Is this the case for famous brands such as Coca-Cola, IKEA or Zara?
According to a study published in the American Marketing Association’s journal, linguistic characteristics in a brand name, such as length, sounds, and stress can be identified as feminine or masculine, and these gender associations can determine attitude, choice and performance, when referring to brands. “Across six studies, using both observational analyses of real brands and experimental manipulations of invented brands, the authors show that linguistically feminine names increase perceived warmth, which improves brand outcomes.”
Female names tend to be longer, accommodate more syllables, be stressed on the second or last syllable, and end in a vowel (Amanda, for example). In contrast, men’s names are usually shorter, sometimes have a single syllable and end in a consonant (Edward, for example).
The results conclude that feminine brand names increase perceived warmth, which is associated with more favorable attitudes and increased choice for both real and fictitious brands.
The study was conducted in a very thorough way, and although its conclusions are not necessarily written on stone, they explain the importance of a good first impression in a brand’s name. And the reason why firms are increasingly turning to Branding consultants for Naming purposes.
If you want to browse through the study, go to: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022242921993060