What's in a name?

What's in a name? Apparently a lot, especially if you are in real estate. Certain names have distinct connotations that could either raise or lower the prestige of the property you are in.

I was in Gurgaon recently (a satellite town of Delhi which is mushrooming with outsourcing and industrial activity) and found that most residential complexes had English sounding names- Hamilton Court, Wellington Place etc. And then I across this property called JanPratinidhi Apartments- the name is distinctly from the Hindi heartland and means representative of the masses- probably a well thought out name for s residence that the common man can afford. The apartments looked good from the outside, well maintained and each apartment seemed to have a balcony which I thought was a great feature. As I enquired about the property, one of my real estate agent friends told me that it was not as popular a property as others and apparently, the name had a lot to do with it. Property has an aspirational quality to it- something you save for that you and your family can enjoy for the rest of your life. It is something you work towards and feel that you deserve. Apparently, this apartment got two things wrong with the name. One- it was in Hindi, a language of the masses, nothing aspirational about it. The same place, titled Somerset Palace would do much better, according to my friend, even if people didn't have a clue that Somerset is a county in England, it just needed to sound English. Second- even the Hindi name was one that associated with the masses in general. There was nothing distinctive about it. There was one way out of this, I suggested. Why don't they market it as JP Apartments? The acronym could stand for anything- it could be French sounding Jean Pierre for all I care as long it made the property attractive. And to my surprise, the agent did listen to my suggestion carefully and said it could just work. Properties in India become more attrative when they have foreign sounding names. Is it due to our colonial hangover? Is it due to the fact that we feel that properties that have foreign sounding names probably have developers that are more credible? I don't know.

But clearly, names do have significant impact and could almost make the properties not only more desirable but also more expensive. Isn't it fascinating that our perception clouds our judgment of reality and makes us behave in a manner that may not completely conform to our logical left brained thinking pattern? But then, doesn't this give color to our lives that would otherwise turn out to be fairly uninteresting.