I get interviewed a lot about Mabel’s Labels and the number one question I always get asked is “why did you name the company Mabel’s Labels?”. It’s actually a question I dread because the answer is not very interesting – quite simply it was for branding purposes.
We wanted something memorable and we wanted a logo that could be personified into the feisty, fun and loyal brand that we were. As such, Mabel was born. We tossed around a few names – here are the minutes from the meeting all those years ago when we agreed on Mabel’s name:
I also often get asked about how I named my kids, so here ya go! I love each of my children’s names and how I went about naming them:
1. Maginnis (son) There is a character in a Banjo Patterson poem “A Bush Christening” named Maginnis (named after a whiskey!)
2. Kallista Posy (daughter, we call her “Posy”) Her first name is after the town Daddy-o’s family settled in when they immigrated from Holland. Her middle name (and what she goes by) is Posy, the character from Ballet Shoes, by Noel Streatfield.
3. Spencer (daughter) is named after a cool off-off Broadway female actor I met while at NYU. Her nickname is “Sass” because her younger siblings couldn’t say her name and it came out as Sass. She, incidentally, is not sassy.
4. Jessamy (daughter) shares her name with a character in a children’s novel. Wikipedia describes the book as this: “Jessamy (1967) by Barbara Sleigh is a children’s book that sheds light on English life during World War I through a time slip narrative.” I shared an interesting story about her name on Yummy Mummy Club.
5. Clancy (son) is named after another Banjo Patterson character, Clancy of the Overflow. Clancy also appears in the poem-turned-movie, “The Man From Snowy River.”
6. Finian Aloysius (son). His middle name is a funny one. My grandpa had ALWAYS told people that his middle name is Aloysius, but it’s not. He didn’t actually have a middle name. We did not know why he thought this. So, I named my son after my Grandpa’s fictional name. Also, since Finian was going to be our last, we had some fun here. If you look at his ‘rapper’ name it would be Fin-Al (first part of Finian and first part of Aloysius). Get it: FINAL! As in NO MORE KIDS. I know, I kill myself sometimes.
Whether naming a new business or a new baby, it can be tricky business! Did you have trouble coming up with names for your children? Any naming regrets or names you wish you got to use?
Happy Birthday to our girl, Mabel! It’s been a wonderful 14 years!
