"Boy, Wonder" and the Search for a Perfect Brand Name
Naming a brand is really hard.
The name we chose had to be as awesome as the boys we knew.
You get just a couple words, and they carry the entire weight of your mission and your brand’s personality, both now and in the future. The name has to be flexible enough to allow you to develop beyond your first few ideas and rough sketches. It has to be something that can grow and change and give meaning to products you haven’t even thought of yet.
When we decided in the fall of 2018 that we were ready to make a brand for boys’ clothes, the first thing we knew we needed to do was come up with a new brand name. Why? Because as much as we love Princess Awesome, we would not be making boys clothing under that label. It’s not because we thought folks would be uncomfortable buying and having their sons wear clothes labeled Princess Awesome. We wanted our boys’ line to have a mission and identity all its own. So of course, our new brand needed its own name.
We came up with a LOT of ideas. Here are a few highlights (out of the 67 total).
A little too in-your-face:
Bias Killers
Stereotype Slayers
Kind of the right idea….
Dinosaur Hugs
Brave Unicorn
Not exactly what we want but close:
Sparkle Knight
Sir Sweetness
Prince of Hearts
Captain Adorable
Mr. Dapper
Supercute
Ready to give up:
Prince Awesome
Getting Slap Happy:
Unicorn Poop
Suggested by Our Sons:
The Awesome Manufactory
Avenging Evil Angry Hoardes
Blowing Things Up Awesome Dudes
General Grenade
Dead Hamlet (I don't know where that one came from...)
So why at last, out of all these great ideas, did we choose Boy, Wonder?
Strong, sweet, funny, silly, serious - boys are so many things! We get only a few words to encapsulate our brand name and describe all the fabulousness that is boys.
We wanted something that took a stand firmly that the company was a brand for boys, because our mission is to take topics that have been gendered by the world around us and return those topics to neutral by applying them to places where they have been absent - to boys’ clothing in this case.
We also wanted something that could connote the wide range of boys’ interests, embracing all the things boys like and are and do. The phrase “boy wonder” worked so well on both counts. It was masculine, and since it has been associated with superheroes (particularly Batman’s sidekick, Robin) it communicated a strength, adventure, intelligence, in a superhero-in-training sort of way.
When we added the comma, Boy, Wonder suddenly became a double entendre. Now it could still connote superhero strength and prowess, but it also has the sense of “Wow, look at that!” It added a layer of imagination, dreaming, and sparkle that was exactly what we wanted our brand to be and represent. Boy, take a minute, and wonder at all the things boys are. Boy, aren’t boys wonderful?
1 Response
Carolyn
Thank you so much for this line! I can’t wait to see what you guys come up with in the future!
ps. I love Prince of Hearts… and my son would have loved Unicorn Poop, but Boy, Wonder is perfect! <3
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Eva St. Clair
Eva St. Clair is a co-founder of Boy, Wonder (and Princess Awesome!), and the Chief Creative Officer for both. She and her husband are raising four kids outside of Washington, DC.