ISIS Terror Casts Pall on Business Names

What’s in a name?

Everything, if the name of a business conjures up images of terrorists – and the names of the Isis Coney Island restaurant and several other similarly named businesses in metro Detroit apparently do just that.

The business owners say there’s no connection between their businesses, which are named after the ancient Egyptian goddess Isis, and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, but some of them are facing rebranding nightmares.

The owner of Isis Coney Island Restaurant in Taylor says she’s changing the name of the popular cafe to drub out any connection people might make to the terrorist group, WWJ/CBS Detroit reports.

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• Would you avoid a business named after an Egyption goddess whose name has been co-opted by a terror group?

The name of the Egyptian-themed restaurant wasn’t offensive to anyone until recently, said owner Liz Nikollaj, who bought the Isis Coney Island in June. But after the ISIS terror threat escalated in Iraq and Syria, customers began complaining with snide comments.

Nikollaj said no one has accused her of being a terrorist “... They just say, you know, ‘You need to change the name. That name is a terrorist name.’ ”

She’s not saying how she’ll rebrand the restaurant – an expensive proposition that will include changing everything from the sign out front to possibly changing the tables, which are laminated with the soon-to-be-old Isis Coney Island name.

But it will be “something nice,” she said, and “hopefully, it’s going to be our only name.”

Isis Coney Island isn’t suffering alone, The Detroit News said. The newspaper, citing information from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, said the name “Isis” is included in some 270 product, service and business names.

Jessica Hentschel, who owns Isis The Salon in Chesterfield Township, says she’s received calls from people who reportedly say, “We won’t come to your shop because of who you support,” she told the newspaper. For the record, she doesn’t support ISIS, either.

The good news for Hentschel is that the name isn’t as entrenched in the community psyche, as Isis Coney Island is. The name has only been around since March, and she’s changing it to Salon Marilyn.

Sue Mohanna, who owns the Isis Beauty Clinic in Garden City, also wants to shed any association customers might make to ISIS, but told The Detroit News she may only switch out the S’s for Z’s, which follows the correct pronunciation of the name of the goddess.

“Her name is supposed to be pronounced more like E-zeez,” she said. “But no one can pronounce it that way.”

Mohanna conceded that may not be enough.

“Maybe some people look at my business’s name and decide not to come in because of that, but I don’t know,” she said. “No one has said that to me, so I don’t think it’s affecting my business.”

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Photo: Isis Coney Island Facebook page