Chinese brand naming: from general principles to specific rules

The linguistic aspect is the essence of branding and of particular importance for the success of a product. This article adopts a linguistic approach in an attempt to investigate Chinese branding rules, both the general branding principles and the specific rules for different categories of products. The four generalized branding principles based on the analysis of 527 Chinese award-winning products in general specify the requirements in syllable structure, tonic structure, compounding structure and semantic structure. In terms of specific rules, a sample of 151 top brands of two product categories, bicycles and cosmetic products, are analysed. The difference in branding the different products is determined by the semantic field.