(This column from credit union branding guru Denise Wymore is in response to the renaming of GTE Federal Credit Union to GTE Financial. A column from President/CEO Joe Brancucci explaining the move was posted in this space last week.)

I've been pretty outspoken on the plethora of ridiculous name changes in credit union land. So I have to say it upfront; I know there are some credit unions that had to drop their sponsor name. They were told they could no longer use it (best example is John Deere Credit Union) – or they didn't dare continue to use it (in the case of Enron Credit Union).

I don't know the exact number, but my guess would be that over 50% of all credit unions have changed their name in the past decade. Some name changes simply broke my heart – Lockheed why did you change to Logix? Some made me scratch my head – Weyerhaeuser Longview to Red Canoe – and some just pissed me off – Group Health to Salal. They all kept the credit union distinction – but in my opinion bastardized their brand.