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The name Microsoft logically consists of two words - micro and soft.

On .cn zone sites I often see it written as MicroSoft, and it just looks terrible.

I am starting a mobile platform development firm. I am calling it Radacode.

Like MS, Radacode name consists of two words Rada and Code.

I am tempted to use a camel notation and write the name like RadaCode.

Since the name is in English, I would like to know, if the RadaCode way of writing it looks like a mistake, or just a meter of personal taste to an English native speaker? Is there a reason why MS is written as M-capitalized-solid word?

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This question would be addressed much better in English.StackExchange than here. – dnbrv Feb 25 '12 at 0:37
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It's not about English language, it is about branding and the way a company name is written. I doubt language enthusiasts could provide more expertise on this meter, then business-oriented people of OnStartups. – Maxim V. Pavlov Feb 25 '12 at 0:39
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thisIsCamelCase (first word starts in undercase, laters starts in uppercase) ThisIsPascalCase (all words starts in uppercase). – Nestor Sanchez A Feb 25 '12 at 18:16

3 Answers

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I think the answer hinges on what emphasis you are trying to create to the two parts of the name. If you use CamelCase, you are visually breaking the name apart to emphasize the two parts as related, but distinct. An example is where you have an adjective paired with a noun - RadioShack - and you want this to be obvious to the viewer.

In your case, I think either looks fine. If you use the CamelCase version, RadaCode, you put more emphasis on the 'code' part which, to me, makes it feel more techie and hard core. In contrast, 'Radacode' puts the emphasis on 'rada' since it leads.

As to your Microsoft question, I have no idea, but I suspect they didn't want to put a spotlight on 'soft' since it is used as a contraction of 'software' (I assume) and doesn't really mean anything on it's own. Probably if they'd have done it that way from the outset, we'd have all gotten used to it and been fine with it, too.

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I don't see any issues with camel case for a company name. I think it can be especially valuable in scenarios where it might not be immediately obvious where the break is between the words. EG: Radacode could be Rada Code Rad Acode Radac Ode, etc., using camel case for the name/logo helps people to understand the words breaks and make better associations to the name, IMO.

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up vote 1 down vote

In the "old days" it was only the first letter that was capitalized, and it was done for all proper names. So: New York, Washington, General Motors etc.

In the last ten years or so it seems anything goes. Lots of firms start with a lower case letter, like eBay. Others write their name entirely in lower case. Still others use camel casing like RadaCode.

Perhaps the reason for CamelCase is domain names where you can't have a space. Consider General Motors; if for some reason they didn't have GM.com, how would you write their web address? generalmotors.com, GeneralMotors.com or Generalmotors.com? If you can't have the space I guess CamelCase is as good as anything.

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