What’s in a name? The power of the portmanteau and a business owner’s inspiration…

What is it that makes the portmanteau such a feature of modern language and discussion? We have “jeggings” and “bromances”, “brunch” and “listicles”, “Brexit” and “netiquette” and, my personal favourite, “confuzzled”.

The portmanteau’s literary debut came in Through the Looking Glass, when Alice is told, “Well, ‘slithy’ means ‘lithe and slimy.’ ‘Lithe’ is the same as ‘active.’ You see it’s like a portmanteau – there are two meanings packed up into one word.”

Perhaps it reached its zenith with the celebrity nickname “Brangelina”. So much so that, when the celebrity couple split in 2016, Bustle magazine worried “Without Brangelina, will we still portmanteau?”

The writers at Bustle needn’t have worried! I was really happy to do my bit to continue the trend when I finally settled on my own company name.

As a start-up business owner, choosing a name can be fraught with difficulty. It needs to be something that reflects your brand and vision. Yet it can’t be too “of the moment”. Your name must be able to stand the test of time and allow your business the scope to grow; not box you in in any way.

For my own mentoring and consulting business, I knew I wanted a name that reflected my values and approach: something uplifting and positive that also captured the notion of unlocking potential. Something that could inspire. It also needed to reflect my area of focus: specifically, small and medium-sized enterprises and businesses (SME).

I was playing around with the words “Inspire” and “SME” when I spotted the double portmanteau. I want to inspire SMEs – because that’s what inspires me! And, of course, most obviously, the name is one of the goals of those people I help.

 I’d like everyone with whom I work with to feel that “Helen inspires me!”