A is for Apple

Apple is the world’s biggest company. You’re probably reading this on something they made.

But why’s the world’s biggest tech firm named after a humble piece of fruit?

From a naming perspective, there are lots of reasons it works. Here are some of them.

Apple is easy to say.

This may seem to be stating the obvious, but it helps if a name’s easy to say.

You want a name people will feel at home with. And if your potential customers are native English speakers – as most of Apple’s were when the business was founded – there aren’t many words more familiar and homely than this.

Cast your mind, if you can, back to nursery.

One of the first things we’re formally taught is the alphabet.

And at the start of the A-to-Z we find apple. It’s almost always the association we make.

Meaning Apple scores big on simplicity.

But even before then, most kids are fed apple.

Mushed up, it helps us to grow.

Apple is easy to spell.

No surprise, Sherlock ;)

But there are plenty of brand names in existence that while sounding simple enough, aren’t always easy to spell.

If you’re thinking of naming a brand and want to know if the name you’re considering is this easy, try the Ten-Year-Test.

Ask a ten-year-old to spell out the word.

Apple’s literal associations are positive.

As artefacts, apples are healthy. After all, they ‘keep the doctor away’.

There’s not a bad literal association. (Other than a bad apple, of course.)

Apple’s abstract associations are (mostly) positive too.

They’re what the good kid brings the teacher. They’re a down-to-earth gift for a guest.

And in the brand’s homeland, they’re even patriotic. Mom and Apple Pie symbolises the United States.

They’re also associated with science. This is where the tech link comes in.

Think of Newton. Think of gravity. The story of the apple falling from the tree.

It was a breakthrough moment for humanity – even if some people say that version of the tale may have been somewhat embellished.

If you’re thinking we’re reading too much into things, take a look at the brand’s original logo.

It was a pencil-sketch of Sir Isaac Newton sitting under a tree.

Apple’s original logo: a reminder less is more.

Apple – at at abstract level – allows room for shade.

This brings us to an interesting point. Not only is apple easy to say and to spell. Not only are its literal associations all positive. And not only does it have an extra layer of symbolic depth, thanks to the clearly deliberate link to Sir Isaac Newton.

Apple has additional depth of meaning beyond that.

Because according to the Old Testament’s Book of Genesis, it’s an apple that grows on the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden.

The apple is the ‘forbidden fruit’. The thing we’re told not to eat – but just can’t resist.

These dual ideas of rebellion and enlightenment may intertwine, either consciously or subconsciously, for some people who encounter the brand.

This gives an ‘edge’ to the brand name. It’s the kind of semantic multi-layering that appealed to a renaissance thinker like Steve Jobs.

And it’s why, all together, Apple just might even be the perfect brand name.