As technology advances at an exponential rate and new products, ideas, and innovations are introduced every hour, something inevitable will happen. We will start to see and hear more names. More terms, more handles, more monikers. More brands jostling for a spot in our daily dialogue, more products vying to permeate culture and become part of our everyday lexicon.

At a time when the rise of gender-neutral names is particularly notable, and when society is moving away from gender-defined attributes, albeit slowly, what lessons can we learn from the past to ensure our future verbal landscape is dotted with more treasure than trash?

In 1902, Emil Jellinek, the owner of Daimler, trademarked a new car brand in honour of his daughter, Mercédès. In 1914, Big Bertha was the German Empire’s most prized artillery, and most USS warships to this day are referred to as ‘she’ in naval terms.