Coca-Cola and "可口可乐"

Coca-Cola Company enjoys a great success in China, becoming China's leading soft drink company and one of the top U.S. companies in China. The reason? Coca-Cola did a great job in seeking the best “Chinese name”for its brand.

Starting with a search of the nearest phonetic equivalent, it needs a separate Chinese character for each of the four syllables, Coca-Cola. The closet meaningful match found was Ke3 Kou3 Ke3 Le4, which is shown in Chinese characters： 可口可乐
Each of the Chinese characters has meanings:
Kě 可means approve; permit; may; can; good; appropriate.
Kǒu 口stands for mouth; hole; entrance.The shape of the character looks like a mouth.
Lè 乐means happy; joyful; be glad to; enjoy; laugh.
When combined, the formed words usually have more definitive meanings:
Kěkǒu 可口stands for tasty; good to eat; palatable.Kělè 可乐= be happy.

The first pair (Kěkǒu) is a common Chinese usage and the second part (Kělè )is not a commonly-used phrase. But because Kělè also has a ‘Kě' in it, so there is a parallel. Today Kělè has already become the Chinese synonym for soft drink.

So the Chinese trademark of Coca-Cola may mean ‘tasty soft drink' or ‘tasty and happy'.
This trademark is unique for the balance of the two parts, Kěkǒu and Kělè. Kěkǒu is related to food or drink itself, a very common usage. Kělè is a little different for the Chinese but has a very good meaning in Chinese. An ‘unusual' name may attract people's curiosity and it is particularly true for the Chinese. They want to try something new, even though they used to drink tea. It also adds some exotic taste to the brand. It is indeed a good name.

Later on, Pepsico followed the Coca-Cola trend. Pepsi-Cola was translated into
Bǎi Shì Kě Lè. 百事可乐
Bai3 百means hundred; numerous.
Shi4 事stands for thing; matter; affair; post; business, etc.
Thus, the Chinese trademark for Pepsi-Cola may mean 'everything laughable' or 'be happy with everything'. It is also a good trademark.