It could be an embarrassing linguistic oversight or simply an internet hoax, but the apparent name of a new joint venture between Russian gas giant Gazprom and the Nigerian government is causing considerable commotion. The name is Nigaz, which to many people sounds (and looks) a bit too similar to ‘niggaz’, American street slang for the derogatory term for African Americans, 'niggers'.

So is this a major blunder from Gazprom and the Nigerian authorities? It’s hard to imagine that no one working on the joint venture – which took over two years to be completed – raised the alarm when the new name was unveiled.

Gazprom and Nigeria’s state operated NNPC presented their project in May, aimed at building refineries and gas power stations in Nigeria. It is believed the joint venture is important for Gazprom’s ambitions to expand beyond its own Russian borders and to strengthen its position in the worldwide oil and gas markets.

Short and clear
“It only shows how important it is to find the right name”, says Filip Clarisse, a copywriter who is specialised in brand and product identification. “The right product name should be short and it should be referring to what your product or company actually does. So in that sense ‘Nigaz’ could be a reasonable name, as it combines both parties involved and it contains the word ‘gaz’. But its obvious negative connotation should never have been overlooked”.

Mr Clarisse says there are numerous examples of companies choosing the wrong names. Sometimes these stories are simply too good to be true. According to various internet sources, General Motors was stunned by the lack of success of its Chevvy Nova car on the Latin American market. Spanish speaking people weren’t surprised, though, as 'Nova' is Spanish for ‘no go’, meaning the car wasn’t any good. General Motors quickly renamed the car – or so the story goes. In reality, GM never had to rename its car, as the Chevvy Nova was quite successful in Latin America (and to most people the difference between ‘Nova’ and ‘no va’ was obvious enough).

In a similar case, the Ford Pinto flopped in Brazil since ‘pinto’ is Brazilian slang for a small penis. Again, too good to be true, as the Pinto was never sold in Brazil in the first place.

Hard to imagine
“It’s hard to imagine huge corporations making these mistakes”, says Mr Clarisse. “Finding the right identity for your product takes a lot of time and effort. Most companies do pay a lot of attention and money in doing so. ”.

Therefore it is doubtful whether Nigaz really is the name of Gazprom’s and NNPC’s new joint venture. Its website (www.nigaz.com) is empty, except for its mysterious tag line “There’s only one G” and the official Gazprom website doesn’t mention anything on Nigaz.

Pajero
But of course, things sometimes do go wrong. Mitsubishi once renamed its Pajero car as the name not only refers to an Argentinian wild cat, but also to ‘wanker’ in Spanish slang. The Pajero is better known as the Montero in Spanish speaking markets.

The internet can also cause problems. When Italian battery company Powergen Italia registered its website address, it lead to an embarrassing www.powergenitalia.com. The same goes for an Australian company called Experts Exchange, which appeared as www.expertsexchange.com in web language. Both companies have now changed their URL’s into the more sensible www.batterychargerpowergen.it and www.experts-exchange.com, respectively.