Since this website page is about Phoenix naming, it seems appropriate to talk about the naming of Phoenix, Arizona itself.
Naming Phoenix didn’t begin with a positioning consultation or a Unique Value Proposition crafted by yours truly. No, as with most city names, to know more about Phoenix naming we need only take a glimpse into the city’s storied past. Digging deep and going way back, archeologists say the Hohokam culture thrived in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico from 300 and 1500 AD. One of the culture’s great contributions was its irrigation systems. This made the Phoenix area a great draw. As the population flourished, Lord Darrell Duppa, one of the area’s modern settlers in Jack Swilling’s party, thought the phoenix of Greek lore, a bird that can regenerate itself, would make for a great name as one civilization and its contributions (Hohokam) was giving birth to another. Today’s Phoenix, both the state capital and the most populous city in Arizona, has diversified somewhat from its original 5C approach to economic development (copper, cattle, climate, cotton and citrus) and is home today to all types of businesses, from giant corporations to entrepreneurial startups. If one is naming Phoenix sell points, the list would not be complete if it didn’t mention its cacti, its year-round sun, its world-famous golf, its spas and its hot nightlife.
