Famous name changes that didn't go as planned | #172
+ When Samajwadi Party bought a Billy Joel song 😱
Hello friends,
The ancient Puranas speak of Jambudveepa, a bustling land chunked up into nine segments, with one particularly dashing part going by the name of Bharatavarsha. Now, whether that's our modern-day India or some other place is anyone's guess.
The Indus river was the seat of civilization 1000s of years ago. Its Sanskrit name was Sindhu. The Persians could not pronounce the S and changed it to H, becoming Hindu. The Persian word - Hindustan, unlike what others might want us to believe, was not a name to indicate the land of the Hindus, but the land around the Indus river.
The name India entered Greek and Latin languages literally to refer to the region around the Indus. Essentially, while the name might have been India or Bharat, it was the same country.
This week’s newsletter looks at the topic du jour - name changes and the consequences that came with them.
Things we learnt this week 🤓
Yahoo! was a pioneering internet brand. We all have fond memories of anonymous chat rooms, Geocities, and our first email addresses. (We know you are reading this hulkyprince@yahoo.com) But the company lost out to competitors such as Google and ended up being a shadow of the behemoth that it once was. After selling its core business to Verizon in 2017, the remaining parts of the company, which were essentially an investment company holding stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan, renamed themselves Altaba. The new name was met with confusion, as many were unaware of the distinction between the two entities. The renaming also did little to boost the company's fortunes, and Altaba eventually began liquidating its holdings. An alt that didn’t go well at all.
Prince Rogers Nelson aka Prince emerged one of the biggest stars of the 80s. He could sing, play multiple instruments and was an inspired performer. He was also a tireless music producer, “through whom music flowed” and had over 500 tracks waiting to be released. Warner Bros, had trademarked the name Prince, refused to release more music as they felt the audience would be fatigued. In 1992, Prince believed he had come up with a solution. While recording music at his Paisley Park estate in Minnesota, the singer had an idea to create a graphic that fused the astrological symbols for men (Mars) and women (Venus). In 1995, he announced to the press that he had changed his name to this symbol. While Prince intended it as a protest against his record label, it led to confusion and was often mocked in popular culture. Media outlets referred to him as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince." before reverting to his more famous moniker in 2000. Nothing Compares 2 Prince.
Auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers separated out its consulting wing as a separate company which decided to rename itself “Monday” - the day of the week everybody loves. Just as every employee looks forward to a Monday, clients looked forward to Monday…. Not. Monday was announced as a separate company to considerable ridicule in the press and most importantly among clients and staff. In the end, the company suffered blues and ended up being taken over by IBM.
From IWTK, with love 💌
The North Zone finals of the Brand Blitz Quiz featuring Varun Duggirala. Some amazing stories including how Samajwadi Party purchased the rights of a Billy Joel song. Watch here.
Why doesn't Aamir Khan attend award shows?
Only In India 🇮🇳
Even helicopters are not safe from traffic jams in Bangalore.
Stay hydrated,
❤️ IWTK