What do these 5 brand names have in common?

1. Coca-Cola
2. Kentucky Fried Chicken
3. American Express
4. Mercedes-Benz
5. Harley Davidson

Hardly anyone calls them by these names because they’re mostly known as:

1. Coke
2. KFC
3. Amex
4. Benz
5. Harley

1 has been summarized.

2 has been abbreviated.

3 has retained the first syllable of each word.

4 has lost its first name.

5 has lost its last name.

These brand names are 4–7 syllables in length. But people have naturally shortened them to a couple of syllables.

Other brands that similarly got ‘rebranded’ are Hewlett Packard, Federal Express, National Geographic, Dunkin’ Donuts, Polo Ralph Lauren, etc.

The best brand names that roll off the tongue are 2–3 syllables long. Test this with popular brand names and see for yourself.

We know this to be true for ourselves because even though our brand name is 40 Parables, we (and others too) refer to us as 40P!