[Question] Naming system for discs - your opinions

[ThomasOrion]

I know every company/manufacturer has their own naming system for discs. Some are animal names, some are science terms, some are just verbs and adjectives, some are on a numbering system.

What do you think? What do you like? What do you dislike? Do you reallllly care? :|








ha, just saw the add for the Thrasher and just thought. "ughhh what a dumb name" haha and its a disc I've thrown and really liked (though im not baggin it now its a good disc)

I don't think it really matters at all, but usually like a name that kinda matches the characteristics of the disc. That can't always be done but I don't like when names are just totally random words that just don't make sense...its whatever tho.

I like Prodigy naming system because it seems more adult in that it designates the speed/distance of the disc and the stability in a quick 2 Character 'name'
Even tho I really like the Envy, Wrath, and Mayhem by Axiom (and most axiom discs) just have oddball names. Alias is a cool name, as I take it as another version of a buzz/roc as in a different codename for a go-to midrange. opcorn:

 

[PMantle]

I don't really care that much. I find it odd how so many people do care though. I will say that Lat 64s is odd in that it seems to have no theme whatsoever, or it does, and I just don't get it.

 

[5QU166Y]

I think it matters more to new players (who also happen to account for a lot of sales). I know I bought the Wraith because I thought it sounded cool.

 

[SD86]

I generally don't care too much. The one thing I dislike is using both names and number designation, like the "P2 - Psycho" that Discmania does. One or the other, but not both. I prefer the numbers (CD, CD3, TD, PD, etc.) to the weird names.

Side note: I always hated the name "Roach" for the Discraft putter. It is a shame they gave it that foul name, because it may be Discraft's best putter. I'm not alone in my thoughts on this: on one of the Worlds videos, it was reported that Valarie Doss said she loves the putter but hates the name...

 

[PMantle]

One or the other, but not both.

I agree.

 

[money 21]

I think it matters more to new players (who also happen to account for a lot of sales). I know I bought the Wraith because I thought it sounded cool.

This is very true. Have a friend who works in a hobby shop that sells discs. new players come in and by disc based on name and cool stamps. No matter how much advise is offered.

I have to say I stay away from DD discs. I work in the legal system and hearing and seeing the name of there discs all round makes me feel like I am at work.

 

[PMantle]

I have to say I stay away from DD discs. I work in the legal system and hearing and seeing the name of there discs all round makes me feel like I am at work.

That's really a shame though. As much as I love my Innova drivers, and my Discraft mids, I think DD may have the best single overall lineup of anyone now.

 

[F. Howl]

When I first started in the early aughts, the liquor store where I'd pick up my round requisite 40oz sick only had Discraft and Innova. I was turned off by the animal names, so picked up the X2, XL, and X-press.

After a 10 year gap from playing, the size of the beer bottle is smaller and I don't care much what the disc is called. I'd prefer the stamps to be aesthetically pleasing with a name I can jive with, but as long as the plastic looks and feels good, I'm set.

Actually, I think I've tried discs out just because I thought the name was terrible. (which amused me.) Roach, Crank, Mystere, Felon, Convict, Putterphile, etc...

 

[zendragon]

I used to love a lot of Discraft discs, but I have moved away from supporting them due to their naming system which supports illegal drugs. I would really love our sport to get past that stigma and they are not helping, so I won't support them anymore.

As far as other names go, the cool names usually are what get people playing, and while they aren't as "grown up" or professional sounding, I think they do better for the sport than PA4 does. Granted, as the market gets saturated, we are also seeing some pretty dumb names out there too.

My personal favorite names are probably the 7 deadly sins Axiom went with. If only they made all 7 to make a complete bag around.

 

[F. Howl]

I used to love a lot of Discraft discs, but I have moved away from supporting them due to their naming system which supports illegal drugs. I would really love our sport to get past that stigma and they are not helping, so I won't support them anymore.

^^^Crank? I'm 99% sure they weren't alluding to methamphetamine....maybe 90%. Breaking Bad just had its season finale, so they did do that Heisenberg Crank stamp as an homage to a brilliant show...not a celebration of meth.

The stamp is a cartoon ape "cranking" on a disc. If anything, that's what people should find offensive.

 

[ThomasOrion]

I used to love a lot of Discraft discs, but I have moved away from supporting them due to their naming system which supports illegal drugs. I would really love our sport to get past that stigma and they are not helping, so I won't support them anymore.

As far as other names go, the cool names usually are what get people playing, and while they aren't as "grown up" or professional sounding, I think they do better for the sport than PA4 does. Granted, as the market gets saturated, we are also seeing some pretty dumb names out there too.

My personal favorite names are probably the 7 deadly sins Axiom went with. If only they made all 7 to make a complete bag around.

Sloth, would be a super slow straight approach disc, Lust would be a nice flying control driver, Pride could be a nice stable mid , Greed would be a nice putter name

 

[hugheshilton]

Names are marketing and they are part of a disc's aesthetics. I feel like the marketing aspect is mostly designed to appeal to newer players (as has already been said). Experienced players will be looking more at flight numbers, plastics, etc. However, if the name is repulsive enough, even an experienced player might avoid the disc. If you dread someone asking you what you putt with (because you have to tell them it's a Roach), then you might not use that putter. There are other good putters. If you have strong negative feelings about substance abuse, then you would probably have avoided the Vibram Four20. While some people might seek that disc out for the same reason, I think a disc company will generally lose more business with a divisive name than they are gaining.

I'd like to say I'm completely ambivalent to naming, but it's not true. Cool names are cool. "Destroyer" is a cool name because it makes you feel powerful. "Teebird" is a cool name because it's sort of a pun. Roc and Thunderbird are cool because I like mythology. The logical part of my mind really likes the Prodigy names because theoretically (but sometimes not in practice) the name gives you useful information like the speed class and the relative stability of the disc. If Prodigy were a little more consistent that would be a really useful system, and even the way it is, it's still fairly useful. But it just doesn't have that marketing cool factor which means new players are probably not as attracted to a "D1" as they are to a "Boss."

 

[93EXCivic]

I care more about the stamp tehn the name. Not that a bad/ boring stamp stops me from buying or throwing a disc I still like decent stamps. I wish more companies put artwork on all their discs rather then just a name or something

Sent from my LG-H910 using Tapatalk

 

[Broken Shoulder]

I generally don't care too much. The one thing I dislike is using both names and number designation, like the "P2 - Psycho" that Discmania does. One or the other, but not both. I prefer the numbers (CD, CD3, TD, PD, etc.) to the weird names.

Side note: I always hated the name "Roach" for the Discraft putter. It is a shame they gave it that foul name, because it may be Discraft's best putter. I'm not alone in my thoughts on this: on one of the Worlds videos, it was reported that Valarie Doss said she loves the putter but hates the name...

Discmania dropped the names a while back. It's just letter/number designations now.

 

[roggenb3]

I used to love a lot of Discraft discs, but I have moved away from supporting them due to their naming system which supports illegal drugs. I would really love our sport to get past that stigma and they are not helping, so I won't support them anymore.

My personal favorite names are probably the 7 deadly sins Axiom went with. If only they made all 7 to make a complete bag around.

Drugs are bad, but deadly sins are just fine.

 

[jakebake91]

I really dont care much. Im not super fond of the letter/number designations, because what happens when a discs splits the difference between existing molds? Are you going to give it fractional numbers? And to me its harder to keep them straight in my head. But in all, if a like a disc, im gonna throw it regardless of its name. Maybe id give it a nickname lol

 

[ThomasOrion]

I really dont care much. Im not super fond of the letter/number designations, because what happens when a discs splits the difference between existing molds? Are you going to give it fractional numbers? And to me its harder to keep them straight in my head. But in all, if a like a disc, im gonna throw it regardless of its name. Maybe id give it a nickname lol

?:doh::doh::doh:

If youre the manufacturer, if you make a 1 disc and its overstable, then the 2 will be a little less overstable, and so on.....so if youre making the disc and not just pulling things out your B hole youll never have a moment where theres something in between......1-2-3-4-5-6-7-etc. Yes, both Discmania with FD FD2 FD3 or MD MD2 MD3 MD4 and prodigy has some consistency issues, but.....the makers of the disc should be in prototype phase long enough to know that the next disc is the next number over....there would never ever BE a need for decimals.....only discraft makes every disc completely random and with decimal stability ratings. the problem I have with discraft is they have fairway drivers, but none share any similarities of size, diameter, rim width, depth, they are all their own entity and may work together but are a completely different feel......back on track. If a company does it correctly, a numbering and lettering system is flawless

 

[XC_Eddy]

My feelings are conflicted. The analytical part of me should like logical number and letter systems like Discmania and Prodigy. However, I feel the least drawn to Prodigy plastic in part because of the numbering system. I can never remember which direction the numbers go. I can ballpark the speed based on D, F, M, PA, but the numbers just throw me off entirely. Having plastic types that are ALSO numbered only exacerbates this issue.

Using names rather than numbers makes it easier to remember, especially when there is a good association that works as a mnemonic device. I won't forget that a Roadrunner makes a good roller disc, because a "roadrunner" running on the ground makes sense, as does a "Sidewinder" and a "Mamba." "Pig," "Hawg," and "Rhyno" all sound like overstable putters. "Destroyer" sounds like a driver that goes really far. A "Tern" turns. With all of these, you could give a player just the name of the disc, and they could probably guess how the disc is intended to fly. Great disc names correlate flight properties with an appropriate title. Not so great disc names, such as the when Discmania had names in addition to the letter number system, tend to make no sense. I would never guess that a "Psycho" or a "Maniac" is a putter. I wouldn't be able to guess that a "Craze" is a Control driver.

Silly as it is, I am subconsciously more likely to buy a disc if the name makes sense. I don't go out my way to avoid Prodigy plastic, but I confess that I haven't bought a single one of their discs in large part because I can never remember what the heck each individual disc does and the small trouble of looking it up forms enough of a barrier to deter me. And that's speaking as someone who currently plays disc golf 4-5 days a week and has been playing off an on for the better part of a decade. Now imagine how complicated that letter and number system is for a n00b who has never thrown a disc before? Of course the new player is more likely to spring for the "Beast," "Boss," "Nuke," or "Destroyer. I'm sure with about 2 minutes of effort I could learn Prodigy's system and memorize it, but I don't want to have to do that. Just give me a dang four numbered system and a name that correlates with the disc's flight pattern and I'm set.

Names are a huge part of marketing. As others have mentioned, they can draw or repel certain customers. I love throwing Teebirds in part because the stock car my dad used to race was an old Ford Teebird. Is that a silly reason to like a disc? Absolutely, but it was enough of a reason for me to buy the teebird as one of my first discs when I hardly knew the difference between a driver and a putter. Add that positive association on top of it being an incredible mold, and it's my favorite disc that I bag and own the most of. By profession I'm United Methodist Pastor, so I'll never throw a Vibram four20 or a Discraft Roach because a pastor throwing a drug named disc is just kind of weird and is a bad look for me. But for others, who probably make up a larger share of the disc golf consumers than people like me, a disc name that makes them go "haha, weed!" is actually a really good selling point.

 

[CrowLegs]

I'm not sure there's enough detail in Prodigy's simple system to handle everything. What if there are two discs with the same eventual stability, but they have different flight patterns? How can you tell that without the HSS and LSS numbers? Plus, they will eventually want to release new products with overlap. Since they left no room between numbers, and they started at 1, they are pretty much going to only release more-and-more understable discs (or renumber and create real confusion).

Plus, to me that system is boring. Sure, it's nice to know what category a disc is, but I think there is value in a cool name and stamp. Maybe have a naming system each type; all putters start with P, approaches with A, and so on (or maybe birds for drivers, reptiles for putters). Then you could keep cool themed names, but everyone would know based on the name what the disc was for.

In the end I suppose it doesn't matter. New people are going to buy what they buy, and as you get experience you buy based on research and brand loyalty.

 

[disctildeath]

I know the molds got bought and Reptilian has done some crossover work, but I love the idea of naming discs after military aircraft like old school Lightning discs. Sucks that Eagle, Mirage, and Foxbat have been used already, but using a mix of aircraft both propeller and jet from all over depending on the flight would be awesome. Something like an Upshot or Rattler named after the BAE Nimrod, driving putters named after the Soviet Hind or Eurocopter Tiger gunships, maybe a Leopard like disc named for the Mitsubishi Zero or an overstable mid or fairway named after the Stukka (not endorsing the regimes but aircraft enthusiasts would like it). I would use Falcon for maybe something like a speed 9 control driver, and the Blackbird for a ultra long driver.