Finnish Company 'Isis' Changes Name to Avoid Terrorist Overtones

A Finnish translation agency named Isis has been forced to change its name because of the unwanted association with the terrorist organization with the same name. After several years of struggle, the owner of the Isis translation agency in Helsinki has submitted to the public pressure, as banking services refused payments to the organization.

As the violent Islamic fundamentalist group, now known as Daesh, started rising to prominence in Iraq and Syria in early 2014, many businesses around the world who had used the name Isis swiftly changed their name to avoid unnecessary associations with the jihadists.

However, company director Linda Ahlblad made a grand stand against altering her firm's moniker. Instead, she started an ultimately unsuccessful campaign to convince Finnish media to use other names to denote the terrorist organization.

"I was actually a bit relieved when the group announced they were changing their name to Islamic State. I thought if the media started using IS then maybe I can stick to the company name," Ahlblad told Finnish national broadcaster Yle, explaining why she first chose to stick to the website address isis.fi.

Översättningsbyrån Isis tvingas byta namn https://t.co/VedAClJIrI

— Linda Ahlblad (@lindaahlblad) June 23, 2016

​Unfortunately, Ahlblad's stubbornness was never rewarded and soon ran into trouble, as banks started to refuse money transfer to a recipient by the name of Isis. Consequently, Danske Bank refused to convey a client's payment until the company changed the name on the invoice to "translation agency". Also, online money transfer giant PayPal made repeated demands for extra ID proof before processing payments.

"I think that all banks have some sort of filter. If we as Isis sent a payment to Russia with Paypal, the recipients started ringing the warning bells. Then they started demanding explanations," Ahlblad told the Finnish newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet.

Now, however, Ahlblad finally admitted it was high time to change the name. By her own admission, the firm's new name Pauhu, which means "roar" in Finnish, is much more appealing to the general public.

"A simple Finnish name makes it easier to relate to us," she said, jokingly expressing hope that no malicious organizations steal this name.

According to Ahlblad, the company's former moniker alluded to the Egyptian goddess of fecundity and creativity.

The Helsinki-based translation agency Isis/Pauhu focuses mainly on marketing texts. The company has a staff of over 40 translators working in all European languages, including Russian. Among their customers are Mercedes Benz and American Express.