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   Yohan Yukiya Sese Cuneta 사요한🦣 (youronlyone@c.im)'s status on Saturday, 25-Jan-2025 05:43:02 JST Yohan Yukiya Sese Cuneta 사요한🦣

   Oh-em-gee. Some people. 🤦🏽 I'm talking about English name of the group #아홉 not the Korean name. 🤷🏽 Like it or not the name #AHOF is not appealing. Look at #소녀시대 / #SNSD, they're more known globally as #GirlsGeneration.

   아홉 is better as #9ers #Niners in English.

   #Kpop

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     Yohan Yukiya Sese Cuneta 사요한🦣 (youronlyone@c.im)'s status on Saturday, 25-Jan-2025 16:15:49 JST Yohan Yukiya Sese Cuneta 사요한🦣

     in reply to

     • Erzbet

     @Erzbet For search results, it's going to be a challenge, but I think it will resolve overtime. As an example, IU. In the early days, results for IU often returned US schools with IU as a common acronym. But today, IU overtook them in search results. (Shows the power of Kpop, lols.)

     There was even a time when Americans kept asking me what I meant by "IU" and some told me to stop using it as a hashtag. But now IU dominates that hashtag. I think it's also a good way to know how much impact they have.

     In any case, it doesn't have to be Niners. Anything but AHOF. 😅

     Re: SNSD, in their first 5+ years, were known only as Girls' Generation outside of Korea. When some fans started to use SNSD, there were a lot of confusion. Their popularity as "Girls' Generation" helped made their "SNSD" Korean name known globally. So, it's improtant to have an appealing English name.

     Hmm, LOONA is another example. LOONA's Korean name is very different. The story behind their English name LOONA is that it's the first letter of the members' name. But in Korean, it was a regular group name, not based on their name. Their agency figured their Korean name wouldn't appeal to non-Koreans, so someone came up with a brilliant one.

     TVXQ use different names for different markets since it makes sense for those markets. I think it's DBSK in Japan or China? Something like that.

     F&F could've gone the route of any if their seniors in the industry instead of transliteration.

     1. SNSD route. Translate the name to English and use it for the global market. As an example, Niners.

     2. LOONA. Come up with a fresh idea that is not connected to the Korean name. Example, just use Team Rhythm. Or, let the kids choose a cool English name for themselves. They have JL to help them with that since he's multilingual. 😝

     3. TVXQ. Use different names for different markets.

     Lastly, F&F Entertainment already have a history choosing a bad name for the global market. 😂 It first happened with the fandom name of UNIS, they were forced to choose a new one.

     So, them choosing AHOF, it's that all over again. F&F lacks an employee with a grasp of the global market and culture, or didn't do research. They thought it's okay because it is fine for them as Koreans. But sounds really weird elsewhere.

     It doesn't even sound as a radio station like TVXQ and that girl group WS-something.

     Sorry, I explain things too much.

     Anyway, if they'll stick with AHOF for the English name of the group, nothing can be done with it. But, hopefully it they plan on creating another group once UNIS ends next year, they'll do their research first. The Korean market and appeal factor is different from the global market.

     But how about BTS? Sure, they weren't known as BTS in the global market in their first few years. And as soon as they officially adopted the BTS acronym given by a few fans, their success in the global market skyrocketed. It worked because BTS sounds cool. Recall is high. Appeal is great.

     Then comes "AHOF". It sounds like someone coughing 😷. Or a dog barking. (Ironically, AHOF is also an acronym for a pet hospital. 😅 And someone on X said it's also actually a cough medicine.)

     Note: This is about the English name, not the Korean name.

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     Erzbet (erzbet@apobangpo.space)'s status on Saturday, 25-Jan-2025 16:15:50 JST Erzbet

     in reply to

     @youronlyone

     I don't know if Niners would really work for an English name, at least not if you intend to target the US as an audience. Niners is a commonly used short name for the San Francisco 49ers NFL team... a kpop group with that name would be buried in search results coming from the US.

     I'm not sure I get the SNSD comparison, most of my English speaking kpop friends use SNSD.

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     Erzbet (erzbet@apobangpo.space)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 17:46:49 JST Erzbet

     in reply to

     @youronlyone I've had to explain to a lot of people why SNSD has 2 names. I honestly think it would have been better to just use SNSD.

     WSJN tried to do the same thing with Cosmic Girls and GWSN with Girls in the Park. Both did nothing but confuse fans. I don't ever hear either English name used.

     Honestly, as long as the Korean name is either not too hard to spell or can be abbreviated, it's just easier for a group to have 1 name. There's not really a need for groups to have lots of names.

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     Erzbet (erzbet@apobangpo.space)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 17:46:50 JST Erzbet

     in reply to

     @youronlyone BTS was always BTS. I've been around since their debut and their videos were always labelled as BTS and then the Hangul full name in parenthesis. At one point Big Hit hired a PR firm that tried to change the meaning of the name from Bangtan Sonyeondan to "Beyond the Scene" and no one was having it, not international fans and not Korean fans.

     Yohan Yukiya Sese Cuneta 사요한🦣 repeated this.
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     Erzbet (erzbet@apobangpo.space)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 17:46:51 JST Erzbet

     in reply to

     @youronlyone TVXQ is actually the Japanese name. DBSK is the original Korean name for the group.

     I'll probably respond to more of the long post once I'm more awake. Lol.

     Yohan Yukiya Sese Cuneta 사요한🦣 repeated this.
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     Yohan Yukiya Sese Cuneta 사요한🦣 (youronlyone@c.im)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 17:56:00 JST Yohan Yukiya Sese Cuneta 사요한🦣

     in reply to

     • Erzbet

     @Erzbet Yep! TVXQ went overboard with naming. 😅 It hurt their name recall and popularity because different regions use different names and hashtags.

     In general, they should avoid members' first letter naming schemes, especially if they have non-Korean members. And sometimes, they end up with something that sounds like a radio station instead if an idol group. 😂

     Yep, SNSD is good. But I guess their agency thought using the translation of their name is better for the global market. Even so, in the end, even the members themselves started using Girls' Generation more often. (In a way it was good, they inadvertently promoting English in Korean market.)

     Re: BTS, when they were starting, I've always seen their full Korean name, and only a few fans used BTS, and non-Koreans at that. Interesting to know they were actually already using the acronym early on. That's good information, thank you for sharing! 🙇🏽

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     Yohan Yukiya Sese Cuneta 사요한🦣 (youronlyone@c.im)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jan-2025 17:58:19 JST Yohan Yukiya Sese Cuneta 사요한🦣

     in reply to

     • Erzbet

     @Erzbet Hah! It really hurt them with going overboard with their naming strategy. 😂 All this time, I got it in reverse. 😂

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     Yohan Yukiya Sese Cuneta 사요한🦣 (youronlyone@c.im)'s status on Wednesday, 29-Jan-2025 16:45:55 JST Yohan Yukiya Sese Cuneta 사요한🦣

     in reply to

     • radioactivestardust
     • Erzbet

     @bookstardust @Erzbet Generally, it's hard to tell. But if based on news and variety shows, they say "BTS".

     It could be a case where celebrities use the popular global name so their fans can hear and relate (and help with recall), but off-camera, they use the Korean name.

     Which is understandable. They all are supportive of the idol industry regardless if their network is a partner or not.

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     radioactivestardust (bookstardust@bildung.social)'s status on Wednesday, 29-Jan-2025 16:45:56 JST radioactivestardust

     in reply to

     • Erzbet

     @youronlyone @Erzbet also, aren't koreans always usint the full korean name for BTS? Just sayint 비트에스 would be complicated. If i speak korean, i would always use the korean name.