Naming companies in Lego City

[LAKAbricks]

Several companies exist in Lego City. Some of them have a logo - like the black plane on top of the flag of Legoland in the first airport. But almost none of them actually have got a name. Obviously this is because it's hard to find a name that fits all markets. One of the few exceptions is Octan - and then, of course, real world companies, like Shell or DB (German railway company).

Although I have more official sets including some kind of logo for a company, I only remember I have named a few of those companies:

- The airline from from the 6392 Airport which I named Legoair

- The airline operating the 6368 Jet Airliner which I called Jetair

- The railway company behind the logo launched in 1991 (like on the 4558 Metroliner), I called Legolands Jernbaner (Danish for Legoland's Railways) - even though I just got my first train in 2010.

Besides that, I named a company 'Legoland Airlines' (but just on drawings, never in MOC), another one 'Redair' (both on drawings as well as a small MOC). A car rental company was named 'Rival Rent-a-Car' after "the competitor" in a magazine advertisement from... I think it was Avis or Hertz. They had a counter in my airports, but actually I never built a single car for them

Now it could be interesting to hear if people do/did name the companies (transport/restaurants etc.) in their Lego City.

[Scorpio]

I am a corporate sellout in my city. Not as big as some other members but I keep adding as well. So far I have:

Shell Gas Station

Ace Hardware

Enterprise Rent-a-Car

Marshall Fields (The modified Grand Emporium, it says it on the sidewalk)

Edited March 22, 2011 by DHCP1121

[LAKAbricks]

Hi 'DHCP1121'

Nice little city, you have got there - with a nice selection of companies. I especially like the way, you have written the name of Marshall Fields on the pavement I also like the way, the red line on the roof of the Shell station has been made. - And I can see, your car rental has got cars

[lightningtiger]

My turn.

Now lets see, ah yes there is....

Landmark Rural Supplies.

IGA supermarket.

Mitre 10 hardware store. (sorry it's an older shot....now there is merchandise handing on the walls)

ANZ Bank (the Telstra pay phone has actually gone missing for real...don't know where it is ! )

As you can see I like using real brand names....even the merchandise in them are branded too.

There are two schools of thought, real world and purely Legoworld (Octan, etc.,.)....the choice is which ever one you like the most.

Brick On !

[Fuzzylegobricks]

Actually I do name the buildings and logos. I will share some pictures later for you!

One of the few exceptions is Octan

actually here we weren't aloud the Octan sets because they were not part of America so then they weren't licensed to sell them here in the us

[peterab]

actually here we weren't aloud the Octan sets because they were not part of America so then they weren't licensed to sell them here in the us

I sometimes wonder if you are very young. Octan is a fictitious company made up by LEGO. They own the rights so they don't need to be licensed to sell them anywhere. Octan sets such as the eight wide tanker train carriage have been sold in the US.

[jonwil]

I have used real-world companies in my MOCs including Holden (the Australian operations of GM), Bunnings hardware, Transperth (bus/train operator) and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

I have also invented a fictitious name for my restaurant (which is being built in black and dk green with plants and stuff in it), I am calling it "Hanging Gardens of Babylon middle eastern cuisine" and it will serve middle eastern food like kebabs

All off my other businesses dont have names, just signage (e.g. my music store just has a BrickForge violin as the sign)

[MetroiD]

Here's one of my favourite corporate portrayals in brick form, I really think the logo looks awesome.

[Aanchir]

I generally apply fairly generic names to LEGO companies not already named, when I name them at all. So for instance, the <-O-> logo stands for "LEGO Transit", the "bird" logo on the tail of post-2006 aircraft stands for LEGO Air, and the globe/package logo stands for LEGO Cargo. They're generic names, and they don't necessarily sound like company names-- but then again, hard to think of them as companies since most of them don't have any real competition in contemporary sets!

[Ralph_S]

Many of the cars I build are based on real-world vehicles, but when I have to come up with brands or company names for my city models I tend to steer clear of ones that really exist. I think the trick is to come up with a name or logo that will immediately sound or look familiar, without being a direct copy of a real one. I still want to build a fast-food restaurant of a fictional chain called BigBurger, with a McDonalds 'M-logo' on its side as the BigBurger 'B-logo' and a bookstore called 'Borderstones'.

I tend to think of the bus company in my LEGO version of a London Borough as the 'yellow arrow bus-company'.

London Routemaster bus (8) by Mad physicist, on Flickr

The sign posts on the bus-stops also have a tile with a yellow arrow on them.

I also have a restaurant and a pub with intentionally generic names.

curryhouse by Mad physicist, on Flickr

The Lion Pub by Mad physicist, on Flickr

Cheers,

Ralph

[LAKAbricks]

lightningtiger: Thanks for posting the pictures - and explaning the single brands in New Mannum. As a non-australian, I don't know the brands.

Fuzzylegobricks: I'm looking forward to see the pictures of your companies.

jonwil: Impressive name for a restaurant. But it could be a really interesting concept (also for a historic MOC ). I hope you'll post some pictures later.

Ralph_S: Great models, you show there. - Regarding the name of the Indian restaurant, I have seen a restaurant named "Taste of South-East Asia". So it's used in real world - but yeah, rather generic. - I like the lion on the hanging sign

[Ralph_S]

Ralph_S: Great models, you show there. - Regarding the name of the Indian restaurant, I have seen a restaurant named "Taste of South-East Asia". So it's used in real world - but yeah, rather generic. - I like the lion on the hanging sign

Thanks.

When I posted a WIP picture of the pub a friend of mine remarked that it needed a sign and obviously the sign needed to represent the name of the pub somehow. A little mosaic like this seemed the best solution.

I didn't explain that the point of the name of the pub and the restaurant was not so much to come up with something original that doesn't exist, but something that really could be in just about any city. There are plenty of pubs that are named the <something> lion and indeed, after I built 'A Taste of India' I passed a take-away curry place on my way to work to come to the shocking realisation that it was named 'Taste of India'. I apparently did pick this up, but couldn't consciously remember it.

Cheers,

Ralph

[maelstrom]

In my city, I have MagnaTronics. They are the technological company that will become M:Tron in the future.

[Aanchir]

In my city, I have MagnaTronics. They are the technological company that will become M:Tron in the future.

Brilliant concept! M:Tron's a bit enigmatic, but a lot of stuff suggests that they're a high-tech computer company. The name MagnaTronics really does sound like a more "lo-tech" precursor to the M:Tron we know and love!

[lightningtiger]

lightningtiger: Thanks for posting the pictures - and explaning the single brands in New Mannum. As a non-australian, I don't know the brands.

Well then time to make them clearer, Landmark sells farm supplies (plus livestock, seed & land), IGA in which the A means Australia in Oz and America in the USA - big and small supermarkets, Mitre 10 ais a hardware chain in Oz and NZ too.....speaking of NZ, we have the ANZ Bank....guess what the A stands for plus likewise the NZ ?

Hopefully that has cleared the air.

Brick On !

[city boy]

my garage is maximum tow.the construction crew is lcb Lego city builders

[LAKAbricks]

Thanks to everybody. It's great to see all those company names. And thanks again to LT, now for further explaning the Australian brands.

Ralph_S: Hehehe... funny little story behind the name. We see - and we don't see.

In my city, I have MagnaTronics. They are the technological company that will become M:Tron in the future.

Maelstrom, it could be interesting to hear what kind of technologies, MagnaTronics is working with. As far as I know, M-Tron is into mining mainly.

[CptMugwash]

I've yet to come to that decision as I don't have any companies to name

but I do have ideas, eg, Flourie's Flora, Bob's building supplies, etc, those kind of names

[Aanchir]

Maelstrom, it could be interesting to hear what kind of technologies, MagnaTronics is working with. As far as I know, M-Tron is into mining mainly.

Actually, M:Tron's role in the universe is kind of confusing. In a lot of languages, the names for the two largest sets (6956 Stellar Recon Voyager and 6989 Mega Core Magnetizer) include the word "rescue"-- for instance, the German name for 6989 is "M:Tron Rescue-center" (with the English word "rescue", even) and the German name for 6956 is "M:Tron Rettingsraumer" (M:Tron Rescuechamber). If it weren't for the name of 6989, I could easily be making a mistake in translation-- it could be supposed to mean "salvage" or something-- but as it is it seems that M:Tron is meant as a rescue organization in many countries.

The only thing that's totally clear about M:Tron from catalog information is that they have the galaxy's most advanced computer technologies, which is why the Blacktrons are always trying to steal stuff from them.

Anyway, on-topic, the farm branding (the little wheat-shaft logo) is a bit harder to name, since it's harder to tell what the brand represents. It appears on many of the tractors, which at least to my knowledge would indicate it's the brand of the tractors themselves. But since it also appears on the grain-transport ship it doesn't make much sense as a tractor manufacturer. Perhaps it's some agricultural conglomerate?

[LAKAbricks]

Actually, M:Tron's role in the universe is kind of confusing.

Thanks for the information on M-Tron. I'm not into space LEGO, so it was just a bit of information, I got from Brickipedia. It's interesting, as the same model can have so different names in different languages.

Anyway, on-topic, the farm branding (the little wheat-shaft logo) is a bit harder to name, since it's harder to tell what the brand represents. It appears on many of the tractors, which at least to my knowledge would indicate it's the brand of the tractors themselves. But since it also appears on the grain-transport ship it doesn't make much sense as a tractor manufacturer. Perhaps it's some agricultural conglomerate?

It's a little hard to figure out. I like your idea, it's a company making agricultural machines. But then the logo on the ship... There are some small differences between the two logos, though. On the ship, the logo consists of two wheat-shafts, including the straw - on the tractors there's only one - without the straw. But otherwise they look like each other. - Maybe the logo on the ship is from some kind of mill?

[jonwil]

Having just watched "Food Inc", I am tending to lean towards the wheat logo representing one of the giant vertically integrated agricultural firms that are becoming the norm in this world :)

[cimddwc]

and the German name for 6956 is "M:Tron Rettingsraumer" (M:Tron Rescuechamber).

If you don't mind a little correction: It's "Rettungsraumer", with "Raumer" being a rather colloquial word for spaceship (from (Welt)raum=space).

And about naming companies: Well, I got a flower shop named after the owner whom I called Mrs Käfer because I build the house from the VW Beetle (=Käfer) set (except windows and flowers), my museum's called Tower Museum because of using parts and looks from the Tower Bridge, but that's about all. An unnamed bar entrance, an unnamed bookstore, unnamed restaurants – maybe I should do something about that and finally give them real names.

[LAKAbricks]

... If I had some tractors, I think, mayby I'd call the manufacturer Letra - Lego(land) Tractor(s).

...maybe I should do something about that and finally give them real names.

cimddwc, now you might have some names here for inspiration

Edited March 26, 2011 by laka

[lightningtiger]

If you don't want to use real names like I do, try some thing like this......Landmark rural into LRT...Legoland Rural Traders which can also be applied to the bank if it's in the country (Elders operate the same as Landmark but also offer banking) or Mitre 10 hardware into Brick Depot (a tune to Home Depot).

The names you choose can as simple or as complex as you like......so Brick On Name On !