What's In A Name? Saccharide.

Who knew such bitter emotion roiled beneath the placid surface of the local independent baking industry?

A couple of weeks ago, Seattlest mentioned that the Sugar Shack Baking Co. was about to open on Lake City Way. All seemed well -- people in the pastry-light area were ready for espresso, scones, and German chocolate cake.

Then last week, Stephanie Crocker of West Seattle's Sugar left a comment:

Geeze, everybody. Can't anybody who starts a bakery look in the business license database for Washington and see that there are already 3 bakeries in Seattle that begin with Sugar! WE were the first, and we're just sick of people creating confusion in the marketplace by opening a business with a similar name. Get your own name and idea, people. It's SOOOOO frustrating when people come up to us and tell us what we've done and we have to say, "oh, you mean the OTHER sugar!". What also sucks is that we can't do anything about it except be frustrated, but I'm sure if somebody opened a coffee shop called Starbucker there would be hell to pay. Sorry to rant, we've just worked so hard to create a unique brand and identity. We were the first.

Our first reaction: "Oh, come on." If you're a bakery and want a distinctive name, "sugar" is probably not your wisest choice. What's a primary baking ingredient? Yes, flour, but how sexy is "Flour" as a name? Sugar is straightforward, descriptive, and kinda sexy (exhibit A: local strip club Sugar's).

Getting upset that another bakery uses "sugar" in its name is like Kmart getting irked that Wal-Mart uses the word "mart" in its name.

But a friend of ours said she could see why Crocker was upset. "We're a small market," she said. "It just seems kind of rude to use the same word in your name. If it were New York, sure, but in Seattle..."

So we turned to an expert: local naming guru The Name Inspector. His verdict:

Keep in mind that I'm not a trademark attorney, but I'm happy to share my opinion with you. I agree with your take on the situation.

There's a reason why several bakeries in Seattle want to use the word "sugar" in their names. It has an established meaning in the English language that clearly identifies a characteristic of baked goods. That would seem to make Sugar a descriptive and therefore weak trademark, if in fact it's a trademark at all, as opposed to a trade name.

To protect a descriptive trademark, a company has to prove that the mark has a "secondary meaning", which is an association in consumers' minds with the product that has resulted from the company's marketing efforts.

What connection does the word "Starbuck" have with coffee? Well, it's a character in Moby-Dick who drinks a lot of the stuff -- but even people who've read the novel (about 1/100th of the people assigned it in high school English) might not make the connection. There's a connection, but the name is unique in conjunction with espresso. Something similar with baked goods might be Proust's, especially if you make a delicious madeleine.

We also forwarded Stephanie's comment to Heather Pirtle, of Sugar Shack, who responded:

No hard feelings I actually came up with the name Sugar Shack from an old sixties song "sugar shack" not to mention I am from the south so I opened up a scratch bakery with heavy southern influenced recipes. The bakery is also located on the north end of town in maple leaf.

Hmm. Is there a famous Faulknerian pastry?

Regardless, unless their confectionaries should grow vaster than empires, there should be enough room in this town for two delicious bakeries with the word "sugar" in their name -- especially when they're about 10 miles apart. But if either of them wants to change their name, we're sure the Name Inspector is available for consultation.