User blog comment:Craiglpalmer/Wikia is now Fandom powered by Wikia/@comment-1618941-20160926203143/@comment-452-20160926213558

Who said anything about other languages?

There are other countries that speak English too!

By assuming that I'm talking about non-English interpretations of the word, you're just reinforcing the stereotype.

Apple was a fruit. The company named themselves after it, as demonstrated by the logo. Nobody had any negative preconceptions about the word Apple, as it was just a piece of fruit. They didn't co-opt the term, or try to capitalise on the existing public use of the term. Many companies choose their names based on natural items, such as fruit, animals, etc.

Both facebook and snapchat were named by combining two words. Nobody had any preconceptions about "snapchat", because the word didn't exist.

I don't know enough about the history of Volkswagen, but I assume that saying "people's car" was not common prior to the naming of the company, so it's the same as "snapchat" joining two words together. The name of the company "People's car" is similar to the name of the company "General Motors".

I also don't know enough about the term Wikia prior to Wikicities changing their name. I assume that while some people might have jokingly used the term "Wikia" to mean plural wikis, that there weren't huge communities of people referring to themselves as "Wikia" before you began using it.

Unlike all of those examples, you saw a new word which other people had already created, realised no-one had trademarked it, and decided it belongs to you now. The term already had negative connotations, and you will inherit them.

You will also gain additional negative public opinion due to "stealing" an existing term from fans in order to promote your company through association with the term. Amateur Obsessive has said more about this

(I quote "stealing" because legally, you're doing nothing wrong. It's only morally wrong, and you don't care about morals, just money.)