Psychologically, people want to go back to the time when one person could start a company.'' Much of the naming craze can be linked to the high-tech new economy and surrounding hype. Some of the consumer confusion might stem from a lack of clarity about a company's purpose. Knosys, for example, recently changed its name to ProClarity to clarify its mission. Locally, the main criterion for picking a name seems rooted in a desire not to offend. Perhaps the best-known case of a failed corporate name change is United Airlines, which had a fling as Allegis in the 1980s before reverting.
Some companies change names to distance themselves from something unsavory.
ChemLawn became TruGreen ChemLawn to avoid the association with toxic chemicals. Sometimes, the experts point out, a name change involves more than meets the eye. One reason Federal Express shortened its name, Becker said, is because federal has negative connotations in Latin America. When BellSouth and SBC got together to come up with a new name, they were told that 98 percent of the English language was off-limits because the words were already claimed by other companies or Web sites, said Clay Owen, a Cingular spokesman. That's what Olsten Staffing Services did.