Definition of acronym

Our definition of acronym: A brand name formed from the initial letters (or groups of letters) of a longer name or phrase and pronounced as a word.

Often contrasted with

• Initialism: A brand name formed from the initial letters of a longer name or phrase and pronounced letter by letter.

Other definitions of acronym from around the web

“A word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase, usually using individual initial letters.” – Wikipedia

“Brand names formed from the initial letters (or parts) of a series of words.” – The Financial Brand

“A word formed from the initial letters or groups of letters of words in a set phrase or series of words and pronounced as a separate word.” – Dictionary.com

“An abbreviation of a descriptive name.” – Sticky Branding

Examples of acronym brand names

• ASICS (Anima Sana In Corpore Sano; Latin, “A Sound Mind in a Sound Body”)
• Fiat (Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino; Italian, “Italian Automobile Factory, Turin”)
• GEICO (Government Employees Insurance Company)
• Nabisco (National Biscuit Company)
• NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
• Qantas (Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services)

Examples of initialism brand names

• AT&T (American Telephone and Telegraph)
• CNN (Cable News Network)
• IBM (International Business Machines)
• KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken)
• PwC (Price Waterhouse Coopers)
• HSBC (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation)

Additional thoughts

While it’s easy to define acronym and initialism, these name types are difficult to classify on the approach-and-construct chart. They’re often based on descriptive names—”NASA,” for example, stands for “National Aeronautics and Space Administration.” But for audiences who aren’t familiar with these legacy, descriptive names (e.g., younger generations), names like “NASA” might as well be abstract or meaningless. Similarly, abbreviated names are typically not real words (an acronym like “Fiat” is an exception), making it hard to assign them to one of the three standard naming constructs—real-word, compound, or coined.

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