{"id":1059,"date":"2024-07-17T10:04:32","date_gmt":"2024-07-17T09:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.alison.com\/?p=1059"},"modified":"2024-09-17T16:52:34","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T15:52:34","slug":"how-alison-got-its-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alison.com\/blog\/how-alison-got-its-name","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s in a Name? Alison Founder on Global Education Brand\u2019s Beginnings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever wondered who Alison is or whether the name is an acronym? You\u2019re not alone. Alison founder Mike Feerick<\/a> travels the world, meeting Alison staff, learners and graduates in 193 countries and is reliably asked, \u201cIs Alison your wife\u2019s name?\u201d or, \u201cHow did you come up with the name Alison?\u201d Here, he shares the story of how the best free online learning platform in the world came by its name.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first came up with the vision of a website that could teach for free anyone, anywhere, on any subject, at any time, I knew that coming up with the right name was very important. As the old Chinese sage Confucius was reported to have said (and I paraphrase!) \u201cCalling something by its right name is the beginning of all wisdom\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Criteria for Choosing a Name<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The name of the project\/website had to have certain basic qualities:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Simplicity<\/strong>: It had to be a simple name, easily said. The name phonetically had to roll off any tongue in any language, as our goal from day one was to have a large global website with learners studying in every country.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Generic and benign<\/strong>: It had to be a generic, benign word to begin with \u2013 something like \u201cGoogle\u201d that could morph into many things. What I did not want to call the website was \u201cFree Online Learning.org\u201d as what we were planning to build was so much more than providing free learning alone.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Alphabetical advantag<\/strong>e: It should begin with the letter \u201cA\u201d. It\u2019s one of the most basic marketing strategies, as starting with \u201cA\u201d gets you placed naturally at the top of many listings. I remember some years later listening to an interview with Jack Ma at the World Economic Forum in Davos, in which he said he came up with the name Alibaba partly also because of the letter \u201cA\u201d!<\/span><\/span>There was another reason for the \u201cA\u201d letter: the original company (which sold IT Desktop Training courses online) was called \u201cAdvance Learning\u201d, so from there, I got the \u201cA\u201d and the \u201cL\u201d.\u00a0 When I thought of the \u201cAlison\u201d name, I had to look to see if the domain was taken, and indeed it was, by a very nice American lady by the name of: you guessed it, \u201cAlison\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The Golden Question<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Not only is the right name important, but having the matching domain\/URL equally so. I found out that \u201cAlison\u201d was living in New Jersey, USA. I reached out and got a speedy reply. No, she wasn\u2019t interested. \u201cI like having this domain name,\u201d she said, and who would not like to have their own matching namesake domain for themselves? Unsurprised, I persisted. Alison told me she had over 100 inquiries from China alone trying to buy the name. Then she asked me the golden question after some friendly exchanges: \u201cWhat do you want it for?\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

    I knew I had a chance when she asked that question. As carefully as I could, I wrote out my vision for educating the world for free. I shared with her some of my background; that I had already started a number of web-based businesses, and how the social mission and impact of what we could do was what excited me most. She asked for some time to think about it. She really did like having that domain name!<\/span>
    \n<\/span>
    \n<\/span>Sometime early in 2007, I received the email I was hoping for. Yes, we could have the domain name.\u00a0 A month later, for a one-off payment of $10,000, dinner and show on Broadway, the domain was ours!<\/span><\/p>\n

    How Alison Has Grown<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    I have not been in contact with Alison for many years, but I hope she is happy with how we have used her precious domain name around the world. It reminds me how many acts of goodwill around the world have helped us to get this far.\u00a0 <\/span>
    \n<\/span>
    \n<\/span>What\u2019s in a name? Well, everything. You make it become something that in time stands alone. We hope the Alison name will become even more synonymous with free learning and empowerment in the years ahead. For my part, I invite you too to help build the brand of Alison by telling someone new about Alison when you can!<\/span><\/p>\n

    Hope you enjoyed the story! You can follow me on <\/span>X<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Linkedin<\/span><\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n