Enron, By Any Other Name
NPR Listeners Offer the Troubled Firm New Name Ideas

 Listen to the list of Enron alternate names submitted by NPR listeners.

 Got your own suggestion for a new Enron name? Share it with the NPR online community.

Enron logo at company headquarters in Houston, Texas. Photo: Copyright 2002 Reuters Limited

March 4, 2002 -- When Enron let it be known it will seek a new name, listeners of NPR's All Things Considered came to the rescue. The show asked listeners for suggestions and today announced the most popular: End-Run.

But there were many more suggestions, several of which hosts Robert Siegel and Jacki Lyden shared on the air.

Entries came in a couple of distinct categories. There were those who took the assignment seriously, wanting to help the damaged company find a label that's not soiled by scandal. Among those suggestions: Listener Eric C. Weissinger proposed "Integron -- where integrity could be promoted as a core competency." And listener Joey Calderon felt the new name should be one that's hard to hate, so he submitted "The Warm and Fuzzy Teddy Bear Corporation that Feels your Pain."

Most listeners weighed in with suggestions either wry or sassy. Writes Harry Pauley: "My suggestion for a new name for Enron: The Houston Steelers." Or, drawing on a chapter from the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, listener Bob White proposes "Elevenron." White further suggests: "To recognize Ken Lay's feigned ignorance of the accounting improprieties: 'Enron Ear And Out the Other.'"

Among other suggestions, and the listeners who sent them:

• "Kenny Lay and the Fifth Amendments" (Greg Estes)
• "KenRob," or "EndRot" (Toby Chapman)
• "Enwrong" (Sonya Miller)
• "The Enron Valdez" (Kurt Zschau)
• "The Fossil Fools" (John Anarella)
• "Titanic Offshore Holdings, Inc." (Jim Duff )
• "Engervitis -- looks bad on your portfolio and leaves a really bad taste in your mouth" (Dennis Mahoney)
• "Enerjive" (Jeff Mio)
• "Ploys R Us" (Ilma Levine)
• "Ponzicorp" and "Allgon" (Carl Silverman)
• "Oil of Ken Lay," "PipeDreams Inc.," or "ScamOil" (Richard Gordon)
• "ExecuTheft," "EN-bezzle" or "Scamulent Technologies" (Gordon McGrew)
• "Rising Stock, Hidden Partnerships" (Peter Langan)
• "Term-Oil" (Galen Velonis Tully)

Listeners sent several variations on a theme suggested by Chet Wright: "Obviously the correct new name for Enron should be: 'Enema-ron' -- because they cleaned out employees." Also suggested by several listeners, a name simple and succinct:

"Moron."

Browse more NPR stories on Enron.

 Got your own suggestion for a new Enron name? Share it with the NPR online community.

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