Choosing a name – just the right name – is not at all easy. A long account can be spoken or written as a definition, but to name a person, object, or event requires finding the perfectly simple word or two that says it all. The name.
Our daughter, Kirsten, planned to open a “make and take” craft store in San Jose, California. It took some time to come up with the perfect name: Craftiful.
We traveled to California to visit family and helped her get the store ready for its grand opening.
When we needed a break from our work at the store, we walked a few blocks to the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden. As we meandered through the garden, with 189 rose varieties, we paid attention to names of the roses.
How do people come up with the perfect name for a rose (or store), we wondered? We read that in selecting a name, people often start with emotional and familiar ties, like…
Walking on Sunshine
Love & Peace
There’s generally a lot of pressure to come up with the perfect name. Be creative, was one site’s advice.
Brass Band
A name might be descriptive…or abstract, and always interesting.
Hot Cocoa
Gold Struck
Some say the shorter the name, the better.
Europeana
Sentimental
The name could be someone you want to honor.
Why were we surprised to discover some sell the honor of selecting a name? Maybe that works better for roses than babies?
One of the roses growing at the San Jose garden is Iceberg, with an aptly named, frigid white flower. Our daughter, Kirsten, also has an iceberg rose in her garden, and we needed advice on pruning it.
We got our answer from an expert, Ramon, who told us just what to do.
As we were ready to end this post, one last web search related to naming brought up the somewhat ominous aspect of branding in the digital age. Making money off the name should be a consideration (was the message). Sigh.
We knew selecting a name was not easy at all. Now it seems even more difficult in this new age.
July 2018
simpletravelourway 
Such a lovely garden full of gorgeous roses. Looks like a wonderful, meandering walk with lots of oohs and ahhs. I love Kirsten’s name for her new shop and wish her lots of luck! Anita
Congratulations & best wishes to Craftiful!
I hope your daughter enjoys her exciting new craft adventure! Wonderful photographs of roses, oddly named or not. A craft studio near a rose garden seems a splendid location.
Good luck to your daughter and her new venture. Have you seen the pink Iceberg rose? It’s very pretty and a prolific bloomer!
Nice pictures – I have often struggled with roses due to the bright colours.
Best of luck to Kirsten and her beautifully-named new shop.