What's in a Name?

July 18, 2013 3:40 PM

For various reasons, I urgently need to rename my company and I'm having a hard time coming up with something useable. We've been in business a little over five years and this transition has been difficult and not of our choosing- which is probably what is making it difficult to find a name.

What we need is a name for a company that provides surgical disposables, durable equipment, life assist devices, surgical services, implants and equipment for medical facilities/hospitals. The company provides blood management services and autologous blood therapies along with other products that are used in direct patient care. We also sell disposible surgical supplies to hospitals and medical centers. The use of Greek or Latin is preferred.

Obviously we'd like to sound as if we are a huge, competent, professional company. It helps if the name is something easily remembered and easily pronounced. Patients will probably never see our name, but hospital administrators and OR personnel will.

Thank you, Hive Mind!!

posted by anonymous to Work & Money (20 answers total)

Plasmed. Or maybe Mediplas?

I'd suggest RePlas, which is kind of clever, but that's already an Australian recycling company with potential for domain name confusion.

"Hemo" is harder to do anything with.
posted by snuffleupagus at 3:54 PM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

Hematix?
posted by snuffleupagus at 3:56 PM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

Hemo Services and Surgical Equipment. (Oh, please, please tell me you can secure permission to use images from Hemo the Magnificent!)
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:02 PM on July 18, 2013

Horizon Medical Supplies
or
Horizon Medical Supplies and Services
posted by rakaidan at 4:29 PM on July 18, 2013

sanguis sum paratus

I don't know Latin, so don't trust me and Google but apparently it means something like Blood, be prepared.
posted by b33j at 4:31 PM on July 18, 2013

I was thinking about all the Greek and Latin words for healing/body etc. but they all seem to be used by other companies. Then I thought about "surgery" itself which comes to us from the Greek kheirourgos and the Latin chirurgia which mean "hand work." What about just Urgia, which has the advantage of sounding a bit like "urgent" and picks up on the idea that you make medical devices that go beyond what the simple "hand" can do? It's not a particularly pretty sounding name, but I like the way it looks and it would be pretty memorable, I think.
posted by yoink at 4:47 PM on July 18, 2013 [2 favorites]

Vitechna (life + technology)

Salutech (health + technology)

Medicostat (medicine + consistent)

Salvitech (save + life + tech)
posted by Salvor Hardin at 5:02 PM on July 18, 2013 [2 favorites]

Medectra (medicine

Medetra (medicine)

Liraxa (sounds cool)
Liracta
posted by Salvor Hardin at 5:09 PM on July 18, 2013

Eudaimonia (Greek for good life)

Also, some good Greek ideas here:

Especially:
Aceso, goddess of the healing of wounds and the curing of illness
Aegle, goddess of radiant good health
Artemis, goddess of the hunt, wild animals, the wilderness, childbirth, fertility, plague and good health
Asclepius, god of medicine and healing
Chiron, a centaur known for his knowledge and skill in healing
Hygieia, goddess of health, cleanliness and sanitation
Paeon, physician of the gods
posted by 4ster at 5:53 PM on July 18, 2013

I don't have a specific recommendation, but please don't choose a hard to remember name - you won't get remembered. For the well-known word suggestions (such as "Artemis") be careful about selecting a name like that, because many people will already have connotations about the name. On the other hand, it will be certainly easy to remember.

But +1 to mediplas and replas, those seem like great ideas to this EMT and physician's kid.
posted by arnicae at 6:00 PM on July 18, 2013

Surgical Support Company

No, it's not latin, it's not even very clever. It's the clerks who will be calling you and processing your payments. Leave it simple and memorable. Many clerks don't know latin.
posted by myselfasme at 6:18 PM on July 18, 2013 [2 favorites]

Surgical Support Company

This is a very good suggestion, but needs a modifier. Advanced Surgical Support sounds nice, until you put together an acronym, so we'll skip that one.

Progressive Surgical Support
Modern Surgical Support
Comprehensive Surgical Support
(Name of town or region) Surgical Support
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:38 PM on July 18, 2013

Surgics
Medifusion

snuffleupagus' Plasmed is a great option too.
posted by theobserver at 8:33 PM on July 18, 2013

Was going to suggest Mediquip but it's apparently taken already. I suppose it's not professional enough but I really like "Medcetera" (like et cetera), which is what I thought someone already said but I guess it was a different but similar word. Medtra? Parata? Everything else I've come up with is already taken, so i agree an option is to look to your last name or other names then add "surgical support" or similar. Also could use a town name (doesn't need to be where company is based, just any meaningful place in company history probably.). I'm thinking about companies like Johnson Controls for example.
posted by belau at 9:10 PM on July 18, 2013

medtopia
the fixery
recovery medical
stitch surgical supply
posted by apostrophe at 9:13 PM on July 18, 2013

3S Surgical Supply & Support
posted by MonkeyToes at 10:30 AM on July 19, 2013

Hank's Blood Tools
posted by whuppy at 11:04 AM on July 19, 2013

You mentioned preference for Greek or Latin. How about incorporating "ichor" (Greek for the blood of gods or immortals) or "vitam" (Latin for life) in your name? I'm not clever enough to suggest any names, so I wish you best of luck!
posted by tenpointwo at 12:00 PM on July 19, 2013

I rather like the Chiron- stem. Play with some suffixes on or compounds with that, perhaps.
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:07 PM on July 19, 2013

Ichor was thought to be poisonous to mortals.
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:07 PM on July 19, 2013