Disney and Name Brands

It is one of the most recognized brands in the world: Disney.  There's Disney Land, Disney World, Disney Studios, Disney Pixar, The Disney Channel, Disney Radio, Disney on Ice, Disney Cruiseline, and on and on.  But before all that, Disney was a proper name.  The name of a guy (well, actually two guys, Walt and Roy, but Walt was arguably the prime driver), who had a vision and determination.  Through that determination, he turned HIS NAME into a WORLDWIDE BRAND.  I mean, think about that in the context of the people you know.  Isn't it kind of surreal to think that in some alternate universe, people are saying "This year, 20,000 brides elected to get married at Dreslough Land!"  Or "Steve Jobs joined the board of Wilson today, giving Wilson-Pixar an exclusive distribution deal for the next 8 years."  (Yes, I realize that Wilson is in fact the name of an existing sporting goods company, I'm just pandering to one of my regular readers...)

Of course, naming your company after yourself is not without hazards.  Computer Scientist Dr. Gene Amdahl left IBM to found his own computer company, the Amdahl Corporation.  He succeeded admirably, but when he left in 1979, he couldn't take his name with him.  Amdahl (the company) continued to operate long after Amdahl (the man) was out the door.  Since they owned the name, he had to find other monikers for his follow-on ventures.

And not all names are equally suited to being stuck on major ventures.  My last name "King" is already a noun, and in fact one used in a lot of industries.  King Corporation appears to have a fairly lame looking website describing what they do.  But if you ask most people what the "King" brand is, and I bet they'll come up with famous horror writer Stephen King. Indeed, that's another way in which names can become widely known brands.  If I say Clancy, King, or Rowling, you may or may not be able to envision what they look like, but if you read, you probably know their names and at least some of what their brand is about.  Although perhaps that is just a subset of celebrity in general, which gives us "brands" like Eastwood, Newman, and Hepburn, or poisons others like Hitler.  And then there are some names that span both celebrity and business brand: quick, what pops into your mind when I say "Hilton?"  I suspect that above a key threshold age (45?  50?) you first think "Famous Hotels," and below that threshold age you initially envision "Purse Dog Wielding Heiress."

So, what would you want YOUR brand to be?