What's In A Name

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Every business needs a name. But finding one that captured the spirit of what his new company would do, as well as be descriptive, wasn't easy for G Albert Bourgeois. "I thought about names like First Allied Capital and New Hampshire Finance Group," he recalls, "but you see those kinds of names until you're blue in the face, and you never get the feeling that there are individuals who stand behind them."

Bourgeois, a native of Francestown, N.H., about 50 miles west of Exeter, wanted a noninstitutional name to reflect his view that the firm would be doing more than structuring investments and raising capital. "It's really a hands-on business where people have to rely on you," he says. "And we wanted to convey that."

The first choice, a straightforward and bland "Bourgeois & Co.," was already being used by a New Hampshire construction company. But Bourgeois was intrigued by the very personal image projected by Lazard Freres (translated, Lazard Brothers), one of the world's most respected investment banking firms. Although he had no plans for involving relatives, Bourgeois, whose ancestry is a mixture of Lithuanian, French, English, and Scottish, nevertheless decided to go with a name that referred to family ties. Translated, the name Bourgeois Fils means Bourgeois Son.

"It's hard to get used to and hard to pronounce," concedes the founder and managing director of the 3 1/2-year-old company. "But people aren't apt to mistake it for anything else. And once they learn about who we are and what we do, I don't think they will forget us."