Otherwise world wise companies forget to to check out names internationally

.On January 7th, 2011, International Expansion found this article by tema, which points to frequently occurring mishaps by even the largest, most sophisticated companies when it comes to naming products for the international markets. This article says, in part:

...Product designations and even abbreviations can even mean something offensive in foreign languages.

One good (or rather bad) example is the Mitsubishi Shogun (UK name). The ... vehicle is sold in most countries under the name "Pajero"... In Spanish, especially in Latin American Spanish, “Pajero” is a very pejorative term, meaning “wanker”. For that reason, and after much turmoil, the car’s name was changed to “Montero” for these markets...

www.gelaendewagen.at" src="http://gelaendewagen.at/images24/mitsubishi_pajero/mitsubishi_pajero_1982.jpg" height="306" alt="Mitsubishi Pajero (1982)" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none;" />

A good way to prevent misunderstandings is to have no wording at all in your logo, although this requires either a very iconic/pictographic logo or huge brand recognition. Starbucks are doing exactly that at the moment. They plan to scrap the letters from their logo, just leaving their mermaid on green background to remain on their cups, the reason for that being massive expansion aspirations. [See separate International Expansion post on that subject]. 

Another problem, not pointed out by tema, is the ability to use and protect trademarks: many a large company miss out in this area, as well.