We analyse the signalling effect of a strategy known as eponymy whereby owners integrate their name into the company name. Using microdata from German food processors, we find that eponymous companies generate 2.8 per cent-points higher return on assets, which implies additional yearly profits of €253,000 for a median-sized company. The eponymy effect increases with ownership concentration, indicating that the more control an owner holds over the company, the stronger the signalling. Long names ranking low in the alphabetical order mitigate the effect. This study applies a novel approach to investigate the causal effect of firm naming and thus has implications for food processors.

中文翻译：

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德国食品加工企业名称和盈利能力

我们分析了一种称为同名的策略的信号效应，所有者将他们的名字整合到公司名称中。使用来自德国食品加工商的微观数据，我们发现同名公司的资产回报率高出 2.8 个百分点，这意味着一家中等规模的公司每年可额外获得 253,000 欧元的利润。同名效应随着所有权集中度的增加而增加，表明所有者对公司的控制权越多，信号越强。按字母顺序排名靠后的长名称会减轻这种影响。本研究采用一种新颖的方法来研究公司命名的因果效应，因此对食品加工商具有启示意义。