Client: Huawei is a full-service provider of optical wear, including corrective lens, designer brand frames, contact lens, and sunglasses in China’s Yunnan Province.

Case: Chinese brand naming, international brand naming
Client hoped to prepared for a nation-wide launch with a renaming to establish the brand’s position.  Qualities which were to be expressed were professionalism, quality, and outstanding customer service.

Solution: 爱明尚 (ài míng shàng) - Admiris

The Chinese name’s first character 爱 (ài) means love.  On a more comprehensive level, it also means adoration as well as high esteem.  This is how the client wanted the customers to feel about its products and services.  This character also demonstrates the personal care and consideration that the brand extends to its consumers. 

明míng translates to brightness and clarity, and is often used in the context of vision to express “clear-sighted”.  The idea of brightness has strong positive evocations, tying in the brand’s emphasis of health, success and confidence. 

Alone, 尚 (shàng) can be understand as esteem; as 崇尚 it becomes “uphold”, as 时尚, “chic”.  This broad range of use can be used to express the brand’s quality, professionalism, and timelessness. 

Together, the three characters fully communicate the brand’s commitment to quality to service, its pursuit of outstanding and enduring customer relationships, and its position as a provider of eye-care above and beyond eye-wear.

The international name “Admiris” stems largely from the English word “admire”. For the Chinese consumer, to admire is to appreciate, value, even to cherish.  “Iris” is the pigmented part of the eye; in the name it acts as a subtle reference connecting the name to optics and vision. 

Looking at the phonetics, “ad” is an excellent match for爱 (ài).  明míng and 尚shàng are closely reflected by “mi” and “s” respectively.  Both names have a three-syllable structure with heavier inflection on the first syllable.  The Chinese and international names for this brand reflect not only Huawei’s brand values, but also each other.  The semantic and phonetic correlation helps to reinforce the unity in brand presentation.