Church Size Determined by Type of Vowels in Your Church Name

Interesting study from the University of Toronto which shows that the sounds your product's name or title makes on the tongue of your potential attendees or clients has a significance impact on their presuppositions about you.

In particular what seems to matter is whether your product name has a front or back vowel sound. Front and back referring to where in the mouth the tongue moves to make the sound in question. Here is a graphic showing some short and long vowel sounds and where they are formed in your mouth.

According to Sam Maglio, “Front sounds are matched with notions of sharpness, brightness and being small, while back sounds are associated with dullness, darkness and being large.”

Applied to church names then if you re-name and re-brand your church with a name dominated by "front sounds" you are likely to create a sense of an active, small engaging community. Pick a "back sound" name and your church will feel larger but perhaps not as friendly as you imagine. So here is my attempt to categorize church names into "front" and "back" sounding lists.

And please note I am only counting the first name of almost all these church names as invariably churches become known by only the 1st word in their name. For example "Glengate Alliance Church" simply becomes the brand name: "Glengate"

Front Church Names

Glengate Alliance Church
Liquid Church
Saddleback Community Church
Westburne Alliance Church

Back Church Names
Mars Hill Church
Branches Alliance Church
Bolton Alliance Church

Which is your church name?

Pastor Jacob Birch and your Church is NOT for Everyone

Updated - September 24th 2013

Listented to Carey interviewed on my brother's Unseminary podcast about Change. Fantastic stuff. Best line for me was: "Are these the people to build the future of our church on?" 

Original Post - September 4th 2013 

Carey Nieuwdorf's post Why You Need to Stop Thinking Your Church is For Everyone is a great one-stop-shop on the thinking behind the long standing conviction they drilled into us at church planter's boot camp on the need to "define your target audience".

Great post.

Without wanting to be accused of proof texting, i would ever so gently offer that not only is that strategy a sound one from an organizational, financial, vision and staffing perspective but also from a Biblical one as well. (Wish Carey had included at least 1 or 2 Bible verses.)

Jesus - even though we don't like to admit it - had a target audience.