The Name
Wesabe — what in the heck is that? First, I should say, naming a startup is a special form of pain that I wouldn’t inflict on anybody. I was inclined to name it Knight Industries, but my co-founder Marc didn’t think that was a very good idea (you were right Marc). After months of brainstorming I came up with Wesabe which is based on the Spanish word “tu sabes,” or “you know.” Wesabe meant “we know” and our tagline is “together we know.”
This was great until I told the name to our good friend Neil, who is grammarian in both Spanish and English, and he had this to say:
The problem with tying this name to the Spanish-language verb saber (to know) is that the verb is conjugated thusly:
yo sé (I know)
tú sabes (you know, informal)
él, ella SABE (he/she knows)
nosotros sabemos (WE know)
vosotros sabéis (you know, plural, informal— today used only in Spain)
ellos, ustedes saben (they know, or you, —plural, formal— know)As you can see, saying “we sabe” doesn’t sound cute or street slangy in this context. I doubt that the name would even register as Spanish or Spanglish for a Spanish speaker or a speaker of both languages.
Thanks Neil, thanks a lot. Which means, nosotros sabemos it isn’t conjugated correctly. It also nicely illustrates a point that Marc and I have been making for a while — there is a lot more knowledge out there than there is in here. And if you want to know something, for example proper Spanish grammar, ask and you’ll probably get back a ton of great information.
That said, we are sticking with Wesabe — to us it sounds great and it conveys our goal to our users.
Besides together we really do know.
October 5th, 2006 at 3:48 pm
I thought it was a derivative of that spicy stuff on the sushi…
Or maybe you meant ‘wesave (you money)’ and mistyped!
October 6th, 2006 at 3:44 am
Every time I see the name I think Tonto and the Lone Ranger.
October 6th, 2006 at 7:34 am
Interesting — for reasons that I don’t entirely recall (probably having something to do with Google search results), I’d assumed that it had its roots in the Zulu (see http://isizulu.net/):
wesabe [wɛˈsa:ɓe] � wa + esabe
Imperative singular of -esaba (v/t.)
OC: cl. 6
fear them
wesabe [wɛˈsa:ɓe] � wu + esabe
Imperative singular of -esaba (v/t.)
OC: cl. 1a, cl. 3
fear it
wesabe [wɛˈsa:ɓe] � u + esabe
Subjunctive of -esaba (v/t.)
SC: 2nd sg., cl. 3
you fear
it fear
wesabe [wɛsaˈɓe] � u + esabe
Perfect tense of -esaba (v/t.)
SC: 2nd sg., 3rd sg., cl. 1, cl. 1a, cl. 3
you feared
he feared
she feared
it feared
October 6th, 2006 at 7:57 am
Wasabi would have been a great name.
Now that you mention it….of course Wesabe would make you think of “kemosabe,” and The Lone Ranger & Tonto.
The Zulu sounds pretty aggressive — it makes me want to go back and watch the movie and see if any of them shouts “Wesabe!”
Years back I was at startup with too much money, so we hired a naming firm to help us name our product. They came up with Red Dog. That cost, and I’m not joking, $30,000. Naming is hard, but I like the associations people have come up with for our name.
November 7th, 2006 at 7:44 am
Ehm, I’m a spanish/english speaker and I didn’t think of “wesabe” as spanglish (if such thing even exists) so your friend is correct. No spanish or bilingual speaker is gonna “get” your name unless they read this post.
Ironically enough, as your friend pointed out “sabe” is in the third person (he/she) which ultimately means that THEY know, not you! hehe
You might want to check this too:
http://www.blog.gojobby.com/?p=7
Still, if it sounds cool for you I guess your audience should get it, not that you’re is targeting latin or bilingual people anyways (if you are then some people is not gonna be as nice as your friend about the name btw)
July 19th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
As a bilingual Spanish/English speaker it didn’t click either, because of the 3rd person thing.
I think of two things: Wasabi and We-Sabe where sabe means save.
We save together. Isn’t that what it’s about? Being smarter with money? Saving more?
One thing that is Spanish-like about it is that Spanish spellers especially kids often substitute a ‘b’ for a ‘v’.
It’s also how We save is pronounced in my own family’s baby-kitty-talk (ok, don’t ask).
July 22nd, 2007 at 2:26 pm
plantwater,
Thanks for sharing…people love the name or hate…I hope you love it (even if it intrudes on your family’s “baby-itty-talk.”
December 4th, 2008 at 1:43 am
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