What’s with the “Amélie” Name?

Although Juliet made the case that a name isn’t so important, we beg to differ. The Great Bard himself most certainly understood the power of prose and the weight of words.  

We know that a name is a beginning, the first impression and the most important brand element that we have. When we were naming our agency, we considered many possible avenues. By process of elimination, it struck us immediately that we would avoid lawyerly names like “Ashmore, Guin & Associates” for their stodgy, self-promoting qualities. The advertising industry is full of those. Then, the thought of an idea-centric name crossed our minds briefly. Names like “Idea Factory” were quickly dismissed as well for being either too kitschy or too cutesy.

We decided on “Amélie,” which was Benoit’s idea, for a few reasons, including the nod to our French roots.

• We thought that having an agency would be like having a third child (at the time we had two). We mused that, if we did have a third child, we might name her Amélie. Little did we know that we would have a third child much later and that it would be a boy.
• Amélie was a very popular movie circa 2002, with art direction and cinematography that blew us away with crisp and snappy production value. In fact, the director Jean-Pierre Jeunet made lots of ad spots before he made that movie.
• Amélie came with lots of great connotations revolving around the verb “ameliorate,” meaning “to improve upon.” Much like the main character in the eponymous movie, Amélie sets out to find meaningful, if sometimes subtle, ways to make people smile. She is a good listener, a quiet and thoughtful observer, who springs into action with clever and surprising solutions.

Lastly, we thought that a name starting with an ‘A’ would always fare well in alphabetical listings.