When Swedish Telecom was transformed into a public limited company the name had to be changed. Skriptor’s primary task was to submit name proposals geared to given terms of reference for further discussion and selection. The name had to be internationally practicable, even from the legal perspective, but it was not to imply any association with government. The name should preferably have a friendly, human ring to it rather than something high-tech.

Since one requirement was to consider names containing the element ‘tel’, Skriptor first searched the trademark registers of a number of countries for use of this element to avoid look-alikes. Skriptor then generated a list of more than 500 names and also made a selection of around 50 names from the list.

The final shortlist selected by Swedish Telecom contained five names: Telaris, Telesta, Telia, Svetel and Svetelia, two of which were submitted by Skriptor: Telesta and Telia. The list was subjected to final legal investigation worldwide and, at the same time, pronunciation tests, association tests, text trials, etc., were conducted in several countries and languages. Telia proved to be of considerable advantage, from both the linguistic and legal perspectives.

When an addition to the Absolut family of vodkas was in the making, Vin & Sprit (Swedish Wine & Spirits Corporation) had to solve a linguistic problem. Absolut Peppar and Absolut Citron were extensions of the simple, original ‘Absolut’ idea – using Swedish words that give a special, somewhat exotic feel but whose meaning still comes through, at least to English speaking people. But with the company's new flavor black currant (‘svartvinbär’ in Swedish), this approach didn’t seem to work. Linguistic evaluation in the US indicated that “Absolut Vinbär” produced strong and undesirable associations to ‘wine’ and ‘wine-bar’.

Skriptor was assigned the task of continuing the search for new name proposals. The approach was mainly Swedish and interest was focused on the history of the black currant and its cultivation in Sweden. But the right feeling just wasn’t there. The solution was close at hand, however, by approaching the problem from the opposite linguistic direction.

The final result was Absolut Kurant, based on ‘black currant’ and the name propasal ‘Absolut Currant’. Linguistic evaluation in the US confirmed that the name had an exotic Scandinavian ring and positive associations to currant. Another plus was the fact that in Swedish ‘kurant’ can mean ‘fresh, healthy’ or ‘easily sold, in demand’.