Blade Naming Across Brands: So Little Imagination (Part 2)
4. Tibhar: Learning from Butterfly — Actually, Copying Them
You can’t even call it “learning” — when it comes to naming, Tibhar straight-up copied Butterfly’s playbook.
So naturally, every decent blade gets a player’s name: Alexis, Felix, Samsonov, Chen Chien-An, Szocs (allwood), Shang Kun, Li Qian. The only time they put in a little extra effort — and even then, it’s still a player name — is the Stealth series.
Admittedly, this approach is extremely convenient. For one thing, top players tend to be reasonably loyal (just pay them more if they waver). For another, even if a player jumps ship, you just rename the blade or quietly discontinue it — like how the Donic Orca True Carbon became the Original True Carbon.
But copy-pasting your naming strategy means you lose any personality of your own, and you end up playing second fiddle. Take the “Golden Tornado” series, which fans have mockingly nicknamed the “DG (Dong Ge) series.” I wonder if the designer got docked for that one.
5. Sword: Aiming for Grand and Sweeping
Take their new “Breaking Boundaries: Sky Quest” blade. Conceptually, there’s nothing wrong with it. Like the old “Ten-Year Blade” name — it had ambition. That name worked back in the day when Sword was genuinely a pioneer in fiber construction on the domestic market.
Naming something “Sky Quest” now? Sure, it signals confidence. But this naming pattern has become so formulaic that everyone can guess your intention immediately — there’s no freshness left.
Beyond that, if “Breaking Boundaries: Sky Quest” is your flagship, why does the same “Breaking Boundaries” series also include the similarly patterned but cheaper “Cicada Wing” and “Seamless”? That undercuts the flagship a bit.
Honestly, something as low-key as a soft “meow” would work better.
For the record, when I named the “Meow” blade, it had absolutely nothing to do with that TikTok song about pawing for attention. A friend said this price-for-an-inner-SALC blade was going to make a splash — I said no, keep it quiet, just good enough that people notice it’s worth the price. So I went with a gentle little meow.
Sword also has the Phoenix, Qilin, White Marsh, and Bifang — a whole mythical-beast family. But unless you’re a die-hard fan, none of them leave a lasting impression; they all blur together.
6. Yinhe (Milky Way): Systematic Because the Lineup Is Massive
That’s roughly where things stand now. Outer carbon blades go from low to high in obvious order: Pro-01, Pro-01x, Pro-01x Max. The inner carbon 05 follows the same logic. At the top-end custom workshop level, you get “Imperial,” “Elegant,” and “Special” — which actually does make things crystal clear.
Compared to Sword’s somewhat tangled product chain, Yinhe’s naming approach is defensible. At least customers know what they’re buying. No credit, no blame.
7. Nittaku: The One Brand I Respect More Than Myself
So far, Nittaku is the only brand I’ll admit names blades better than I do — and with actual artistry. Next to them, my own naming feels like just playing around.
Acoustic Guitar, Violin, Glass Bird, Black Glass Bird Feather, Rigid Power, Dawn Flame… Before you ever see the blade, you might not know what the names mean, but they stick with you. Once you hold it, you understand exactly why it was named that way.
Their Chinese localization takes real skill. And they’re not just careful — they’re dedicated (the evolution from “Nittaku” to the current Chinese rendering says it all).