1 EAGLETON NOTES: What's In A Name?

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Sunday 1 September 2013

What's In A Name?

How important names are.  Not just to us as individuals but to marketing as well.  When I was a lad, and  long before, one of the most prestigious jewellery shops in Liverpool was Boodle and Dunthorne. Today I see that it has altered its image and has become simply Boodles.  Frankly to me Boodle and Dunthorne oozes quality and a certain 'something' but Boodles is just, well, Boodles and, frankly, could well be anything.  That's probably just me though.  





I do like the little touch whereby the BD is retained intertwined within the first O of Boodles.  The stainless steel superlambanana is rather classy too (insofar as anything quite so whimsical can be called classy).  I think, by the way, that the chap in the photos is the shop's security chap.  The days of the top-hatted doorman are gone.  You can, however, still find morning-coated, top-hatted security people at the Argyle (Jewellery store) Parade in Glasgow.

19 comments:

  1. I wonder whether the prestigiousness lies in the name Dunthorne (which does sound rather impressive in itself, doesn't it?), or simply in the "&". (To me any English surnames combined with "&" somehow sounds like a law firm.) How would you feel about Boodle & Boodle? or Boodle & Sons? or Boodle & Smith? (for some reason, I find as I write the last one, that I think I'd prefer Smith & Boodle!)

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    1. Monica I think you have highlighted exactly why firms hire marketing consultants to decide on a business name nowadays. I suspect that Boodles decided that their image was far too old fashioned and appealed to a market sector that no longer has the money to shop there. The nouveau riche whose money they need may prefer the more modern name. Qui sait?

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  2. It sounds like a night club or disco to me.
    It doesn't matter what it's called. t does look very upmarket.
    I have never entered a shop like this....they probably wouldn't let me.

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    1. It's always dangerous, Adrian, for a shop to judge its customers by appearance. Look what happened to Opera Winfrey in Switzerland.

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  3. I'm sure whether it's Boodles or Boodles & Dunthorne, they're still selling exquisite jewelery. Boodles does sound frivolous and a step down from the original name. I agree with Adrian, sounds like a nightclub.
    I like the superlambanana at the entrance....that alone would grab my interest to have a look around inside. the store.

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    1. I'm sure they are Virginia. They used to be very expensive indeed. I doubt things have changed even in Liverpool where there are several very upmarket jewellery shops.

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  4. I concur, Boodle and Dunthorne just sounds like a better quality kind of place. Boodles is a "mall" type of experience here in the states.

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  5. Boodle?
    Rhymes with noodle and doodle, poodle..............

    I would love to look inside though!

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    1. That made me smile. We can always rely on you Jaz to see the amusing side of something.

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  6. Boodles would make a wonderful limerick! But it doesn't sound a very serious word (except perhaps for the purchase of Dame Edna-type bling).

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    1. And I thought you were going to produce a limerick Frances. I know one but it doesn't have anything to do with jewellery or shops.

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    2. I went to an emporium named Boodles
      I thought that they might sell poodles
      They had noodles and strudles and lots of doodles
      But they had bugger all I wanted

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    3. Ah well, David, we won't miss Seamus whilst we have Marcel.

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  7. Names! one of my favourite subjeccts, as I said before in a comment on your blog, which back then inspired me to write my own post on the topic:
    http://librarianwithsecrets.blogspot.de/2012/04/its-all-in-name.html

    Indeed, Boodle & Dunthorne has a rather different ring than just plain Boodles. They possibly had to change the name for legal reasons; maybe the Dunthorne part of the company left and they were not allowed to use their name any longer.

    I like the artwork in front of the building, and at least the security chap is dressed in s auit; the ones that I sometimes see patrolling the train station in Ludwigsburg look nowhere near as elegant.

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    1. I recall your blog post It's All in a Name well Meike. It generated a lot of comment. Boodle and Dunthorne dates from 1798 when its first shop opened in Liverpool. I'm not sure when it became Boodles but I think it must have been relatively recently. It is apparently now one of the UK's premier jewellers.

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  8. We have funny names here in Sicily too...our main bar for example is Bar Holiday, you wouldn't think you would find such a name in Trapani. I think the owner, like many Sicilians, is a returnee from American, where many Sicilian immigrants went.

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    1. Living in the UK and New Zealand Francesca means that there is such a huge variety of nationalities that many small shops have names which might come from almost any part of the globe.

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  9. I've been trying to work out how I knew the name Boodles - just dawned on me that it's the tennis tournament just before Wimbledon (definitely associated with and presumably sponsered by the jewellers).

    According to their website the name changed in 2004.

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