'A' Business by Any Other Name : Firm Name Choice as a Signal of Firm Quality

This paper considers when a firm's deliberately chosen name can signal meaningful information about its quality, focusing specifically on a setting in which it does: plumbing firms with names that begin with an "A" or a number receive five times more service complaints, on average. In addition, firms use names beginning with an "A" or a number more often in larger markets, and those that do have higher prices. These results reflect consumers' search decisions and extend to online platforms: plumbing firms that advertise on Google receive more complaints, which contradicts prior theoretical predictions but fits the setting considered here