The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 156

FF14 The Post, Sunday, May 29, 1983 Name Changes Rising in Corporate World Before it arrived at Exxon, Standard Oil of New Jersey started with a computer-generated list of 10,000 words and tested them in 56 languages and 1 13 dialects. That was a good idea "Enco," one of the finalists, is part of a phrase meaning "stalled car" in Japanese. The letterhead factor should also be taken into account. "It helps if the first letter of a name begins with a vertical line," said Joe Salame, a Massachusetts design specialist. "When you use it on your letterhead, it becomes your left margin, and it helps everything look much more organized." Some letters and contain "descenders" that can cause layout and design problems, and take up space.

"The ideal word," Salame said, "is one that doesn't have a descender." Annoying as such name-related problems can be, there of course is always the option to keep the grand old name of a successful campany. B.G. Yovovich is a Chicago-based business writer. Open Office Systems Boom to live 848-4633 Bigger IS better when you live on your own ACRE 1'JflHTED THIS YVTEK TREMENDOUS SAVINGS WILL BE OFFERED TO CLOSEOUT PALM BEACH IMPORTS ONLY REMAINING NEW 1982 ROLLS-ROYCE MODELS. NEW 1982 SILVER SPUR WHITEDARK BROWN TOP DARK BROWN LEATHER NEW 1982 SILVER SPUR ICE GREENTAN TOPTAN LEATHER NEW 1982 SILVER SPUR ICE GREEN OVER FOREST GREEN BEIGE TOP BEIGE LEATHER NEW 1982 SILVER SPIRIT WHITEDARK BROWN LEATHER NEW 1982 SILVER SPIRIT GARNETTAN LEATHER NEW 1982 SILVER SPIRIT MAGNOLIADARK BROWN LEATHER NEW 1982 SILV ER SPIRIT GEORGIAN SILVERRED LEATHER PRE-OWNED ROLLS ROYCE MODELS 1970 CORMCHE COL'PE (VERY RARE) 33.000 MILES CHESTNUT BROWN DARK BROWN ROOF 'DARK BROWN LEATHER 1974 SS II 32,000 MILES WHITEBLUE LEATHER 1975 SS II 43,000 MILKS WHITESURF BLUE LEATHER 1979 SILVKR WRAITH 22,000 MILKS DARK BLUEBEIGE TOP'BKIGE LEATHER 1980 SS II 9,000 MILKS BLUEBEIGE LEATHER 1981 BENTLEY 4,000 MILKS MAGNOLIATAN LEATHER PALM BEACH IMPORTS ALSO HAS A NEW 1980 MASERATI MERAK AM) NEW 1982 QUATTROPORTE, A NEW 198(1 LOTUS F.CLAT AND NEW 1983 AVANT1S AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY.

At Steeplechase the BIG thing you notice is ROOM, room to ride a bike, room to follow the jogging path, room to live. And, Prices effective until July 1 we're a real neighborhood complete with families who want to live just far enough away from the crowd for convenience. plenty of room. Visit Steeplechase and ask about our 10 financing. 10 down, balance financed for one year at an interest rate of 10.

Prestigious one acre and larger homesites in the Sales Center Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Friday; 12 noon to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. 8958 Haverhill Road Lake Park, Florida 33410 (305) 627-1776 Palm Beach Gardens area If you've operated successfully through the years and are thinking of retiring, I would like to talk to you. Several of our current clients' expansion in Florida require us to open a Florida base. I promise to personally offer your long-standing clients the tender loving care to which they are accustomed.

With my 30 years' experience in the agency business, worldwide media recognition and good financial credentials, I offer you an opportunity to retire in prosperity with the assurance that the business you have nurtured will continue to grow. Principals only, please contact: Box D-174 Post West Palm Beach from $43,000. trim 3)ftyeepiechase Prestigious one-acre and larger homesites in the Palm Beach Gardens area from $43,000. APR 10; monthly payment based on 10-year amortization. Broker participation invited By B.G.

Yovovich Nttwork Ntwt If a rose by any other name is still a rose, corporations are another matter entirely. Professionals in the name-picking business agree: pick that corporate monicker with care. Visualize it on the letterhead. Check with the trademark office. Above all, think of the future.

"Apple Computer is going to have a problem 10 years from now if it wants to break out of the computer industry," predicted Walter Margulies, whose New York consulting firm, which makes its living naming companies, has had a hand in the corporate-namings of Amtrak, Tenneco and United Technologies. "It isn't likely to be able to continue to use the name 'Apple' for its other operations." Corporations have been changing their names in ever-greater numbers, as they diversify, expand geographically, acquire other companies or get acquired themselves. According to figures compiled by another New York consultant, Anspach Grossman Portugal, 809 firms changed their names in 1982, the second greatest number in more than a decade and 41.4 percent over 1981. "The first wave of conglomerates began to appear in the late 1950s and early 1960s and, as they grew, they dragged with them their outmoded names and identities," Margulies explained. "They needed new names and logos in order to signal their new identities and to make it easier for them to get attention and to attract new capital for growth." United Aircraft, for instance, changed its name to United Technologies eight years ago, after it found that the company's former name fostered a perception in the financial community that the company depended heavily on its defense-related aircraft business.

In fact, only a small part of its sales came from helicopters, aircraft engines and the like. Similarly, Tennessee Gas Transmission Co. found that its name was hard to remember and implied, wrongly, that all it did was transmit gas through Tennessee. "Tenneco" suited it better. Nowadays, the greatest number of name changes have been in the financial services industry.

The Anspach Grossman study showed that 209 banks and thrift institutions changed their names in the first half of 1982 alone. "Financial institutions are going through a period of great change as we head toward more of a national financial system," said Russell R. Anspach of Anspach Grossman. "Some of the major money center banks are trying to become national banks, while many other banks are trying to become regional banks." First Union Bankcorporation of St. Louis, for instance, considered hundreds of possibilities before it decided to adopt the name Centerre Bancor-poration.

"Centerre literally says said Warren B. Wiethaupt, a vice president of the bank. "Its roots are Latin: center and terra, meaning earth. In other words, center of the earth. It has all the distinctive elements of a great name.

It's fresh, unusual and distinctive." Similarly, Seattle's National Bank of Commerce of Washington became Rainier National Bank, and the First National Bank of San Jose became Bank of the West all to reflect their move into regional banking. Although changes such as these are certainly more than passing fancies, several fads and trends have influenced corporate naming over the past three decades. For a while, use of initials was popular IBM, ITT a la the New Deal "alphabet soup" of agencies like the NRA and WPA. Then in the '60s high-tech names became popular, and companies tacked on such suffixes as "-el," "-ol" and "-tron" to their names. More recently, the dramatic increase in conglomerates has spurred a rising interest in computer-generated coined names that don't reveal a lot about the company.

"A lot of names you see now are attempts to get that critical balance between character and neutrality," noted James G. Shennan president of Consultants in San Francisco. A "constructed name," Tenneco, Exxon and so forth, "offers you a blank slate and you are free to create any company image and identity you want." A A Northern Trust we're setting a new standard in quality Now there is an organization to which discerning Floridians can turn for distinguished, comprehensive financial services, personally structured to meet the needs of those whose situations have outdistanced conventional approaches to banking and trust services. Northern Trust BankPalm Beach is a subsidiary of Northern Trust Corporation, Chicago, where this tradition of excellence can be traced back nearly a century. We provide quality personal financial services including money market accounts, lines of credit, and asset management as well as a full range of domestic and international commercial banking services, with a level of expertise not previously available to South Florida residents.

At Northern Trust, our goal is to build a relationship that you will find uniquely rewarding; one that allows us to meet all your financial needs with uncommon attention to detail and a commitment to excellence. In short, a financial relationship that sets a new standard of quality. For more information on how we may be of service to you, contact James Barr, Vice President, Northern Trust Bank Palm Beach, 300 Royal Poinciana Plaza, Palm Beach, Florida 33480. Telephone 655-9770. start earning 2 12.50 Tax-Free Jj A new standard in quality financial service.

Northern Trust Bank Mimbif "Mimtrtf I NASp SIPC If you're tired of paying Federal In- come Tux on your savings income and aul lo learn how you can earn up lo I2.50'7c Tax-Tree, call or wrile i for our free brochure on Tux-Free i Municipal Bonds. J. Milton Newton, inc. International Building Suite 1100 2455 E. Sunrise Boulevard Ft.

Lauderdale, Florida 33304 CALL COLLECT (305) 566-7481 W.P.B. DIRECT DIAL 737-8100 Name Address I City I StateZin I Northern Trust Bank of FloridaPalm Beach is a wholly owned subsidiary of Northern Trust Corporation, Chicago. Member FDIC. Bus. Phone.

H.Phone I Intrft in rxrmpt from eA. Inc. Taj.