Christopher Johnson
Naming & Verbal Branding Consultant, Linguist, Author

The Name Inspector

Websites:

• http://www.thenameinspector.com

I'm a linguist, an author, a naming and verbal branding consultant, and an all-around language geek. I can help you name your business, service, or product, come up with a great tagline, help you use metaphor to explain what you do, or advise you about other verbal branding issues.

I apply deep linguistic understanding, verbal creativity, and hardnosed strategy to business communication. I help my clients identify ideas and feelings to evoke, devise strategies to evoke them (metaphors, indirect associations, speaking styles, etc.), find the perfect words and phrases to realize those strategies, and use those words and phrases to create vivid, relevant, and great-sounding names and messages.

The book I'm writing, under contract with W.W. Norton & Co., is about "microstyle"--the verbal tools and tricks we use to create short messages that capture attention, stick in the mind, and roll off the tongue.

I also write about names and naming on my blog The Name Inspector.

I understand the nuances of words and phrases and create new ones that sound great and burst with relevant conceptual connections.

I'm interested in meeting potential clients, collaborators, critics, advisers, and business partners. I'd love some free/cheap short-term co-working space if anyone knows of such a thing.

PhD, Linguistics, UC Berkeley BA with Honors, Interdisciplinary (Linguistics, Philosophy, Psychology), University of Chicago

Assistant Professor, University of Chicago Senior Technical Staff Member, Human-Computer Interaction, AT&T Labs Research Computational Linguist and Knowledge Engineer, Soliloquy, Inc. Researcher, FrameNet project, International Computer Science Institute Linguist, Brand Language Group, Lexicon Branding