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What's the worst-named tech product that's ever been hugely successful? Not like a boring Sony MXH6500 type name, like a really truly terrible name.
My best answer so far is the Wii, but there must be better ones
312 replies and sub-replies as of Aug 29 2020
I'm trying to figure this out because my most unshakeable theory about tech is that you cannot overcome having a crappy name, and I want to prove myself wrong
LG enV3
iPhone SE
Samsung Gear VR
Fire TV Cube
Orbi
also NOFX, or “nofficks”, as my mom would say when i was 12
The "inks" was successful.
As well as the fashion brand "gooky".
🤣🤣🤣
SUPER FAMICOM must be a good runner in this.
Why? It just adds Super in front of Famicom (which was previously known and successful). And video games are _still_ adding the word Super to stuff.
It may not sound all that strange in English, but in Portuguese it went so badly that i was soon changed to Super Nintendo.
The Famicom ("Family Computer") in Japan was rebranded the NES internationally, and the Super Famicom obviously was branded as Super Nintendo.
I never knew the name Super Famicom had ever been used outside Asia!
Maybe there are no crappy names for successful products because, like bands, the product makes the name. TikTok? The Beatles? Walkman? U2? No way are those good names. We just become biased.
I disagree! All those are memorable, easy to spell, easy to say, and don't instinctively sound stupid. Whereas, like, Quibi is none of those things. It's definitely possible to turn a mediocre name into a killer one, but I still think a terrible one is unfixable
#CloudGate is popular.
However most Chicagoans call it #TheBean. 👍
Ha well I'm pretty sure we'd agree that Quibi's problems run way deeper than the name. You might be right but I'm not going to count that as an example in your favor.
Harsh but fair.
Maybe Quibi would sound fun, like TiVo, if it was actually a good product? We'll never know.
We do know... because we have Netflix.
That's "net," as in what people called the web in the 90s, and "flix," with an X.
The "i*Pad*" was mocked mercilessly when first introduced--especially by women.
It has seemed to a ... wii ... bit if success. 🤣🤣🤣
The iPad name was pretty heavily derided at launch, but the name transcended itself and now just is the “Kleenex” of tablets
You are wrong. Dumb names get normalized once they becomes ubiquitous.
It's hard to imagine now, but "Quibi" and "Netflix" are equally stupid names, I promise you.
does the Wii U count as hugely successful? Because that’s worse
true! i guess it counts!
No way. That is one of the biggest console flops ever - not “hugely” successful. I think I’m with you on iPad thou... I love mine, but that name initially was clingy. Do you recall the early rumors of it being named “Apple Canvas”?
This is a great answer, because I think the name Wii U was actively confusing for people who maybe didn’t understand the difference and the fact that you can’t play Wii U games on wii
Juicero
The MP3 player Jens of Sweden.
As in hero or kangaroo? Because it suggest the former but works better as the latter.
“Hugely successful”
iPad was the the worst name when it came. Remember "Apple's iPad Name Not the First Choice for Women. Period."?
Casey, this was a well-named product that failed terribly. I think you got the assignment inverted
Still, a chance to tease it should not be passed up!
facebook
Google Currents. No the other Google Currents.
How about this timeline of names:
Xbox > Xbox 360 > Xbox One > Xbox One X & S > Xbox Series X & S
I think taking a step back, "Xbox" it itself a really dumb corny name. It sounds like the internal secret project name that they forgot to change
I mean it’s a shortened form of DirectX Box so yeah kinda
Surprised it wasn’t Microsoft Media Center Console 2000
The Xbox One X by ITSELF is a strong contender here
As much as I support your nomination of Xbone, I think Microsoft doubled down with "Xbox Series X". 🤣🤣🤣
We still call ours the Ecksbonecks. That said we own one so how stupid is it really?
i assume "tech product" means hardware because if not basically every app on my phone counts
I still remember all the MaxiPad jokes when the iPad was first announced.
I would argue iPod was a very silly name
iPad was a letdown when I heard it at first
Google. It's the Google search engine.
Came here to say the same.
the wedge
The Ped-egg
Wii was good from an international naming scheme.
Does the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch count?
*Powered by Sprint
The whole Galaxy S lineup counts. Like what does the S mean? Nobody remembers the original Samsung Galaxy from like 2009, so why keep the S? Why did they increment S10 to S20?
I can answer the last one: So they have a higher number than Apple
My theory is that S20, S30, S40, S50 would be easier to say than S11, S12, S13, S14
I also realized the other day that the Galaxy Note has an S pen but the Galaxy S doesn’t 🤷♂️
Asus Eee PC
iPhone XS Max
iPhone extra small max
Excel.
Floppy drive
Wang calculators
Nintendo Wii
Honda Accord
Logi
What’s up with Logi, I don’t like it
Logitech rebranded themselves 'logi' a few years ago. They un-did that bad decision but you can still buy products with that branding.
Ah thanks. The confusion gotta hurt them
This is the answer.
Honestly, I think FaceTime is a terrible name. That said, it’s not a product, but nothing trumps Tronc for me.
How did the #ChicagoTribune go so wrong?!! #tronc?!! (T was lowercase.) 😱😱😱
Ring-Con for the Switch
iPad? We're just used to it now, but it's an objectively bad name.
Also AirPods.
iPad, remember all the female hygiene product jokes.
iPad
What’s wrong with the name Wii? It’s short, very easy to pronounce and very catchy 👀
Comcast and Xfinity have to be up there
Wii is terrible, especially when the codename was Revolution, which is a totally rad name.
omg the Nintendo Revolution would have been AMAZING
Wait, you didn't know?!! 😱😱😱
can you really imagine everyone's grandmas playing revolution sports
Alternate universe theory: is the Nintendo revolution was the real reality can you imagine your grandmother playing WII sports?
Wii is a great name, it’s just not for us and other English speakers
iPhone 11 Pro Max
Razer Blade
Swagtron Hoverboards
OnePlus One
Came here to suggest iPhone 11 Pro Max...but “Swagtron” ooh boy
I think Razer Blade is kinda cool! All three of the others, though, hard oof
It’s definitely the best one on there! And admittedly better than something like MSI GS66 Stealth
No lie, I like "Razer Blade". 👍🤣
Wix literally means jerk off in German, so...
lol Kia (as in the car) means barf in hebrew
I'll never buy a Kia because it also stands for "killed-in-action" and that kinda freaks me out.
étron means "pile of shit" in French
Audi should've done at least a little bit of research when it came to naming their EVs
Yes, but Nova (as in the car), still means "doesn't go" for a huge portion of the globe.
OMG i forgot about swagtron
There were more than a few wanker jokes about the Palm Pilot users back in the day. Still miss my 3X.
I like Wii. WHEEEEE! That is the sound of a fun adventure!
IPad was objectively awful, we're just used to it now.
Twitter is also a terrible name. Too evocative of nitwit.
Treo... What? Why? I loved that device unconditionally, but the name sucked.
Yeah I'm coming around to iPad maybe being the right answer. I think Twitter's a good name though!
Wii is good, but Wii U sounds like an ambulance.
Panasonic Tamfax
Not a product itself, but the Zune sharing feature being called “Squirting”
wait is this real
Unfortunately yes.
Christ I get PTSD flashbacks from this
Who thought that was a good idea!?
iPad. Everyone laughed when they announced that name.
I think the Aiwa CX-NA115 Compact Stereo System with Speakers, Radio, 3 CD Player, & Dual Cassette is a little cumbersome.
If it’s not limited to hardware products, Yahoo!
Yahoo! is a good one. My god the exclamation point
"Google".
Sure, us math geeks knew it was 10 to the hundredth power but for most folks it was a name with "goo" in it. #Ew 😱
Worse, it was a *misspelling* of a math term that sounds like a baby talking.
On the other hand, it's a disarmingly cute way to introduce a world-conquering AI.
"Oprah" was a misspelling of "Orpah", the sister-in-law of Ruth in the Bible but it seemed to work for Ms. Winfrey. 👍🤣
FaceTime Audio 🧐
I mocked the Asus Eee PC's name relentlessly and then they created a whole laptop category and I had like three of them.
also their original motto was ROCK SOLID / HEART TOUCHING which i think i'm gonna get tattooed on a bicep someday
Those things filled an awesome role at the time.
OnePlus One
Anything with "Pro Max" or "ThinQ"
Combine them and you get MAX-Q, which is also bad.
X Æ A-12
Inbox by Gmail....
fair, but Inbox itself isn't bad!
Wasn't*
I'm certainly biased, but i'd like to consider it successful!
But seriously you can't imagine how many googlers have never heard of Inbox the product...
Windows for Workgroups
Amazon Echo because probably half the people with one don't even know that's the proper name for the device.
Bluetooth. Bizarre name and obnoxiously clunky tech that somehow succeeded despite its terribleness.
Named after Harald Bluetooth, Danish and Norwegian King who united the two countries.
The Bluetooth logo are also his initials as runes.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_Bl…
You beat me to this :)
Ok _that’s_ kinda cool. Arguably an esoteric reference for a technology, but I get it.
But there’s nice history 🤓”The Bluetooth wireless specification design was named after the king in 1997,[24] based on an analogy that the technology would unite devices the way Harald Bluetooth united the tribes of Denmark into a single kingdom.” -wiki
Whatever Buletooth the technology has saved in time has been lost by everybody having to constantly correct the typos when they type bletooth biliteoth bloutooth blurthot blurtoogh
It took more than a decade for it to succeed. The really stupid name did not help, that's for sure.
David ... it your answer is far worse. #Nintendo had a codename for their next gen console after the #N64, the #Revolution, but officially went from that to #Wii.
And it's not like "Wii" means something in Japanese. It's merely a play on "we" & the "ii" resembling 2 people. 😱👎
sony vaio, like wtf is that?
HP Pavilion
Makes no sense
HP Elitebook. It’s not elite and neither are the people using them
"iPhone X S Max" (say "iPhone 10 S Max") and "iPhone 11 Pro Max" are hideous.
Quick-E. No, I don't want a Quick-E.
Any Android phone circa 2011
He said successful, people
This is correct. The reigning champ - I think - is the "Samsung Galaxy SII Epic 4G Touch by Sprint"
I gotta disagree, for obvious reasons.
It's the JooJoo and it's not even a close race.
Oh, I guess it wasn't successful, hugely or otherwise
Man if that was a huge success then I should feel way better about my own successes 😂
Kin is actually a cool name, the product was a disaster
We all forget, but back in the day we were all like “iPad????”
Yeah, so far the two things really disproving my can't-overcome-a-bad-name theory are the iPad and Yahoo!
That exclamation point... those arrogant bastards
You mean, those arrogant yahoos!
This, iPad was universally mocked at first.
not a branded product per se, but still: dongles
Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro 2
Famicom? Blergh.
The Zune had a lot of other problems but the name certainly didn't help.
Lotus 1-2-3.
I get what you’re saying, but Wii U was a far worse name. Also Xbox One X and Xbox Series X.
Or Xbox One, for that matter.
Danger Hiptop
Way back when Digital Equipment Corporation had a Windows Xserver named WindX, which is an awesome name. They were forced to change it and I "won" the internal contest to name it "eXcursion." I hated it, but that's what they chose.
We're all so used to it now that it seems normal, but I think people don't understand just how ridiculous it was to name a product "Windows" back when it happened.
For SEO reasons, Box.
Microsoft Plus! SuperPack for Windows XP
Walter May I ask you a question about IPAD Pros?
This one is a strong contender.
*sighs wistfully*
That is a winner!
I’d have to say the Apple Newton is right up there for me.
Silly Putty. Extremely high tech in the 60's.
Ouya?
What about the Asus Eee PC?
iPad ...couldn't believe it was the real name the first time I heard it
Twitter had a field day with "iPad" when the name was first released.
Twitter?
Do electrical vehicles qualify?
If so there is the Audi e-tron... Which has not been a success here in France ( étron == turd 🙃)
Microsoft Bob. Much too easy to mock as “Microsoft Boob”.
Not exactly what you asked, but still can't believe Roku pronounces its name Roh Koo and not Rock You. Seemed like an easy win when they launched.
I keep thinking about shoes. What is a "shoe". What's that supposed to mean, sounds weird as heck. Shoe.
Means arse in Japanese.
Sony Betamax
Macintosh. Apple cleverly names their computer after a variety of apples, but spells it wrong. Okay, I get it might have been intentional, but it still weird.
I really think iPad is pretty bad.
Totally. Anything would have been better than “pad” but they are worth $2T and I am not. 😎
The early word processing software called Mass-11. Did well, but reading the name on paper/screen makes me want to pronounce it “massile” like “missile”
Google.
Google
Oh TRUE
This. Definitely. It sounds like pied piper or something from Silicon Valley
I've always thought it sounded like a 4th tier app because of its name.
New Nintendo 2DS XL
Can't forget things like AMD Radeon R9 Fury X
MacBook
Not out yet, but: Xbox Series X
Definitely Microsoft Zune.
I’ll spare you the meaning in Hebrew.
WinCE
Why am I just now reading this as “wince”!? Half my career was programming on this shit hole of an OS
Watson
Most people don't know it's named after IBM's founder. Always hear ideas about Sherlock but ppl question why it was named after his sidekick
It isn’t a tech product, but JavaScript would qualify because it has nothing to do with Java. It was a co-marketing plot between Netscape and Sun. Right now, it’s probably the most popular language, and I guess a lot of new devs wonder how it's related to Java.
The syntax KINDA looked like Java at the time…if you really squinted?
To be fair, it's a better name than ECMAScript...
The syntax inspiration of Java and JavaScript is C/C++.
iPad was ROUNDLY laughed at
So was iPhone, iirc
My favorite is the McWrap at McDonald's. Say it out loud.
YouTube is a pretty dumb name, even back when it described what was actually on YouTube.
iPhone is also a monumentally garbage name for a hugely successful product.
Every Xbox has a name that's worse than the last one, and "Xbox" itself is pretty silly.
Blu-ray, also stupid.
Parchment.
This chart is incredible regardless, though
The Cardiff Electric Giant.
Withings, Fitbit (not totally terrible, but throwing it in here,) most of the "wearables" are pretty bad, "Alphabet" to replace "Google", (another bad rebrand named is Xfinity). Roku is pretty terrible, but on the level of Wii (catchy, but hard to remember.) Spotify. & Twitter.
A Freudian would say Microsoft.
I know someone who bought the Atari Video Computer System.
LG ThinQ TV. Is it Think or Thin-Queue?
Not 'hugely' successful but Palm Pre. I want the thing with the name meaning 'before'
POS. Point Of Sale system.
Every successful product that had an X.
The SCSI (/SKUZZY/) interface.
Youtube Red
Doesn’t ‘Google’ count?
The walkie-talkie?
"IPad" was widely derided, in padt due to youtube.com/watch?v=lsjU0K….
Mad Tv - IPad
The new Apple IPad
youtube.com
Xbox One
Oops! You said “successfull”. 🤪
IPhone 3GS where “s” is for speed?
iPhone XS - as we know it’s not ‘excess’, it’s ‘Ten-S’ - try explaining that to someone
Sony Net Md Walkman. Worst brand ever! LOL
iPad mini or as my dad calls it, my mini pad
Spotify ew
Google Nexus ....started gaining traction with nexus 5 only to change it to Google Pixel
anyone also remember Google & Samsung's Galaxy Nexus???!!! Lol.... Samsung Galaxy A, Galaxy B... Galaxy S, Galaxy Note 20 Ultra ...
Shopify
You know, I've always really admired Sony's commitment to giving products names that also double as strong passwords.
That said I thought the SMB280!$*5GT LCD TV was a tremendous breakthrough.
Nintendo New 2DS XL
I’ve also never considered MacBook a particularly appealing name, either.
LINE (messenger app) comes first in my mind. Huge success in Japan and a bit in Asia, but not in other areas. I thought Wii was okay when I first heard it, but is it weird from English native speakers??
iPad. While I love the product, the name still sounds like a female hygiene product...
Walkie talkie
RaspberryPi
The New 3DS
Windows
Honourable mention to Samsung for somehow bringing a product to market with only punctuation in the name. How did the Samsung :) not break any inventory or shipping databases in its short life?
Nintendo Wii U
Apple Pencil (*rolling my eyes* as I type)
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G (I get the order mixed up)
iPod is an objectively dumb name.
Brother P-Touch. Hands down.
I still think that the iPhone X, Xs and Xs Max are poorly named. With the iPhone XS Max gettin special honors for bad naming, because mixing letters + Roman numberals was a super bad idea.
The Wii U was even worse. They should have called it the Super Wii. Would have cleared up all the confusion.
The Zune was super successful... Right?
Adobe Acrobat. Like, huh? There is nothing acrobatic about static read only documents.
Mouse. Anyone wanna buy a rodent?
WhatsApp
Google! So successful we've forgotten how embarrassing it was to recommend