“What’s in a name?

• William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

As perfectly quoted by Shakespeare makes us believe the fact that no matter the name, the essence remains the same. But in India, names make a huge difference in how we perceive somebody. Be it a living personality or even a non-living entity, names play a major role in describing. Real estate sector in India and across the globe are very selective when it comes to naming their properties as it allows the potential customers to connect and understand better. Naming also allow in selection of a valid theme for the project which further enhances the look and feel for the project thereby increasing the chances of being accepted by the customers.

“The act of naming and significance behind those names is an intrinsic part of every culture and that they are of enormous importance to both, the one who is receiving it and those who undertake the task of naming. Real estate sector is no different and is extremely particular in naming their projects as they are considered no less than a company’s child and provide a distinct identity to their product. For the customers and the society, naming of projects allow them to understand what it might hold and what is being offered to them”, enlightens Mr. Rajesh Goyal, Vice President CREDAI-Western U.P. & MD, RG Group. The company has several projects in NCR with highly thoughtful names. For instance, its luxurious project named as ‘RG Luxury Homes’ speaks for itself and what it offers to its customers. Adding to the view, Mr. Vivek Gupta, Director, Vardhman Estates & Developers (P) Ltd. states “In the realty sector, logical naming has been extremely popular as it lets the customer to effortlessly understand the offering by the developers. Modern day developers have been offering varied projects with unique themes and consequently select a name for their projects. This allows the customers to recognize the project better and for the developers, this strategy also makes the project stand out in the region amongst others”. Vardhmans also follow this strategy of naming smartly with its quite a few projects named on the basis of the regions and its offerings. For example, its project ‘Alpha Square’ is a name based on a location, sector Alpha in Greater Noida. Also, its project ‘i Valley’ signifies the presence of IT park in the project with architecture looking much like a valley.

Names to match Themes

Modern day concepts of naming are much different. Today, names are being followed on the basis of regions, themes, offerings and even religion. Western culture has had a mammoth influence on our country which has provoked the developers to offer entire project based on unique themes. For instance, NCR realty major with over two decades of experience, Ajnara India Ltd. has several projects based on country themes. Its project, ‘Ajnara Ambrosia’ with Spanish theme makes this project look like a little Spain in itself. ‘London Square’ another project by the group offers lavish theme based on English way of living. “Theme based construction is presently trending in the Indian realty sector with developers offering a series of theme based projects and townships. Even we are a part of this boat with all 3 of our current projects based on a unique floral theme. But at the same time, we make sure that this theme is prominently visible and felt throughout the premises as we offer beautiful landscaped gardens, massive green covers and much more”, expresses Mr. Rupesh Gupta, Director, JM Housing. Another NCR realty major Shri Group has been known for its noticeable presence in the city of Lord Krishna, Mathura &Vrandhavan. The company has numerous projects in the region and follows a religious theme for its projects with ‘Radha’ word attached in names of the projects such as ‘Shri Radha NRI greens’, ‘Shri Radha Valley’ and ‘Shri Radha Florence’ to name a few.

Promoting recall ability

The best feature of smart naming is that it increases the retention and recall ability. Theorists and researchers have always promoted the value of selecting names that have a related meaning to the identity so as to promote the recollection ability. Words with direct meaning and derived from a direct word are able to hold a greater recall value. For instance, the word ‘Pentium’ is derived from a Greek word ‘pente’ which means five. Also, shorter names have better retention ability than longer ones. “Even in real estate sector, names have to be carefully selected to make sure that the correct message reaches in the ears and minds of the customers. This sector usually chooses names that match the theme of project, region of deliverance or even the philosophies through which the company promotes itself. Such names are suitable for the general as well as targeted audience in order to achieve the proper retention and recall of the brand name”, explains Mr. Rakesh Yadav, Chairman, Antriksh India.

A developer highlighting their project as a sports theme based must not name it as ‘kid’s paradise’, or a kid’s theme based project shouldn’t be named as ‘sports ground’ as this will only become misleading for the audience which will further lead to confusion and lowered sales. “Name is an integral part of describing an entity, be it living or non-living, even for tangible assets like real estate. This sector has used naming as a part of its strategy to make the customers not only understand about the product that it is offering, but also to connect for long term. Correctly choosing the name allows customers to connect better with the property and understand what is in offer for them. For the developers, the attractiveness and style quotient increases drastically. Hence, naming of a property has been in roots of the realty sector from the very beginning and will continue to remain as the time progresses”, concludes Mr. Ajay Raheja, Co-Founder & CEO, Creindia.com.