I enjoyed reading Clay Risen’s article about the business of coming up with brand names over at The Morning News, but couldn’t help thinking that many brand names only seem silly until they become commonplace enough to be unremarkable. Names like Microsoft, Kleenex, and Google now have lapsed into the everyday and ho-hum, but I suspect that each would be mocked outright if it were suggested today. Handspring? Pshaw. Xerox? It’d be ridiculed. Ultimately, I feel like a lot of a brand name’s success depends on the success of the company’s actual product; money is probably better spent on things like quality, usability, and support than it is on coming up with the ultimate name.