Atlanta-based SunTrust and North Carolina's BB&T announced their soon-to-be merged outfit's new name on Wednesday, and literally everyone loves it.
Truist soon became a trending topic, and the social media adulation has been strong:
Wow, can you feel the love tonight?
One guy sort of did: Nathan Arthur, the owner of the Twitter handle @truist.
“Looks like I get to be famous for a day,” he posted to his 147 followers (update: he’s now up to 150) after the bank-name announcement.
A Columbus, Ohio native now living in the Cleveland area, Arthur launched Truist as a blog in the Internet’s paleolithic days: the 1990s.
It’s no longer around, but a little digital excavation unearthed lines like this: “I also have a bunch of camera-recorded movies that I haven’t uploaded because they’re too big. I’ll put them on a CD and distribute it, eventually.” (Cameras? CDs? Google em, kids).
Now 40 and the dad of two young children, Arthur revealed the inspiring origin story of how the Truist moniker came to be: “It’s not a name. It didn’t have a meaning. It was just a thing nobody ever took. I don’t think it’s a great name for any company.”
Until now, of course. Truist Financial Corp. will be the future name of the parent company of the combined banks, which are expected to complete their merger in the fall or winter, the AJC's Scott Trubey reports.
The decision to merge banks and now the unveiling of the new name is big financial news, but also sports news. The Atlanta Braves currently play at SunTrust Park; the rechristening might not take place until the end of next season.
With all that branding in the air, we naturally asked Arthur what his price to toss over the Twitter keys would be. He just chuckled, like polite Midwesterners do.
“I am surprised they didn’t try to get this in advance,” said Arthur, who has a computer science programming background and works for a software company. “I’ve been using it for 25 years now.”
Incidentally, he banks with Columbus, Ohio-based Huntington, a bank with a name that actually sounds like a thing. He found out about the new bank planning to use the Truist brand like everyone did: via social media.
“The first I heard of this is when people started tweeting at me,” he said. “I’ve always had a joke: no one would ever want this name.”
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