Episode #82: Deborah Ball

Episode #82: Deborah Ball

From Linguistics Careercast by Linguistics Careercast

November 4, 2025 · 58 min

About this episode

Deborah Ball discusses the intersection of linguistics and branding, focusing on the grammar of brand names and their contextual meanings.

“There’s so much you can learn from linguistics when you apply it to the business of naming” Deborah Ball has been working in naming, branding, content creation, marketing, and communications for more than 10 years in the UK and the US. Her special focus has been brand naming. She has a Master’s in Linguistics from the University of Oxford and an MBA from Durham University Business School. Over the years, she has immersed herself in the study of naming, including the grammar of brand names, to understand how meaning is more fully shaped when phonetic forms are placed in context. Deborah Ball on LinkedIn “Exploring the landscape of proper names and their grammatical characteristics to understand how brand names fit in” ANS Presentation on YouTube NAMES, the journal of the American Name Society Topics include: – naming – market research – Egyptology – neurolinguistics – marketing – project management – medtech – brand strategy If you’d like to support this show, we’ve got a Patreon!The post Episode #82: Deborah Ball first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.

People in this episode

Guest: Deborah Ball

Topics covered

  • naming
  • branding
  • market research
  • neurolinguistics
  • marketing
  • project management
  • brand strategy

Keywords

  • linguistics
  • branding
  • brand naming
  • market research
  • neurolinguistics
  • marketing
  • project management
  • medtech
  • Egyptology

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Oxford, Durham University Business School, American Name Society

Books & works: NAMES

More episodes of Linguistics Careercast

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Linguistics Careercast podcast page.