Wordlab

Orange, Telefonica Moviles, T-Mobile and Vodafone have announced the name of a joint venture that allows consumers to pay for things with their mobile phones. As with all naming projects, the quality of the name is inversely proportional to the number of people involved. When multiple corporations with different aesthetics need to agree on a name consensus quickly becomes the only goal and the results are predictable.

The “easily identifiable” new name? We’ll let the press release speak:

Tim Jones, CEO of Simpay said: “We expect the Simpay brand will be easily identifiable in our key markets for its convenience and reliability. Our aim is to see it on music websites, when making a flight booking or even when paying a bus fare. The announcement of our name and brand is a key milestone in our development and firmly establishes us on the mobile payments map.”

The Simpay website unveils another milestone, the spirited tagline that further establishes them on the mobile payments map: “Pay for stuff with your mobile”

But wait, there’s more. The website also introduces what the company surely hopes will be the next big catch phrase: “Simpay it.”

James Bond is perhaps the most recognized fictional character name of the last fifty years. But where did Ian Fleming get the inspiration for a name that would come to embody the ultimate suave connoisseur of female favors? As explained by the Cumberland Bird Observers’ Club:

James Bond was an American Ornithologist (someone who studies birds) who wrote the classic field identification book “The Birds of the West Indies”. When Ian Fleming wrote “Casino Royale” in 1952 at his home in Jamaica he needed a name for his fictitious spy and, seeing Bond’s book in his library, decided to “borrow” the author’s name.

“I was determined that my secret agent should be as anonymous a personality as possible,” said Fleming. “It struck me that his [Bond's] name, brief, unromantic and yet very masculine, was just what I needed.”

Bond’s book is still in print and, despite being originally written in 1936, is still the only definitive bird identification book covering all the birds of the West Indies.

Those 1950s West Indian birds have by now spawned a franchise that more than any other has assembled a roster of great character names. Here are some selected favorites: