Some people shouldn't get to name things...

[danlansdowne]

A lot of f(l)ailing companies are in the news lately. In the US of A, we have "Fanny Mae" and "Freddy Mac," and now in the UK there's a struggling housebuilder named "Taylor Wimpey."

Who names these companies?!

Comments

[ken-redtail.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure Mr. Taylor and Mr. Wimpey named their company. :P

[stevenroy.livejournal.com]

If you're poor, it's crazy, but if you're rich, it's just "eccentric".

Now that these companies are poor, their names are crazy again.

[canisrufus-uk.livejournal.com]

Taylor Woodrow plc, the American housebuilder and George Wimpey plc the British housebuilder merged to make Taylor Wimpey plc the multinational housebuilder ;)

[marmoe.livejournal.com]

I noticed this when I looked them up on wikipedia some weeks ago. The original names were different, the public preferred the "funny" names over the abbreviations and finally they were officially adopted.

Freddy Mac: Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC)
Fanny Mae: Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA)
more madness: Farmer Mac, Ginnie Mae, Sallie Mae

Taylor Wimpey does not have such an excuse, it was simply the result of a merger of Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey.

[sheepdog.livejournal.com]

I guess George was too wimpy to get his name first?