The futon business has more than its share of cute and unusual names. Here are some of my favorites, in alphabetical order. Where did these names come from? Their owners’ explanations are printed in no particular order. Can you match up the names with the explanations?

1) Abizak’s • Rehoboth Beach, DE
2) Depth of Field • Minneapolis, MN
3) Dragon’s Lair • Ann Arbor, MI
4) Echo Futon • Portsmouth, NH
5) Ecko International • Chapel Hill, NC
6) 8 Futons • Port Jefferson, NY
7) Fly-by-Night Futon • Northampton, MA
8) Norka Futon • Akron, OH
9) The Rare Bird • Wappingers Falls, NY
10) Rock Soft Futon • Portsmouth, OR
11) The Rowan Tree • Buffalo, NY
12) SIS Enterprises • Columbia Heights, MN
13) Temple Slug • Kansas City, MO
14) Zani • Flagstaff, AZ

A. “It’s the name of our home town spelled backwards.”

B. “Our first location was in the basement of a 150-year-old building. It was like a dungeon down there, with stone walls, and one thing just led to another.”

C. “It was the only name my partner and I could agree on. After weeks of getting nowhere, I put together a random list of names that sounded nice. He picked the one he liked.”

D. “Our business started out in interior design. My wife and I were getting the store ready to open, putting nails in the wall, and she suddenly came up with the name. I don’t know why, but it just appealed to us. Don’t ask me what it means. It was my wife’s idea. She’s gone, but I’m still here with that name. I think I’ll change it soon.”

E. “When I started, I only had a vending permit to sell on the street. A friend told me that people wouldn’t buy a futon from a guy like me on the street, because they’d think I was fly-by-night. I picked this name so that nobody could ever embarrass me. Whatever they wanted to say about me, I’d already admitted it with my name.”

F. “I was ten years younger, just out of college, and I wanted a catchy name to signify comfort and durability.”

G. “We were drinking beers, laying on rafts in my brother-in-law’s pool, and trying to come up with something catchy like Nike, like Teva, like....that’s it! My mom didn’t get it until I pointed out that it came from our last name, Bonzani.”

H. “Our store used to be called Livin’ E-Z, but nobody ever had the right idea about what we did. So I hired a marketing agency to come up with a new name, something simple and easy to remember. I like to think that we function as an echo reaction to what consumers are looking for, and the name suggests that.”

I. “We were getting ready to open the store and went to San Francisco on a buying trip. While we were there I read an article in the paper about these guys who were gonna buy an old trolley station in the Russian Quarter, it had one of those Kremlin style onion domes. They wanted to open a flea market, and this was the great name they’d dreamed up for it. But, the article said, the whole thing has fallen through. I loved the name and I thought it was a shame it was going to go unused, so we took it for ourselves.”

J. “My wife and I were opening up our first store, an arts and crafts gallery, four hundred square feet, dedicated to basketry, pottery, jewelry, clothing and photography. We also did photo processing. We were looking for a name to cover it all, a name that implied more than one thing. Our second choice was Double Exposure.”

K. “The name is from a Celtic myth. In the days of the Pagans, they believed that if you crossed the limbs over your doorway, it’d keep away evil spirits and bad luck.”

L. “It comes from the word ‘sisters.’ My sister and I wanted to start a business, but we weren’t exactly sure what type of business, so we made the name non-specific.”

M. “It’s been a lucky number that means a lot to me, both personally and in business. It’s my phone number, too.”

N. “We were leaving a larger family business to start our own store. Part of the reason was to spend more time with our young kids. So it just naturally followed to name the business after them. It’s our kids’ two names combined.”

You can win a collectable, vintage 1989 “futon definition” T-shirt by being one of the first three (3) readers to correctly match the company name with the explanation. Send your answers and shirt size by regular mail (USPS) to:

Futon Life
Department 803-C
301 Friendship Street
Providence, RI 02903-4507

The correct answers will be printed in the next issue and will be posted on the web after we have our three winners. Thanks!