Question

Topic: Taglines/Names

Creating A Business Name Using Chinese Family Name

Posted by Anonymous on 5/7/2010 at 4:04 AM ET 250 Points
Dear All,

My dad is starting out a housing development business in a small town on his own after he split with his brothers after 30 years. He is unable to use any of the earlier company names as he unwittingly signed away his rights to one of my uncles. Now, I am to help him rebuild and rebrand with a new company name. Problem is, he is extremely sentimental and wants to reuse the family name - SIA in some form or another. We have thought of "SIA LAND & PROPERTIES" or "SIA PROPERTIES". However, after researching online, I found that it may be cliche or not a strong formidable branding name. I thought perhaps we could use some help.

Cheers,
Teng
[Email address deleted by staff]

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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 5/7/2010 at 4:52 AM Author
    Hi Karen,

    Thanks for the advice. Yes, I believe that the website will come in time. The issue now is settling on a good name using the "SIA" surname and a tagline. Basically, the business was run by 5 brothers for the past 30 years but has since split (3 months ago). My dad was the one in charged of building construction/ projects whereas the rest were into sales/ marketing and HR. However, they are all competitors now. THe business is located in a small town where most ppl are average wages earners with strong family values. I believe in time to come, the business will need to diversify beyond just housing development. As such,the need for a strong general SIA brand is important.

    Cheers,
    Teng
  • Posted on 5/7/2010 at 12:21 PM Accepted
    What country?

    If using the SIA name is really mandatory, then any name will do. Call it SIA Enterprises, or SIA Development, or SIA anything else. The objective in that case would not be to communicate a benefit of any kind, as in a traditional branding project. It's simply to register the name.

    Another approach would be to come up with a set of words starting with S - I - A, so that the initialism would be SIA. Examples: Structures In Action, Systems Interactive Associates, etc.)

    The third option would be to use the SIA name in the tagline, and create a company name that communicates the unique positioning benefit your dad's company plans to promise and deliver. This would be more like a traditional branding project. Then the tagline could include something like "Guaranteed by SIA" or "In the SIA Tradition" or something like that.

    Good luck. You are obviously facing a difficult situation, made worse by the family issues. I hope we can help you.
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 5/7/2010 at 1:44 PM Member
    You say re-use the family name, but that you can't use the old name. So if Sia was used before and you can't use the old name again, you should check to see if you can still use Sia at all. This would be a local (specific to your country) ting, so not something we can likely answer, but something you should check.

    If web use is reasonably high in your area, you may want to consider again what Karen said about looking at web possibilities up front, even if you don't have a web site. Not reserving a name and having someone else take it after the fact has been a big problem for some companies.
  • Posted on 5/8/2010 at 1:07 AM Author
    Dear all,

    Thank you for your comments. Let me start off by answering them one by one.

    Firstly, I apologise if my earlier email came across that my uncles and my dad are in a huge row and not on speaking terms. They are still cordial, as would be expected of a family, just competitors. My dad is definitely not out for revenge of any kind. He is just sentimental about carrying on the family business (no longer) in his father's name. All my uncles are still in the building housing industry, each owning their respective lands. So no one is out to get anyone.

    The issue with my grandfather's name (which was the name of the previous company that family used) is that one uncle has come up with an agreement that he got all the brothers to sign to effectively give up my grandfathers name to him. So no one now can use the name "SIA HER YAM".

    Yes. We are not based in the US. We are from South East Asia, Malaysia.

    Currently, there are about 75 company names beginning with "SIA" on the companies commission registration. That includes Sia Development, Sia Realty, Sia Brothers, Sia Enterprise, Sia & Co etc. Furthermore, we can't use "land" as it will involve tax issues. So, all that just propounds the problem with finding a suitable name.

    I like the suggestion to use a tagline - eg. In the SIA tradition, as it denotes trust and with traditional values. Perhaps that can be used as our tagline.

    However, there is still the issue with the name. I was thinking of Siacorp as in the abbreviation of Sia Corporation which is already registered. I'm wondering what are the chances of it being registered. I will be submitting in an application to have it registered.

    Any other suggestions?

  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 5/9/2010 at 11:17 PM Accepted
    Teng

    Only a local business lawyer will be able to give you a view on the likelihood of being able to register Siacorp - it will probably all depend on how the local companies law views names of a substantially similar nature.

    In terms of a new name, you might want to think about the kind of benefits a prospective customer might be looking for when selecting a building firm.

    For example, Golden Home Building Co might sound like a trustworthy and aspirational company that would be attractive to prospective Malaysian clients. Bumiputra Comfortable Homes Corp might also be attractive to a certain sector.

    Can you tell us more about who the prospective clients will be? Any particular ethnicity - Chinese, Indian, Malay, ex-patriots? And are there any special reasons why your father should get their business, rather than a competitor?

    ChrisB


  • Posted on 5/10/2010 at 10:20 PM Author
    Dear all,

    Thanks. I have contacted the co sec to see whether Siacorp is registrable.

    So far, we are targetting all types of groups, be it Chinese, Malay or Indians. It doesn't matter. Our competitors have the extra edge of having modern designs on their houses. We unfortunately are unable to change our house facade as the plans have been submitted and approved. So far, I have managed to convince my dad that we need to do a different colour scheme and at least change the gate to give the illusion that we are also keeping up with the times.

    Thus, in a way, keeping in the SIA tradition may be good but may also send the wrong message that we are still "old fashioned" in our designs. Not sure how else to sell ourselves as we would like to have the SIA goodwill but have a modern and progressive image for the company.


  • Posted on 5/12/2010 at 3:27 AM Author
    Dear all,

    Thank you for posting your comments and ideas. We managed to get the name Siacorp and it is now in the midst of registration. I believe we need to go with a solid tagline. Will look into that.

    In the meantime, take care and thank you again!

    Cheers,
    Teng
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