Finding a name for a company is tough. Unless you want to call your company something that looks more like a strong password, everything in the world is already taken. Somebody has even registered “PaulDorsey.com” on the off chance that I would pay to get my own name back.
When I started Dulcian (almost 20 years ago), it was not quite as tough, but it was still difficult. For example, the first name of BRIM® was GRIFFIN (Generalized Rules Information something something) until Merv Griffin Inc. decided that they owned EVERYTHING that could ever have the name Griffin associated with it (I wonder if that is why Harry Potter has Hippogriffs) and threatened legal action if we kept the name.
I have a pretty serious hobby as a renaissance and baroque recorder player. But “Recorder Inc.” did not have a very nice ring to it. All the foreign language terms for recorder were also not so nice (Blockflute, Flute-a-Bec, etc.) so I started looking at names of other early instruments.
A Dulcian is a renaissance forerunner to the bassoon. It also has its roots in the Latin word for “sweet”, and it was catchy . We have been “Dulcian, Inc.” ever since.
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