One of the things that irks me is when a business with a classic, recognizable name changes it to some non-word conjured up by a focus group or marketing firm. The worst example was when regional phone company Bell Atlantic (Bell = phone company, Atlantic = the region) changed its name to Verizon, a meaningless abstraction with no regional identity or history behind it.

Now, Bacon's Information Inc., a venerable publisher of media directories, is changing names to Cision. Can you think of a more soulless corporate moniker than Cision? From their website:
Our new name, Cision, reinforces the distinct but related strength of our worldwide organization. It projects our position as a global leader and our commitment to serving our clients seamlessly.
What does that generic corporate lingo even mean? All it means to me is I have to change a bunch of records at work. I assume years ago someone named Bacon started the company and built it into the reputable name it is/was today. He's probably rolling in his grave as we speak.

I think Amtrak started this trend back in the 70s, though at least the name Amtrak hints at it being a railroad. It started off as Penn Central, Penn from the Pennsylvania Railroad, and Central from the New York Central, the two great railroads of the eastern seaboard. But this is America, and for some reason we don't like continuity in our business institutions. We'd rather make up some misspelled, nonsensical crap. A big thumbs down to Verizon, Cision, Amtrak, Cingular, and the rest of 'em.