Suppose your favourite brand opened a shop in another country. Would you keep the same name, copy its sound, translate its meaning or invent something new? Now imagine the written symbols you choose for the sound also carry meanings of their own.
The puzzle also works in the other direction. A 2013 study archived by Hong Kong Polytechnic University examined Chinese brand names translated into English and identified approaches involving sound, meaning or a combination of the two. The result has to work for actual readers, not just look clever on a slide in a marketing meeting. What sounds close in one language may be awkward, unclear or accidentally comic in another.
What should the customer remember?
A sound-based version tries to keep an audible connection with the original. A meaning-based version tries to carry an idea across. A mixed approach attempts some of both. None can be judged only by whether it looks attractive to the person proposing it.
The customer has to be able to use the result. Can they recognise it on a shelf, say it when asking for the product and distinguish it from another name? Those practical questions are worth asking even before a discussion of elegance or clever wordplay.
Our invented “Moonpop” example gives you a small design brief. Suppose it is a snack in a rounded packet. Preserving the sound could connect the new name to the original branding, while explaining the moon image might give the packaging a clear theme. Emphasising “pop” might suggest a different kind of product altogether.
There is no right answer until you decide what matters most and how the actual product works. A name that promises a particular taste would be a poor choice if the snack did not have it. A striking image could still be useful if customers understood it as branding rather than an ingredient claim.
The research survey concerns real names and identifies several approaches, including retaining a name without translation. That option matters: changing language does not always require changing every part of a brand. Sometimes explanation around a name can do work that the name itself cannot.
For a classroom exercise, make two possible English names for an entirely fictional product. Tell a friend only the names, then ask what kind of item they expect. Their answers may reveal an association you did not intend. This does not imitate professional market research, but it makes the reader’s role visible.
Finally, keep a name’s meaning separate from a story about its success. A translation can be inventive without proving that customers liked it or that sales improved. Those are questions for evidence about the business. The design challenge begins earlier, with choosing what a few memorable words should actually communicate.
A name is a tiny design project
You can try the problem without inventing any Chinese words. Pick a made-up British snack called “Moonpop”. Should its name abroad promise the moon, the popping sound, the taste or simply be easy to say? Every choice tells customers something different.
Famous “funny translation” stories circulate online, but many are repeated without a reliable source. The real question is better than the folklore: how do you make a name travel without assuming it will land the same way everywhere?
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- Online, “666” can mean brilliant
Sources
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University: survey on English translation of Chinese brand names