What's In A Name

Some business names you just go with.  You start small, get big, and there you are.  For instance, if you wanted to start a huge fast food burger chain, you might call it Burger King.  But if you start your own place and only later does it grow much bigger, it might be called McDonald's.

Looking at burger places in general, it seems to be split between the two. You've got Whataburger, Smash Burger, Fatburger, Wayback Burger and the late and lamented Burger Chef, not to mention descriptive names like The Counter and In-N-Out.  On the other hand, there's Wendy's, Hardee's, Cart's Jr. and many others.

Then there are names that may be related, but I'm not sure.  In what category is Jack In The Box?  Is it a box-like restaurant and the burger pops out? And Sonic is a drive-in--did it used to feature speakers?

And what about (to go further afield) Arby's?  Sounds like a name, but on further inspection, seems to be the initials for Roast Beef. (Years ago they had ads claiming "Arby's" stood for "America's Roast Beef, Yes Sir." That's stretching it.)

Then there's the case of KFC.  It used to proudly be Kentucky Fried Chicken.  You knew what you were getting.  But fried chicken started sounded less and less healthy (are you listening, Fatburger?) so they did just the initials. (Perhaps like how The Learning Channel changed to TLC because all we learn there now is how fat or small or tall people can be.)

By the way, what got me started on all this was seeing an ad for Redfin, a real estate brokerage. Because when I saw the name, I wondered where they got it--it sure sounds a lot like "redline."