With the fierce competition going on in our global village, parents are now trying to give the best of everything to their children, expecting the little ones of today to make a big difference tomorrow. Traditionally, tender loving care and early childhood education were considered necessary, but has a linguistic check for baby names now also been added to the to-do list for parents?

A London-based translation firm “Today Translations” recently attracted public attention by adding a linguistic check for baby names to their service offering. They claim their professional linguistic tools and experts will be used to help parents find the meaning and appropriateness of a given name in various cultures and languages. It is thought that this will help the cosmopolitan kids realize success in today’s globalized world by avoiding a culturally inappropriate name. It costs GBP 1,000 to perform a "basic name translation audit" by the company's linguists, which checks the meaning of prospective names in about 100 languages.
Some have asked whether a linguistic check for baby names is really necessary, so the company cited the example of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ baby girl named Suri. “Suri” actually means "pickpocket" in Japanese, "turned sour" in French! Had they known these unintended meanings the celebrity couple may not have named their daughter Suri in the first place.
Similar to new-born babies, brands entering a new marketplace can also encounter naming challenges. The choice of a brand name should be informed by legal, linguistic, as well as market checks to mitigate future embarrassment and ensure success in international markets. Like a caring parent who chooses his or her baby's name carefully, companies should also pay attention to their baby brands, especially in China, where a Chinese name can be the first step to building brand equity. Furthermore, for Chinese companies hoping to expand internationally, brand name testing should be a key consideration.