Italian Brand Names as Mirrors of Multicultural Aspects

Abstract

From previous analyses [Cotticelli Kurras. 2007. Die Entwicklung der hybriden Wortschöpfungen bei den italienischen Markennamen [Development of Hybrid Word Formations in Italian Brand Names]. In Names in the Economy and in Economic History: Synchronic and Diachronic Perspectives, ed. L. Kremer and E. Ronneberger-Sibold, 167–185. Berlin: Logos; 2008. La struttura morfologica dei marchionimi italiani nel xx secolo (fino agli anni ‘80) [Morphological Structure of Italian Brand Names in the Twentieth Century (until the End of the 1980s). In Proceedings of the 22nd International Congress on Onomastic Sciences, Sezione 2, Pisa, August 28–September 4, 2005 (ICOS), ed. M.G. Arcamone et al., 695–709. Pisa: Edizione ETS; 2012a. I nomi commerciali a cavallo di due secoli: Continuità e innovazione [Commercial Names Spanning Two Centuries: Continuity and Innovation]. In Lessicografia e onomastica nei 150 anni dell’Italia unita, Atti delle Giornate internazionali di Studio Università degli Studi Roma Tre, 28–29 ottobre 2011, Quaderni Internazionali di RIOn, ed. Paolo D’Achille and Enzo Caffarelli, 321–347. Rome: SEI—Università Roma Tre], it appears that until the seventies the use of foreign languages in the creation of Italian brand names was common, but brand names were still mainly represented in Italian. Starting from the seventies, under the pressure of incipient globalisation and a multicultural society, there has been an increase in the use of English among foreign names. The products include mostly food and drink names, as well as pharmaceutical and scientific products and finally sport product names created as single brand or hybrid names.