Juliet famously asks Romeo in the second act of the eponymous Shakespeare play: “What’s in a name?” Her answer in part: “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

She means, of course, Romeo would remain the young man she loves even if he weren’t a Montague and a member of the family with which she’s forbidden to associate. In other words, who cares about the name?

For some reason, those lines always come to mind when I ponder the names of products and the companies that provide them. What’s in a name? Actually a lot, I suppose, given all the marketing and branding considerations. Is it unique? Is it memorable? Does it evoke a certain emotion or idea?

It seems to me, though, the results of those processes too often produce names with little resemblance to what a product or company does or twists on spellings that are too clever by half.

In contrast, Japanese automakers come up with names that are, if nothing else, entertaining. Consider, for example, the Daihatsu Naked. Is that what you drive to the nude beach? Then there’s the Nissan Big Thumb and Suzuki Solio Bandit. Leave it to Mitsubishi to cut to the chase with the name of its heavy duty truck: Super Great. That pretty much says it all.

I recently received a news release that raises yet another consideration in the whole name game: pronunciation.

Here’s my favorite example — and the basis of what I suspect is more than one barroom bet. Is it “Porsch” or “Por-shuh?” If you answered the second choice, congratulations. You got it right. You’re also in the minority.

CenturyLink Business explored which brands are mispronounced most by American consumers, surveying more than 1,500 people and asking them to select what they believed to be the correct pronunciations.

Porshe finished second among the most commonly mispronunced brands, with only 35 percent of survey respondents selecting the correct pronunciation of the German automaker.

Givenchy was the most commonly mispronunced brand, with only 29 percent of those who were asked able to identify the correct pronunciation of the French fashion and perfume company. It’s  “Zhee-vaan-shee,” by the way.

The top five, in order, also included Yves Saint Laurent, Hyundai and Ralph Lauren. For those who’d prefer to read along outloud, its “Eev Saan Law-raant,” “Huhn-day” and “Ralf Law-ruhn.”

The list also included Nutella, Volkswagen, Balenciaga, Adobe, Ikea, Adidas, Louis Vuitton, Zara and Nike.

So what’s in a name?

Not much if it’s an object of love. I love the jam enough I could care less about the Smucker’s label on the jar. Otherwise, names probably remain important.

Business Times has a nice ring to it. Don’t you think?

Phil Castle is editor of the Business Times. Reach him at 424-5133 or phil@thebusinesstimes.com.