can take a crap digital channel like UK Play that shows reruns of Top Gear, Red Dwarf and Have I Got News For You, rename it the innocuous "DAVE", keep the same programmes but increase you viewer ship by five fold.

Now that is weird!

mooks out

EDIT - My mistake UK Gold became Dave and although the schedule was changed the programming didn't.

 

[Peripart]

WTF does HSBC stand for? (And who can remember what it used to be called? )

I only really remember this because the family had friends in Hong Kong, so I'd heard of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation long before they took over the Midland. Talking of the Midland Bank, in one of the less-nice suburbs of Birmingham (Lozells, to be precise), there's an ex-bank used as a community centre which still has the Griffin-in-a-circle logo on one of the windows - brings back memories, that does.

 

[stu neville]

...I hate the modern trend to reduce company names to initials, which don't seem to relate to any normal language use.

This can go startlingly wrong, though. Remember the re-branding of the fusty old Office of Governmental Commerce with a shiny new OGC logo? Looked great, until you put it on its side:

Potentially even more disastrous was Carlton Television's proposed merger with United News. As gleefully recounted in Private Eye, they even got as far as spending thousands on printing stationery (which has since vanished without trace) with their new acronym, a direct contraction of Carlton United News Television.

 

[GNC]

On the other hand you can take a crap digital channel like UK Play that shows reruns of Top Gear, Red Dwarf and Have I Got News For You, rename it the innocuous "DAVE", keep the same programmes but increase you viewer ship by five fold.

Now that is weird!

mooks out

EDIT - My mistake UK Gold became Dave and although the schedule was changed the programming didn't.

No, you were right the first time, it was UK Play that became Dave, UK Gold is now G.O.L.D. (which stands for Go On Laugh Daily).

If you watched season two of The Wire, you'd know that a brand name change works wonders for your business. They were talking about selling hard drugs, true, but the principle is the same: never mind the old stuff, you gotta have the new - even if it's identical.

 

[Semyaz]

WTF does HSBC stand for? (And who can remember what it used to be called? )

It stands for Hongkong Singapore Banking Company. Or at least so I am told...

 

[Peripart]

WTF does HSBC stand for? (And who can remember what it used to be called? )

It stands for Hongkong Singapore Banking Company. Or at least so I am told...

You are told wrong, I'm afraid!

 

[rynner2]

And the Mother of all botched rebrands was....

Consignia
royal f *%# up
by Abram D. Sauer
June 24, 2002 issue

On a dark day in March 2001, the UK’s Post Office, founded in 1635 by Charles I, changed its name to Consignia. One year later, Consignia chairman Allan Leighton confirmed on BBC television that the group would be ditching Consignia, “probably in less than two years.” As it turns out, the ditch came on June 13, 2002 – sooner than expected but probably not soon enough.

Over the last 14 months the Post Office/Consignia branding experiment has been like your worst date ever – short, unproductive but very memorable. So how exactly did this train wreck happen?

The Post Office’s rebranding follows a long line of stodgy- and storied-sounding British organizations choosing to become less identifiable, including National Power becoming Innogy; British Steel, Corus; and Welsh Water, Hyder. However, the Post Office’s change to Consignia was met with the most outcry for a number of reasons.

etc.....

http://www.brandchannel.com/features_pr ... p?pr_id=76

 

[Peripart]

The Post Office’s rebranding follows a long line of stodgy- and storied-sounding British organizations choosing to become less identifiable, including... British Steel, Corus...

In fairness, Corus was a result of a merger between British Steel and Hoogovens, so a new name was possibly justified, but the name chosen was not a good one. I've spoken to many of its employess over the years, and none of them know what the name is supposed to represent, and the less said about the "PacMan" logo the better (it's actually a trumpet in a circle, if you squint hard, but it's far from obvious).

 

[JamesWhitehead]

One corporate renaming I well remember dates back to 1981 when Peugeot took over the failing Rootes Group and rebadged all their cars as Talbots - an old Sunbeam trademark.

It was picked up by Private Eye as a sure sign of a discredited name attempting to hide behind a tacky new make-over. They applied it thereafter to James Goldsmith's vanity project, the failing Now magazine, which he had launched to attack The Eye. Talbot became a running joke in a any story where a renaming was attempted.

Privatisation afterwards gave rise to so many cases of Corporate New Clothes that we are kept dizzy. I can't remember if I am being ironic or forgetful when I refer to The Gas Board! :shock:

 

[Kellydandodi]

George Square in Glasgow being renamed Nelson Mandela square has had little impact - what right-thinking liberal could have argued with that in the early nineties? Less well known is that the short-lived 'Winnie Mandela place' - now, tautologically Nelson Mandela place - was located just off the square. It is still George Square to many, however.

 

[ArthurASCII]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that there is an Italian power generating company named GenItalia! - urban myth?

 

[OneWingedBird]

Cira late 80s, Leeds University's Tartan Bar was renamed the Harvey Milk Bar, after the murdered gay man.

Then the Uni bottled it (no pun intended) and didn;t register the licence as Harvey Milk Bar, apparently because they were worried about questions as to why it was called that, so it just sat there as the Tartan Bar to most people for another 10 years or so until it got ripped apart to make a bigger room i forget the name of.

 

[Mythopoeika]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that there is an Italian power generating company named GenItalia! - urban myth?

It was supposed to be called powergenitalia. But here is what Snopes has to say:

http://www.snopes.com/business/names/powergen.asp

 

[rynner2]

£25,000 bill as Government drops single word from department name
By Miles Goslett
Last updated at 7:54 AM on 30th August 2009

The Government has spent nearly £25,000 of taxpayers’ money removing one word from the name of a Whitehall department.
In a ‘rebranding project’, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has been renamed Communities and Local Government (CLG).
The change involved producing a new logo for the department’s website and headed paper. In a parliamentary answer, a Minister explained that the name change was deemed necessary to ‘emphasise the mission of the department’.
Freedom of Information documents reveal that the rebranding cost £24,765.

The move was described as ‘farcical’ last night by a Conservative spokesman.

The DCLG was established in May 2006, after the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, under John Prescott, was abolished following a string of revelations about his private life.

But within months the decision was taken to refine the department’s name from DCLG to CLG on letterheads and its website ‘for ease of branding’. A spokesman for the CLG, which has been headed by John Denham since June, refused to name the person responsible for implementing the change.

The Government has spent millions on other rebranding exercises since 1997.

Mr Prescott spent £645 of public money on a new brass plaque for his office, replacing a sign saying Office of the Deputy Prime Minister with one which read Deputy Prime Minister’s Office.

He was given the sign as a memento when he left his office in June 2007.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) was renamed twice between 2005 and 2007 at a cost of £250,000.
Earlier this year, Lord Mandelson decided to change its name for a third time to the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (DBIS). The Government refused to reveal how much it cost to create the new department, or to rebrand it.

Caroline Spelman, Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, said: ‘This is a Whitehall farce at taxpayers’ expense.

Taxes have gone through the roof under Labour and examples like these show how the public’s money is squandered on Ministerial vanity projects and a corrosive culture of spin.’

A CLG spokesman said: ‘Given the scale of the restructuring and the department’s new policy agenda, a more fundamental overhaul of our corporate identity was deemed necessary.

Since October 2006, therefore, the department has been branded as Communities and Local Government in all of our corporate communications and contact with the public and outside bodies.’


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0Pf6EWkNH

 

[rynner2]

Yell admits rebrand is meaningless as it chalks up £1.4bn loss
Yell might have £2.2bn of debt on its books but that didn’t stop the Yellow Pages directory publisher from spending “hundred of thousands of pounds” on a new name even its boss admits is meaningless.
By Katherine Rushton, Media, telecoms and technology editor
6:14PM BST 22 May 2012

The company paid top-flight consultants to weigh up 60 different names over five months, only to alight on “hibu”.

It unveiled the new name as it chalked up £1.4bn losses and said "material uncertainty" could cast significant doubt on its future as a going concern. Shares in Yell crashed nearly a quarter to 2.41p yesterday, down from 11p in July last year.

Mike Pocock, chief executive, said the company needed to find a new name because it was “viewed as a dinosaur”, but admitted that hibu was “just a word” with no real meaning.
“Don’t read anything into it...It doesn’t have any pure meaning behind it,” he said. “It needed to be short, easy to pronounce and to sound edgy and innovative. It doesn’t mean a lot by itself, but if you turn the clock back, neither did Apple [sic] and Google or Yahoo!”

WPP’s Landor agency came up with hibu, which is pronounced “High-boo” in English and has as many as eight varients in different languages. Yell would not reveal the cost of the excercise but experts said it would “easily” run into six figures and probably cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. :shock:

Hibu will replace Yell as the company name and will be used for all its digital services, although the business will hang onto the old Yellow Pages monicker for its paper directory. Yell used to make a fortune from its business listings but has been battered as advertisers and consumers turned to the internet instead. It is trying to stay afloat by developing new digital products.

“What else can we do in the circumstances?” said Tony Bates, chief financial officer. “I agree [our strategy] doesn’t give us the results we want but it’s not a magic wand. If you have any spare, please hand them round”.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... -loss.html

 

[Mythopoeika]

I've never understood why companies with household names spend all that time and money on rebranding.
I think the only people who reckon Yell's name is 'old hat' are the branding consultants.

I once worked at a company that changed its name 4 times in a year, and for another that changed its name and legal entity about every 3 years. Must be a tax dodge.