Exchanging names

Some years ago, a friend of ours in the news business pointed out that there were only two places in the U.S. where  the television networks kept "hot" cameras ready to go on the air at a moment's notice:  The White House and The New York Stock Exchange.

Today, things are different in that broadcasting is now feasible even through a cellphone camera. But the NYSE's place in the hierarchy of news makers hasn't moved an inch.

Now the NYSE's parent company -- NYSE Euronext -- is in the process of merging with Deutsche Borse as the minority partner in a new company, yet to be named.  And that's where, yet again, the cameras will get hot.

A Reuters report today quotes the head of Deutsche Borse telling a German financial newspaper that the name of the newly-formed venture would be selected by its employees. Politicians and labor unions on both sides of the Atlantic have already made everything associated with this transaction a sensitive matter.

Naming something  -- a new star, a child, a product, a country or a company -- pulls the namer in many directions.  History, symbolism, personality, character, function or a founder's name all enter into the discussion.  As our world gets smaller, so does the pool of available names to choose from. Thus we have the proliferation of names that begin with x and z and are designed to meaningless in any language.

As it is with any name, it will acquire its ultimate significance and meaning  based on its performance as time goes by.

The most important thing is to make a decision and move on, and not get bogged down trying not to offend anyone.  In many ways, the process for selecting the name will tell us a lot about the future direction of this new global exchange.

A big name, of course, can get in the way of progress, as Voltaire pointed out: "What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous."






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