Naming a product is always tough, especially for someone who overthinks things. Or rather, under thinks, rethinks, does a 180 and then thinks on it some more. With launching a product it’s a name you’ll have to say a thousand times, so whatever it is, it better trip of the tongue with ease. No pressure.
My first product was named by a lovely couple (Kat and Andrea) who helped me with the initial stages of branding Fine Bone back in 2018. Prudence, a quaintly
old-fashioned girls’ name. They were thinking of the Beatles song and of the 60s/70s British Regalia all over my early instagram. I was thinking more of Prudence as a cardinal virtue. Sex tends to be associated with the cardinal sins (such as Lust) and this is an association which certainly needs reinventing. I loved their suggestion (Thanking you both!)
Prudence; the ability to discern the appropriate course of action to be taken in a given situation at the appropriate time.
Kinda useful in matters of a sexual nature - Don’t you think?
In the same vein, I plan to use another virtue name for Fine Bone’s buttplug which is currently in the making. “Patience” - It’s right up there with chastity as being one of the Victorian virtues possessed of a good woman - Another story due a rewrite. I think it’s apt for a buttplug, because a little patience goes a long way with anal pursuits.
However, when it came to christening the massage candles; I felt like it was necessary to take a different tack. Up until now the emphasis of Fine Bone has always been on “self love” and vagina owners taking agency over their pleasure. Although this is still true of a massage candle, there’s far more onus on intimacy and connection between people.
For me (as a totally unserious individual) a product name needs to be tongue in cheek. Sex and relationships and anything that’s loaded with volatile emotions needs approaching with brevity, in my opinion. So, I decided to go down a flamey route for the naming. When someone touches you and it just tingles in the right kind of way, it’s like they’ve sparked something off. This is the kind of interaction that I'd like this product to provoke.
As with before - There’s a retro feel - what with the Elvis song “(Marie’s the name) His Latest Flame.” A personal early classic for me because Elvis vs. JXL was the first ever cassette tape I bought from HMV with my pocket money. What nostalgia! Having a connection to a product name is no bad thing - Even if it’s just stylistically. In the past I've tried to get along with online name-generators and they were all just so superficial. Hipster, funeral-director type names or groups of amorphous syllables.
There’s a rich history of flames as a metaphor for desire, it’s ubiquitous throughout literature and art; Dickens to Madonna… Even Shakespeare:
“Here’s what love is: a smoke made out of lovers' sighs. When the smoke clears, love is a fire burning in your lover’s eyes.”
Romeo of Romeo and Juliet. Gratuitious Pic of Leo Below:
It’s something that’s very much engrained into our culture to the point of cliché. “The flames of passion”, “Old flame”, “Burning up” “Getting the hots for someone.” Clichéd but I wanted to take it there because Fine Bone is nothing if not well trodden when it comes to a pun.
Candles are atmospheric, they’re associated with setting a romantic mood. But massage candles are more than that they are sensual and atmospheric, they’re the leap from flames into fantasies. Even Tinder, the dating app we’ve come to observe as a household name is named after that initial spark. The ignition - meeting someone and just hitting it off. Whilst working out those knots, one thing might lead to another and who knows where you might end up! I see our new arrival “Latest Flame”as a catalyst. An excuse to break the touch barrier. The candle is only the starting point, the way you take it from there is your own – and very much none of my bees wax ;-)
