NOMEN OMEN — the name is an omen — said Cicero. But no one told General Motors before it launched its Nova into the Spanish-speaking world, where “no va” means “it doesn’t go”.

This is just one among a host of examples of expensive and damaging blunders committed by manufacturers on the global market, where the naming game is fraught with linguistic complexity.

Consider the Ford Pinto, which met with success almost everywhere except Brazil, where pinto is slang for a man of little manhood. When the company found out, it changed the name of its car to the Corcel.

Or take the Mitsubishi Pajero, which was greeted with mirth among Argentinians who knew pajero as the sort of swearword you might hear at a football match — as in “the referee’s a pajero”.

Toyota fell into a similar trap with its MR2 in France. Say this out loud in French, and it sounds like the sort of thing a dog would leave on the pavement.

Mist is another word to have caught out many a mulitnational, unaware that it means manure in German. Clairol, for example, blithely sold a hair curler dubbed the Mist Stick in Germany, while Estée Lauder had to withdraw a hairspray called Country Mist, renaming the product Country Moist.

With 200,000 trademarks registered in the US last year, consultants say it is becoming increasingly difficult to find an original name, and that firms are becoming increasingly frantic in their search for one.

This might explain why Reebok launched its Incubus running shoe for women without realising that in medieval folklore, an incubus was an evil spirit that had sex with women while they were asleep.

Nike, too, ran into trouble when its Air trainers were denounced by Muslims who said air was written in such a way on the sole of the shoe that it could be confused with Allah in Arabic.

Both firms were guilty of negligence, and promptly rectified the mistake.

But the Florida-based Fluke Corporation, which makes precision electronic instruments, has refused to change a name that appears ill-suited for its motto: “Serious tools for serious work.”

Marcel Botton points out that a name’s value is often linked to the performance of the company. So, as long as Fluke keeps expanding, it can get away with its title.

Another example is Vivendi, a name created by Botton, which was widely praised at first. But in a group that has been assuming a deathly palour this year, the word seems less successful.

Consider also Starbucks. Until now, the idea of naming a coffee after a charatcer from Moby Dick has seemed like a stroke of genius — the name being catchy and easily remembered. Yet if the tide turned for Starbucks, it might seem bizarre.

There are, of course, a vast array of product names that will never make it on a global market that is dominated by the English language. These include Bimbo bread and Bonka coffee from Spain, Krapp toilet paper from Sweden, Pansy male underwear from China, Mukk yoghurt from Italy, Poxy flooring from the Netherlands, and Skinababe baby lotion from Japan.

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