But I wonder if there are varying levels of non-seriousness.
Names like Google and Yahoo definitely aren't serious, but they also have a sort of generic quality. Not in a bad sense, I just mean they don't evoke a specific silly image in my head - at least not by themselves (when I think Yahoo, I see a big purple !, but that's by marketing design).
Duck Duck Go, though, doesn't have that same nebulous quality. There's something more concrete there, and more specific imagery that comes to mind. And I think that's why someone might react that way to the name and not to the names Google or Yahoo or Bing. It's less vague, and decidedly more Saturday morning cartoon.
Is that bad? I don't know, it doesn't necessarily bother me. But I understand why some people view it differently than the search engine names already out there.
I disagree -- I think they've acquired that 'nebulous quality' over time. In fact, I still think Yahoo! is a ridiculous name, and every time I hear them yodel it in a commercial it makes me cringe.
My one quibble with DuckDuckGo is that it's 3 syllables, none of which roll together. Saying the word google is fast. Saying DuckDuckGo is way less fast.
I get what you mean in that names definitely change as we get used to them.
But these names aren't created equal. "Duck" is a noun. There's a very definite, "meat-space" thing attached to that word. It's a whole lot harder to visualize a "Google" (a google of what?) than it is a duck. And what's a Bing?
I don't think there's any level of familiarity that will allow me to read Duck Duck Go and not see a duck. Again, is it a bad thing? I don't know. Maybe it's a good thing. But it is a thing, it's not just like the others.
I know what you're saying, but I disagree. Modern english is literally littered with words that originally meant entirely different things than we currently use them for. Remember 'booting up' your computer? It comes from bootstrapping, which comes from the literal straps on boots, which you put on feet. But I doubt you were thinking about feet when your computer was booting up. If Duck Duck Go becomes successful, it is not hard for me to imagine a scenario where I could say Duck Duck Go without thinking of ducks.
People still use the word boot for boots, and will use 'duck' for ducks, except when saying Duck Duck Go in which case they will think of 'that thing that replaced Google'.
That's my exact thought. Google and Yahoo! come off as genuinely irreverent and fun (but, importantly, not childish). It's like something you'd expect a couple 20-something hackers to name their product.
Duck Duck Go comes off as the 50 yr old guy who yells "'Fo Shizzle!" and holds his hand out for a fist bump. It's something you'd expect from an older guy trying to pretend to be a 20something hacker. It thus comes off as insincere.
Empirically, people seem to love or hate the name, i.e. it generates an emotional response. When I talk to "normals" this love/hate ratio is very high. I understand though that you've taken issue with the name right from the beginning. This is not the first time you've shared this viewpoint :)
Ha, yeah wouldn't surprise me. I don't remember it but definitely believe you.
I think what New Coke proved though is that haters have an unduly large influence. New Coke kicked both original Coke and Pepsi's asses in blind taste tests. It's possibly bad to have something that has a love to hate ratio, even if a large one, rather than something people respect but don't care much about one way or the other.
There's some non-serious names that also aren't too nebulous, like Ask Jeeves. But I guess it's not a great example of a massive success (though it was successful enough that for a time most internet users had heard of it).
Jerry Yang calls himself the "Chief Yahoo", and that is about as unserious as it gets.
Windows Live Search changed its name to something less serious to be more appealing to the public. I mean, really, Bing? How serious is that?
Ask.com is about the most sensibly-named search engine. I mean, what do you do with a search engine? You ask it things. That hasn't really helped them corner the market, exactly.
The internet hasn't become any more serious recently. People are still using it for non-serious things (lolcats, 4chan, Reddit, etc) so a non-serious search engine can still attract people, I think.
