Why are the Americans so eager to use the umlaut signs Ä and Ö in some of their brand (for instance Häagen-Dazs ice cream) and hard rock band names (for instance Mötley Crüe and Motörhead)? And how come we never see the Å umlaut in these kind of names? What is wrong with the Å since nobody has fallen for it? Yet ...

In Scandinavia where the umlaut signs Å and Ä and Ö (å ä ö in small caps) are very frequent (they are in fact a part of the regular alphabeth) some major companies that used any of them in their trade name, now has dropped them or changed the name "in order for the name to work better abroad". One good example is the construction company Skanska, which previously was known as Skånska. Skånska was a name that made sense, since it indicates that it (the company) originates from the Swedish southernmost province of Skåne (or Scania in Latin (yes I know, Scania is yet another Swedish company name but that is another story).

So why did Skånska/Skanska drop their cool umlaut just at a time when the Americans seem so eager to pick them up? Was it because Skånska used the "wrong" umlaut - i e the unhip Å instead of the cooler Ä and Ö?

Hard rock

The umlaut signs seem to be extra attractive in the hard rock music scene, where we find band names such as Motörhead, Blue Öyster Cult and Mötley Crüe. Interesting to note though is that in all three of these names use just the Ö umlaut, not the Å and Ä (Mötley of course also uses the German ü letter in their "surname" Crüe). From all of this we may conclude that the Ö umlaut is the one to use if you're into hard rock, alongside in a smaller way with the Ü in Hüsker Dü and with the ÿ in Queensrÿche of course ...

Brand names

The American ice-cream brand Häagen-Dazs used the Ä umlaut in their trade name, even though this umlaut is not used in the English language. Why? The answer is - in order to sound European. To the untrained American ear and eye I might add, for to many of us here in Europe the name just looks funny. This use of the umlaut in the ice cream name supposedly makes the consumers think that the ice-cream is European, and thus superior to it's competitors. I said that the name just looks funny to the Europeans, but I should add that to my surprise Häagen-Dazs has made a very successful entrance in Europe over the last ten years as well, and this also in my native Sweden where the umlaut signs are so common. So now this ice-cream is regarded as a fine dessert even here in Europe, even though it started out as an American sales idea to disguise real American ice-cream into something German sounding. But of course, the ice-cream tastes quite good. My only question is why couldn't these marketing geniuses back in the USA in the early sixties find an European name that really makes sense to people who has a sense for language? Why walk an extra mile and all that, I know, but still the fact remains - Häagen-Dazs is a kinda goofy name to many of us.

The illusive Å

So what's with the Å umlaut? We have found the Ö umlaut in hard rock band names, and the Ä in a popular ice-cream make, but never yet the Å.

All input, knowledge, advice etc etc on this matter is welcome. Have I missed some band - or company name that uses any of these umlauts (obviously not bands or companies from Scandinavia, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria or for that matter Turkey or other countries that use the umlaut signs as regular letters) or do you know of any other company that has changed from an umlaut name to one without? All input welcome. Please mail to umlaut@häagen-dazs.com.

Links

Official site for Häagen-Dazs ice cream.

I just found an interesting link where there's more fascinating stuff to read on these matters: http://www.clicknation.com/snoof/stuff/umlaut.pdf

More links are soon to follow.