Naming
of The Belarusian Band
Empathize and Analyze
It was a challenge for us to find the name of the Belarusian band. The main reason why it was not easy is:
[A] We needed to find a name that has a good and positive meaning and also the same pronunciation in three languages:
Belarusian. Because we are from Belarus and the songs are also in Belarusian;
English. Because we are located in New York, it is difficult for Americans to pronounce common Belarusian sounds like «io, iu, ia, iu, ii».
Russian. Because unfortunately, Belarusian is not as popular in Belarus as Russian.
[B] Today is not easy to find something beautiful, unique, and enough universal for any music because we still were unsure which type it will be.
[C] It has to be good enough for every member of the group. And we knew each other for just one month, and everyone has their vision.
Below you can see how we found the band's perfect name and what reasons we used for selecting it.
Define
So after acknowledging all of the above, we found the statement of the design problem:
Ideate
By brainstorming, we set the list of the possible names.
We eliminate «Eternal Sunshine», «Red Cranes» and «Finding Neverland» because it's in English, and there are so many existing bands and projects with the same name. We decided to concentrate on something from the Belarusian language just because Belarusian is less popular than English.
Also, we eliminate «Kate in the Middle» and «Hutkastrel» [translated from Belarusian as «fast shooting»] because of possible erotical ambiguity.
We eliminate «Mova» [translated «Language»] because this name is suitable for any project connected with text but not with the music.
We eliminate «Krok» [translated «Step»] because it can be an issue with the typing — you will put this in Google, and it will autocorrect. We eliminated «Krock» because we found many existing projects with this name [radio, spotify, etc.].
We eliminate «Crowk» because it can have a bad association when sounds in Belarusian — people can hear «Crow» [translated to Belarusian as «Blood»].
We eliminate «Klich» because nobody else among the members like it.
From these three variants, we firstly eliminate «Nikoli» because it reminds the name «Nikole» in English and has a negative meaning in Belarusian [translated as «Never»].
We like «Agrest» [or another spelling «Ahrest»] because it's a very Belarusian berry, and we have good associations with it. But when we asked several Americans about it — they said it was «aggressive», and we didn't want the name to be associated with something negative.
Finally, we have «Kazinak» which will be closer to American «Sesame Seed Сandy» or Georgian «Gozinak». But in Belarus, we knew it was a «Sweet Puffed Rice Bar», and one of our member's grandmothers usually bought this for him when he was young.
So this name has a personal meaning, at least for one member. Also, it has a «sweet» positive association with Belarusians. Russian spelling will be «Kozinak», and it's one of the reasons why we choose Belarusian spelling — it's easier to say «find us on YouTube — type «Kazinak» with an "a"».
Prototype and Test
I know you need to test in different ways via interviews and questionnaires, but it is a personal project, and every member liked and agreed with this name.
We asked our American friends to write on a paper how they hear this word for the short test. And everyone typed it correctly. Also, they said it sounds «strong», «rock», and «interesting».
So we decided to keep it.
That's it. I hope you enjoy this story.
