A powerful brand name can do many things. It can capture attention, generate curiosity, be informative and leave a durable imprint in the consumer’s mind. Emotions are triggered by a number of elements we are sometimes not aware of. Sounds, smells, images, and other stimuli evoke emotional responses. Such associations are often called on in brand development and marketing. So the question is, can we carefully select the elements of a brand name to create a unique combination of syllables and sounds that make the customer joyful just by saying it? In short, can brand names make people happy?

There are several Chinese companies with happy characters and meanings in their brand names that are trying to do just that. We will first examine several successful examples of happy Chinese brand names and then discuss how to decide whether a joyful name is right for your brand, or not.

娃哈哈 (Wáhāhā)

娃哈哈, or Wáhāhā, is one of the most famous and successful beverage companies in China. It has a happy and positive brand image, likely because its brand name mimics the sound of laughter.
The first character, 娃, wá, is a noun derived from the characters女 (nǚ), meaning woman, and 圭guī, with the second character being purely phonetic. “Wá” means a baby or a child, but could also be used for a newborn animal or a doll.
The character 哈 (hā), combines the characters 口 (kǒu), meaning mouth, and 合 (hé), a phonetic character. When used twice, this character has the meaning of the sound of laughter, “haha”.
Every time consumers read, hear, speak, or see the Wahaha brand name, it calls childhood and laughter to their mind. Eliciting these types of thoughts and emotions is also consistent with the brand’s target market and product offering, as they have numerous children’s beverages. Furthermore, the name is unique and memorable.

开心网 (kāixīnwǎng)

开心网 , Kāixīnwǎng, is a Chinese social networking site with over 100 million users that resembles Facebook.
The character 开 [kāi] means open, as well as start or begin as in 开始kāishǐ.The full form of the character was 開, where the character开(kai) is inside 門 (mén), meaning door. 开 is 廾, two hands reaching to remove the 一 bolt from the door. 心 (xīn) is a noun for the heart, and can also mean the mind, feeling, or center/core. The character is meant to be a picture of a heart.
Together, 开心 (kāixīn) means happy, or to feel happy and rejoice. 网 is the word for “net”, in this case meaning a website.
You could say that simply being exposed to the word开心 either verbally, visually, or both, can put consumers in a good state of mind and build positive brand perceptions. For Kāixīnwǎng as a young, playful, and connective brand, this type of brand name was very suitable and likely helped them build their membership in a fast and far-reaching way.

乐购 (Lègòu)

The UK supermarket giant TESCO partnered with a local Chinese franchise named乐购（Lègòu）. 乐(lè) is an adjective for happy and joyful, and also means pleasure, to be glad to, and to enjoy. 购 (gòu) means to buy, as in 购买 gòumǎi, or to purchase. The character 购(gòu) has its origins in the character 贝(貝 bèi), meaning money, and冓 gòu ( or勾 gòu in simple form), which is a phonetic character.
As such, the Chinese brand name乐购（Lègòu）literally translates into “happy shopping.” This is undoubtedly a positive message for consumers, but it is not highly differentiating. Many supermarkets call on the attribute of happiness, for example Carrefour (家乐福, jiālèfú), the French chain that has been highly successful in China, whose name in Mandarin roughly means “happy home”. In order to stand out from competitors in a crowded marketplace, a supermarket could call on attributes other than happiness in their Chinese name.

Other Happy Names
A Chinese noodle brand开杯乐 (kāibēilè) translates to “when you open the cup, you can be happy” and快乐柠檬 (kuàilèníngméng), a Chinese tea and coffee company meaning “happy lemon.” A famous series from Hunan TV that has been on air for about 10 years and is still popular is called 快乐大本营(kuàilèdàběnyíng), or “Happy Camp” in English. There are countless other examples of happy Chinese brand names!

Make a Happy Tagline
If you aren’t able to make people smile with your brand name, you could add a happy tagline. We have seen American brands do this, for example:
• Coca Cola: Have a Coke and smile (1979)
• Glad: Don’t get mad, get GLAD (early 1980s)
• Pacific Southwest Airlines: Catch our smile
Similarly, there are happy brand taglines in China:
• Legou: 开心购物每一天- Happy Shopping Everyday
• Guirenniao (a sportswear brand): 运动快乐: Happy Sports (formerly我运动 我快乐, I exercise, I'm happy)
• Pizzahut: 开心时刻 必胜客, Happy moment, Pizza Hut

Discussion: Is happy the way to go?
Although happiness is undeniably a good emotion to call on to build positive brand perceptions, whether or not to have characters for happiness and smiles in your Chinese name will depend on your brand’s core idea. Some B2B audiences, rebellious fashion labels, and high tech companies may find these types of names inappropriate. As always, by using your brand idea as a guide and employing the right naming methodology, you can find a brand name that finds the balance between business, linguistic, market and cultural needs.