Photo via Google Streeview
Before the name ISIS became analogous to the militant group best known for beheading people on film, Isis was an Egyptian goddess, worshipped as the ideal mother and wife. According to Egyptian mythology, Isis was the daughter of Geb, god of the earth, who married her brother and resurrected him after her other brother, Set, scattered his body parts around the globe. It’s also a pretty popular girl’s name, ranking well within the top 1,000 baby names for the past decade.
The name’s popularity extends to businesses, too. But somehow, it seems people can’t separate the name “Isis” from the abbreviation for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria—and when people find out that other people and places that have no affiliation with ISIS are also named Isis, they get angry.
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We decided to talk to a few of these businesses to find out how it feels to share a name with an extremist militant group.
Photo via Flickr user Pedro Rosario Rodriguez
Isis clothing store, Chicago
The owner of the Chicago clothing store formerly known as Isis recently changed the boutique’s name to My Sister’s Circus, after too many customers came in and questioned their affiliation with ISIS. We spoke with employee Victoria Fuchs to see what that was like.
VICE: Why did you change your name from Isis?
Victoria Fuchs: We changed it before Christmas. We’ve been in business for 48 years. We’ve used the name Isis for about 45. We named the store Isis after the Egyptian goddess. We changed it in December because we were being harassed.
Who was harassing you?
Tourists. People who didn’t know us. People would take pictures of our sign and then come in and say nasty things to us. We have a clientele that we’ve had for years and years and they didn’t even make the connection. So it was just people who weren’t familiar with the Egyptian goddess and people would come in and they would ask for a business card or ask for a bag, they thought it was funny. Or some people didn’t think it was very funny. But we just didn’t feel safe.
Were you getting threats?
People would come in and say, “Isis is a really bad name. How could you have a name like this?” You just never know with people. It just takes one crazy person to do something stupid.
Did you notice it affecting the business side of things at all?
We weren’t getting new customers walking in the store who thought that we were affiliated with the terror group. It’s just really sad because we’ve had that name for so long and the terrorists don’t even call themselves Isis. It’s just the media and it’s an acronym. People can be ignorant.
So did you ever think about not changing the name?
We didn’t want to. We waited a long time.
Photo via Google Streetview
Isis Hair Salon, Los Angeles
Carrie Banks has owned the Los Angeles hair salon Isis since 1995. While some of her customers began to comment on the similarity, she had a different spin on the news coverage.
VICE: Has your business been affected by having the name Isis?
Carrie Banks: We’ve gotten so many different responses from people and, yeah, some negative responses. So I think that we have been affected by it.
Would you ever consider changing your name?
No, because if you understand abbreviation, it’s not a word—it’s IS-IS. People call it ISIS even though it’s an abbreviation, so I only hear that from ignorant people.
Have you noticed any change in business?
If anything our business has benefited. The name is hot so people who had forgotten about me, when they hear it on the news, they might want to get their hair done. [ Laughs] A lot of my clients have been coming back. You know if you keep hearing something all the time it’s gonna be on your mind, right?
Photo via Facebook
Isis Bridal and Formal, Temecula, California
We spoke to the manager at Isis Bridal and Formal in Temecula, California, who seemed pretty fed up with all the attention the store’s been getting for their name.
“We’ve been here ten years. We are a bridal shop. So we get this kind of [attention] I guess because of the name of it,” she said. “People come in and ask about that but we just tell them the truth, especially since I’m Asian. We have nothing to do with it. The struggle isn’t even the name for us, it’s keeping a small business open. So changing the name and everything costs a lot of money.”
Photo via Google Streetview
Isis Spa and Salon, Lynchburg, Virginia
Samantha Harvey is the owner of a spa in Lynchburg, Virginia. She’s in the process of changing the name from Isis Spa and Salon to Osirus Spa, for “obvious reasons.”
VICE: So you’re changing your name from Isis—why is that?
Samantha Harvey: I’m still spending lots and lots and lots of money trying to change my name over to my med spa name. So we’re kind of moving that direction anyway. That’s really why I did it because we’re going more medical. My intention was to switch over anyway. I’ve had that in the works. I don’t suffer from peer pressure at all so I wouldn’t have done it if someone said that to me. It was a good time to switch over.
Did you experience any harassment?
We have a really good reputation. We’ve had [that reputation] for the last 13 years I’ve been in Virginia. And our clients know us. Really, I blame the media more than anything else for misunderstanding their actual name. I really don’t think ISIS is their actual name. I really don’t think it has anything to do with pharaonic Egyptian names, which is where we got ours from. And really, Cleopatra and all those guys were using henna, and made the first creams, and hair products, and milk baths, and salt polishes, and stuff like that. So that’s really where we got it from.
How have your clients responded?
I’m originally from Napa Valley, California and my brothers and sisters are all from LA. I came over here and this particular area of Virginia is actually a Bible Belt, as they call it. A lot of Christianity here—a lot of Christian schools, a lot of churches, because that’s the target of the terrorists, people were more quick to take offense to the word Isis.
Did they say anything to you?
No, people were scared of me I think. I don’t think they would say it to my face, but I think they did behind my back.
Do you think they actually thought you were affiliated with ISIS?
I sure hope not. I doubt it. I don’t know. You never know what people are thinking. I think people questioned it maybe in the very beginning when things started, but I’ve never had anyone say anything to me. We’re an icon in this little town. We’ve always done a good job. People know us. I don’t think people even know the name half the time. They just know we’re here. We’re classy women here. We don’t look like terrorists or act like terrorists.
Photo via Facebook
Isis Fuller Figure Fashions, Ramona, California
Out of everyone we spoke to, Sally Hilton seems to have had the worst time owning a store named Isis. Two years ago, she moved to the US from England with her mother. Twelve months ago, they opened Isis Fuller Figure Fashions, which carries clothing for plus-sized women. She says she and her mom named the store Isis for female empowerment: “We thought that, because we’re a mother and daughter combo, it would be great because she was all about women empowerment and mother and daughter bonds and friendship and all of these lovely things,” said Hilton. Shortly after opening the shop, things started to take a turn.
VICE: What has your experience been like owning a business with the name Isis?
Sally Hilton: We had quite an unpleasant time. It probably kicked off the worst around July and August. We were having emails and Facebook posts and anonymous phone calls that were quite threatening. My mother and I are in business together. They were threats against me and my mom personally, but also that they were going to picket the business or boycott the business because of the terrorists. It got a bit hair-raising for a good couple of months.
Has the harassment stopped?
I’d say that we’re through the other side—it’s just that it’s not as aggressive as it once was. We did write a letter to one of the local news crews in San Diego and they covered us on the evening news and said, “This is what the shop looks like on the inside and this is what these little English ladies look like selling dresses. And I assure you that they’re not scary and they’re not trying to blow you up.”
What made you name the shop Isis in the first place?
We called the shop Isis because of the goddess, obviously, not because of the terrorist group. And in hindsight, if we had known about the awful atrocities that happened in that name a couple of months into us opening, there’s no way we would have opened a business called Isis. We would have called it beautiful or gorgeous or beau or whatever.
Would you change the name now?
If I could rebrand, I’m not sure whether we would want to. There’s [a] little part of me that thinks that if we did change the name, then that means that the terrorists won a little bit. And why should I change my name because you’re doing something awful on the other side of the world?
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