Ingersoll Rand or Ingersoll-Rand?

Whenever I'm unsure how to spell or punctuate a company's name, one of my first ports of call (after checking our house style guide) is the company's own website. After all, if I write the name how the company itself writes it, I can't go far wrong – can I?

Recently, however, I have been frustrated with (and by!) companies that use their own names inconsistently. Take this screengrab from Ingersoll Rand's website:

Screengrab from Ingersoll Rand's website
So is it Ingersoll Rand or Ingersoll-Rand? The former, not that you would know that from the corporate website.

I wonder whether Ingersoll-Rand is hyphenated in the above example because the writer is treating it as a compound adjective? Not common practice with company names!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kwik Fit is another culprit. Kwik-Fit is on the home page, too, and the logo looks as if it is KwikFit.

Gloom Raider said...

I also ran across one of these not long ago (I can't recall the company name, however). I try to look at it as proof that people will always need the services of proofreaders, but when you consider how much time and care goes into promoting company names and logos, you'd think they would show a bit more diligence.

The Ridger, FCD said...

I imagine it's a case of shoehorning - the rule is "hyphenate before nouns", so clearly "Ingersoll Rand" must become "Ingersoll-Rand" before "company"... unless you're paying attention to the meaning. Which is beyond those who have mastered a "rule" and nothing more.

Anonymous said...

I can solve this one since I work at Ingersoll Rand. Our legal names, i.e. Ingersoll-Rand Company or Ingersoll-Rand Company Ltd., require the hyphen. Our communicative name, Ingersoll Rand, does not. We stopped using the hypen as part of a brand strategy change three years to emphasize that we are one company - not two or more simply bolted together. I appreciate this discussion. To eliminate confusion in this instance, we will change the "Welcome to" line on our home page to use our communicative, hyphen-less name.

Anonymous said...

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