Stuart writes:

What’s in a name? Or rather, what’s in two names?

How do creative teams get to be known as what they’re known as? How is the order decided? What I mean is, for instance, why is Tony & Kim, never Kim & Tony?

Is it alphabetical? Nope. Is it what scans best? Maybe. But perhaps there’s another reason.

At the risk of upsetting a few people, I would like to hypothesise that it is often the slightly more vocal of the pairing whose name comes first. So I give you the WK creative teams:

Tony & Kim

Ben & Matt

Sam & Frank

Darren & Lucy

Fabian & Ida

Ian & Sophie

Mandy & Sarah

My argument would be that each of the first names here is the slightly more vocal.

Yes there are exceptions (damn you Richard & Mark and Angus & Paul) but there seems to be a strong correlation between being first in the naming, and being a bit more vocal. Are the slightly more vocal ones slightly more vocal about deciding how their team is known?

There are some undecideds, of course. Some people call our new team Matt & Matt, but then others call them Matt & Matt.

And then there are teams where it’s too close to call, in terms of who is the more vocal. Like our team who are called ‘Dan and Ray’ (well, those are their names). But here, perhaps there is a suggestion of a more worrying sub-clause in the name order rules.

Ray, you see, is actually a girl. Dan isn’t. So, if teams can’t decide who is the more vocal, then does the man automatically go first? Has Germaine Greer’s life been wasted?

This is backed up in wider culture. You never hear any of the following:

Ginger and Fred

Jane and Tarzan

Eve and Adam

Juliet & Romeo

Judy and Richard

Judy and Punch

Mindy and Mork

Mildred and George

June and Terry

Gretel and Hansel (yes, I checked)

It wasn’t Jill and Jack who went up the hill. Why? For rhyming purposes, or blatant sexism?

Even one of history’s strongest ever women – Cleopatra – didn’t get nomenclature promotion over Antony. True, it isn’t called the A&V Museum, but that’s probably just a typo that’s stuck.

Why, why, why not Delilah and Samson? OK, it’s Posh and Becks, but it’s Becks who wears skirts more often. And let’s face it, Torvill and Dean weren’t kidding anyone.

The French are rather more enlightened. In French, chalk is feminine but cheese is masculine.

But this is careering way off the main question. How do creative teams get to be known as what they’re known as?

For couples, the rule is clear. Who you knew first goes first. If you knew Mick Bailey (our Head of Creative Services) first, it’s Mick and Julia. If you knew Julia Methold (our Head of TV) first, it’s Julia and Mick.

Mums, bless ’em, overrule this rule. Mums rule the roost in the naming-order family, versus dads. Even for posh people who have mothers and fathers.

Maybe creative teams should conflate their names into one. Like Brad and Angelina becoming Brangelina. Fabida might work. Tokim might not.

Anyway, I guess it’s time for me to put the words ‘up’ and ‘shut’ the other way round too.

On Tuesday night we all went down to Regent Street for the switching on of the Christmas lights, developed by us – with help from UVA – for Nokia. The rain held off (mostly) and the lights looked lovely. A wee clip above of the display in action.