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The Royal Family are far from the typical British Family. They don't live in normal houses,

they don't have normal cars

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and they don't have normal jobs. Another thing that is

unusual about the Royal Family is that they hardly ever use their surname. They generally

refer to themselves by their royal title and their first name

—

Queen Elizabeth, Prince

Charles, Princess Anne, or Prince William and Prince Harry for example. The additional

letters HRH are used for princes and princesses and stand for His (or Her) Royal

Highness. The Queen herself is often referred to as simply Her Majesty. Historically, the

monarchy didn't have surnames. They were referred to by the name of the dynasty they

led, such as the Tudors, the Stuarts or the House of Hanover of which dynasty Queen

Victoria, who died in 1901, was the last monarch. This convention changed in 1917 when

Queen Elizabeth II's grandfather, George V, decided that he and his descendants should

bear the surname Windsor and the dynasty became known as the House of Windsor. The

Royal Family had German connections

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Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert was

German-born, and since Britain and Germany were at war, George V decided to adopt a

British surname. Instead of the German sounding name Saxe-Coburg- Gotha, he chose

the name Windsor after their popular family castle of that name which is situated to the

west of London. Since then all royals have been given the official surname of Windsor,

even though it is rarely used by them or anyone else. In 1960 Queen Elizabeth II modified

this decision by adding the surname of her husband, Prince Philip, otherwise known as

Lord Mountbatten, to the royal surname. All her children were to take the name

Mountbatten-Windsor. However, the British royals don't use this name very often either.

The Queen's eldest son Charles, as recorded in the marriage register at his wedding to

Lady Diana Spencer, was His Royal Highness Prince Charles Philip Arthur George, The

Prince of Wales. The Royal Family has a history of using the same babies' names over

and over again. If you look back over the royal family tree, you will see there have been

eight King Henrys, four Kings called William, and eight called Edward. There haven't been

very many queens so we can only count two Queen Elizabeths and one Queen Victoria.

Other popular names for royals include Anne, Albert, James and George which was so

popular that four kings in a row were called George between 1714 and 1830. And there

were two more crowned King George in the 20th century between 1910 to 1952. That's

nearly 160 years of King Georges! And they were all named after the patron saint of

England. Because they are often used for royalty, these names are seen as very

traditional and are among the most popular children's names in Britain. William and Harry

for example, regularly make the list of top ten boys' names. But as the make-up of society

changes and unusual names become more and more trendy, perhaps we will start to see

a change in the names chosen by royals as well as in the rest of the people

OK, so a little test. Coca-Cola ... Nike ... Ferrari. Think! What images did you get as I said

these very famous brand names? Wait a moment. There's no real need to answer, is

there, because we know, more or less, don't we? Coca- Cola

—

that delicious fizzy drink,

ice cold, on a hot summer's day. Nike

—

running shoes for strong, beautiful bodies.

Ferrari

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an attractive, powerful car for attractive, powerful people. The fact is, the names,

the brand names, say it all. What's in a brand name? Ideally, everything! Everything the

manufacturer wants you to think of when you hear the name. That's certainly what both

customers' experience and research tells us. It's the reason why manufacturers attach

such importance to choosing the right name for their product. Let's take a look at some of

the qualities a good brand name should have. Firstly, it should be simple and easy to

remember. Imagine if Coca-Cola had been named

long! Or, take another name

—

Starbucks, the name of a famous coffee shop. Now, that's

an easy name to remember. Starbucks. Second point. The brand name should be

different, unique, something you can't confuse with anything else. Like Coca-Cola.

Or

—

let's take another famous brand name

—

Microsoft. It combines two words,

micro

,

meaning very small, and the word

soft

. Two words that together make a unique

name

—

Microsoft. Thirdly, if the name is a real word, it should have strong, positive

associations. Take the name Alfa Romeo, the name of a car.

Alfa

is the first letter of the

Greek alphabet and has the association of the best or the strongest.

Romeo

is the name

of one of the most romantic lovers of all in a famous Shakespeare play. Alfa

Romeo

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strong, romantic. The words have great associations, don't they? Fourth point.

The sound of the name is very important. Take Ferrari. The word has a long vowel

sound

—

—

that makes it sound luxurious. So a Ferrari must be a luxurious car, right?

How about Coca-Cola? It's got a sharp, fizzy sound, just like the drink. So

—

all these

things are what you should be looking for when choosing a brand name

—

something

simple, memorable, unique, with positive associations, and a great sound. Whew! It's not

easy, is it, to choose a name that does all those things? But the very best brand names do

exactly that.