More Corporations Play Name Game

Corporate name changes increased by 4 percent in 1995 with mergers and acquisitions accounting for more than half of the switches, according to a survey released Wednesday.

The number of companies changing names rose to 1,153 from 1,114 in 1994, according to the annual survey by the corporate identity advisor Anspach Grossman Portugal Inc.

Jim Johnson, president and chief executive of the firm, said the biggest share of the changes were in the financial, manufacturing, communications and health care industries.

“It’s no secret why. The current climate for mergers and acquisitions is as good if not better than it was in the past,” he said in a statement.

It was the largest number of corporate name changes since the 1,285 switches in 1992, but far short of the 1988 record of 1,864.