'Tis but thy name that is my enemy:
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? It is nor hand nor foot,
Nor arm nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O be some other name!
What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet

In these famous lines spoken by Juliet in William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet – we see a girl struggling to understand why the name of her true love (Montague) is the one thing keeping them apart.   The question and rational is clear – can a name really change the course of your personal history?

As a society, it appears we believe that.  A quick search on Amazon results over 56,500 results of baby naming books complete with the “meaning” behind them.  Even more surprising is the subsegment of books that tell you what others think of your child based on the name you select. 

In the world of human capital, it is no different.  Vendors conduct research on name recognition and marketplace perception. They test out new names on current employees, current clients, analysts and focus groups.  We’ve seen a number of these changes in 2011 alone, including the spring renaming of Stepstone Solutions into Lumesse and Manpower became Manpower Group. 

While both went through multiyear, global journeys in the decision making process – the outcomes and reasoning behind them were unique.  The Lumesse journey was mapped out to fully unify the acquired companies into one cohesive brand for employees and clients alike.  Manpower Group, by contrast, was a way to create a corporate umbrella and shared service leader that allowed individuality and innovation among the subbrands such as Manpower, TAPFIN, RPO, Right Management and Experis.

For most organizations, a name change isn’t decided on lightly.   Even the most staged renames take time for the market awareness and adoption of the new brand.  For companies looking at vendors who have changed names, it’s important to know the reasoning behind name changes – and a good company can explain it quickly and clearly.   Those without awareness may not have actually changed the core around “who” they are. 

In that case, that which we call a rose, by any other word still smell as sweet?