Hmmm, I wonder if the names really do have influence over what we do and don't like in an internet plan? Interesting take.

...whereas Rattlesnake Retreat, Scorpion Manor, and Bobcat Frenzy evoke other notions.

I think it does. I really liked Ballard House Plan in spite of some issues it has, in part, do to the name. To me it made it feel a bit more stately.

I have lived in a scorpion manor. It is about as much fun as it sounds. ;-)

The house/plan has to have a name... It's easier to keep track of a list of favorites when they are Rosewood Cottage, Brambleberry Estate, or Orchard Manor, rather than a random 9-digit number. :-)

People name everything for easy-to-remember marketing purposes (vehicles, shoes, rose varieties, etc.). Might as well make the names pleasant. :-)

I can't imagine a name having much influence on people's decisions; rather, I think they're a convenient way to remember a plan.

Also, names suggest connection between plans. For example -- and this is totally fictional -- Rose, Marigold, Morning Lily, and Daisy might be similar very plans, varying only in size. You'd quickly realize that they are connected, whereas the Stone Wall Manor is something completely different.

When trolling the online plans I never looked at the name first. I always scrolled down straight to the floor plan. If I thought the floor plan had enough potential then and only then I really paid attention the name or architect.

I don't really think the name is as important but only used to remember said plan.

IMHO

well..I never had any name attached to a new build (we did buy a new build once-didn't have any name..good for it cause this disaster wouldn't live up to any charming connotations lol..did look nice from outside though))..but I'm for example heavily influenced by names..to the extent I didn't go to see two promising listings because I strongly disliked the name of the street. Nothing offensive about it too..I don't really know what my issues were. But I obviously had them.

Now I'm seeking to re-define my style a bit (not that I ever defined it)..or rather a mood..and I don't know how to do it exactly. So what hit me, after some thoughts and conversations-I need to find a metaphor for it first. Words. Words that would allow me to channel my mind in a way that will allow me to introduce new without really getting rid of an old.

But I'm sure everybody's different in that matter a bit. My point is-there are enough people who are influenced by symbols a lot...symbols being words and names as well.

Street names are kinda important to me, too, April. My entire married life, I've lived on streets that had to be spelled out every. single. time. I had to tell someone where I lived. It is super aggravating.

One of the reasons I picked the lot we ended up buying was because of the name. For once, I will not be forever spelling it out, and I'm excited, lol.

Names absolutely influence us. Just ask Benjamin Moore - years ago their paints were number only and people were leaving them for the paint companies with catchy and romantic names.

A while back in Fairfax County, Va. we had a client who had a tremendous amount of trouble rezoning a piece of land largely due to the opposition of three nearby residents. Most folks were ok with it but not these three people.

Anyway, after much delay he got the property rezoned. The developers can name the streets and he proceeded to name all three streets after these three people. A court order eventually prevented him from actually doing it however.

I actually think a lot of the house names are sappy and it would be mildly embarrassing for me to say "Oh I built the Rocking Horse Farm plan".

It sounds to me like a bunch of interconnected nursery rooms.

I don't even know what that plan looks like, it might be fine. But I have never looked at the plan because I think the name is silly. Luckily, the silliness of the name often correlates, in my mind, to either the twee-ness or pretentiousness of the plan, so I would not have to be embarrassed anyway. I wouldn't build it because of the plan anyway, most likely.

I have had clients who have been heavily influenced by names, though, including a client who was already to go with a stain color she didn't really like for kitchen cabinets, because she liked the name of the stain color better than the name of the stain color whose color she liked. She was not very easy to work with. She was (just) one of my clients who did not recognize a piece of her own furniture from a picture outside of the context of her own house.

----

With regard to paint color names though, I am not sure it is the evocative nature of paint color names that makes you like the color, I think the name of the color helps you to remember the color. Although there have been some colors--very popular ones, for a time--that had I named one of them, I would have called it "Dirty Diaper" and I don't think it would have been nearly as popular.

However, I can remember the paint names I picked out for my first apartment, in 1994, and I can remember the paint colors in my second apartment from the early 2000s. And one of the colors I can't remember off the top of my head I could find almost immediately in the deck (if it's still in there) because the name would come back.

Contrast this with the Fine Paints of Europe Natural Color System deck I am using for the rooms I am working on right now. The two colors are numbers NCS-____-___ and I could not tell you what either one of them are. The FPE ceiling color is from the Mount Vernon deck and it has a name rather than a number and I can remember that.

I've got a few names for them . . .

@palim, thank you for your comments, I couldn't help but chuckle, you have very interesting clients, that's for sure!

It looks warm, but not necessarily inviting.

Names truly do matter, ask Farrow and Ball. Moles Breath is my favorite. I wonder how someone determined what color a Moles breath should evoke.

Room color suggestions:

Foyer: Old Shoes

Living room: Time To Go Home

Dining room: Dog's Lunch

Kitchen: Burnt Toast

Bedroom: Insomnia

Nursery: Dirty Diaper (thank you palin)

Exterior color: Go Away

Pantry: Month Old Bread

Master closet entered from master bathroom: Mould City

Paint companies have teams of rather odd people whose job it is to come up with paint names and change them every 1-2 years. Of course the paint numbers remain the same, which is how the paint companies manage to match 5-year old colors. The names are clearly for marketing appeal, while the computer uses the numbers.

I just pulled out my Sherwin Williams (old) deck, and at random found: "Inviting Ivory", "Jersey Cream" and "Anjou Pear".

I'm having a lot of trouble not immediately running (not walking) to my nearest SW paint store...

Benjamin Moore temporarily got rid of "China White", which is also Heroin + Fentanyl, but I think it is back as a color name.

Virgil. Mark you are just too funny. Thank you for your comments. How about model homes that spring up everywhere, in Ottawa. Some are described as estate homes. They are situated in 45x80' lots and are between 2000-2600 sq ft. In one particular development you can choose between "The Manor", "The Windsor" or The Windermere",

"rather odd people whose job it is to come up with paint names "-oh my! a dream job for me! lol

P G..I'm reading this highly sharp and amusing book right now..it's called "Class"..the author brings an example of how builder's picking the "Old English names" has more chance to attract buyers. One neighborhood was even called Sherwood Forest..)))

Hi April, I may have to take a peak at that book. Sounds intriguing!

I highly recommend it, really.

I never knew I'd like a book about classes (got a bit fed up with the subject when a kid)..yet this book won me over. I want to cite it all the time..))

April,

Is that book by Paul Fussell?

yes, it is indeed

Some of it is a bit out of date because of the publication date, but much of it I'd dead on. My copy has a blurb that says it has something guaranteed to offend just about everyone. His wife and son are also authors, I knew his son, who wrote an expose about bodybuilding .

April,

There is a old neighborhood in Detroit called Sherwood Forest. It actually looked like a forest with elegant English homes in it.

Or there's always Mobile Estates, Villa Del Sol Mobile Park, Oakwood Homes Mobile Estates, Aloha Mobile Park.

Just outside of Sherwood Forest on Seven Mile Road in Detroit is a nice little home called the Dorothy G Turkel House.

Mark,

Dorothy house is In Palmer Park. Knew the area well. Some great architecture in the City.

I am just up Woodward a few miles. I find it hard concentrating on driving while looking at all the great architecture.

We have stuff down 94 and US23 too. Barton Hills neighborhood has some great midcentury architecture in a forest setting:-)

Boca Del Vista and Mar A Lago inspire similar emotions.

Correction: Del Boca Vista.