It’s hard to find a topic that hasn’t already been discussed on the forum but I can’t seem to find a discussion on whether having to rename the bank Monzo was a blessing in disguise.
To quote the original blog post:
“As we mentioned during our recent Crowdcube campaign, our trade mark, “Mondo”, has been legally challenged by an undisclosed company with a similar name. This situation means we need to decide a new name for ourselves.”
Someone on LinkedIn commented in a recent post:
“Monzo reminds either of “Bonzo”, used as a magic word by old-style stage magic trick performers, or a joke name for a dog.”
Personally, I think Monzo is the better name and more marketable but I’d be interested in hearing what everyone else thinks.
I like both names, but what I’d love to know is who the other Mondo was! Seems like it’s an extremely closely guarded secret, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Monzo ended up the bigger company. I dont know of a Mondo as a household name, unless it’s a hedge fund or something (or perhaps they are yet to launch!).
Even after all this time I still think Monzo is a terrible name, the truth is that names are only one part of a brand. They could probably have changed it to Moneyify (Bankify not starting with an M) and it would probably have been fine! Remembering that Monzo came about mostly because Monzo.com was free at the time. It was pretty clear that it didn’t win the send us your suggestions competition!!!
I think if you have to explain pronunciation you’re starting below zero base. (I read “Moneyify” without explanation as “money iffy” which isn’t great…)
I thought it might have been Momondo. The colour schemes of Monzo and Momondo are fairly similar too. And the quote was about it having a similar name rather than the same name.
There are several Mondos around. I was first made aware of this one when it was Mondo and iOS only, and being an Android user by the time I got my card it was Monzo. And, to be honest, I wasn’t the least bit surprised.
Why? Taking the “Mondo” name itself, I was long familiar with https://mondotees.com/, a Mondo that makes exclusive high-quality prints. Indeed, the very first time I heard of this Mondo (as they were then) I was genuinely baffled by an art company branching out into banking.
On top of which, Google tells me that a “Mondo Finance” does exist.
The actual reason why Mondo were forced to change their name, though, is a third company who I forget exactly who they were right now. Not that it matters. The above is enough to establish for me that the Mondo name was never ideal even from the start. Heck, leaving aside any other companies, for people my age it also brings to mind the Teenage Mutant Ninja (or, indeed, Hero) Turtles and the phrase “Mondo to the max!”
Whichever way you look at it, Monzo is very much the better name, and its good that they moved away from the ‘Mondo’ name early.
Why was it called Mondo to start with, I’m just curious, if anyone knows? Is it an acronym or an amalgamation or two words blended together? Just wondering…
