Can someone explain JoS A. Bank?

[nile455]

The store is pronounced "Joseph A Bank", but why is Joseph shortened to Jos, and why is the S capitalized? And to add even more confusion, their website omits the A (Josbank.com).

Reminds me of Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Why the apostrophe?

 

[reelmom]

I'm curious now.

 

[Art 1]

When Ruth bought Chris steakhouse as part of the agreement she had to keep the name Chris in whatever the new name would be. The headquarters is close by to me, I love the place.

Jos is just an abbreviation for Joseph.

Nothing exciting in any of this.

 

[nile455]

Jos is just an abbreviation for Joseph.

I know it's an abbreviation. Mainly what I wanted to know is why the S is capitalized. JoS A. Bank has just always looked weird and awkward to my eyes.

Thanks for the explanation on Ruth's Chris. Actually I too live near their headquarters.

 

[ChrisFL]

I know it's an abbreviation. Mainly what I wanted to know is why the S is capitalized. JoS A. Bank has just always looked weird and awkward to my eyes.

Maybe because its unique and memorable?

I used to live near Ruth's Chris headquarters...didn't think it was that big until I also saw a location in Hong Kong!

 

[KristaTX]

The name bugs me, too. I guess they think it looks/sounds fancier than Joseph or Joe A. Banks . I've never seen anyone else abbreviate Joseph like that, but I guess they must.

This is only sort of related, but I only recently realized that Christopher & Banks wasn't the same thing is JoS A Bank. I was surprised to walk by a Christopher & Banks and see women's clothes in the window. I went in, and it is ALL women's clothes. The "Bank" has always just made me just blur them into the same men's clothing store in my head .

 

[tink1978]

This made me laugh, because I have often asked myself the same questions!

 

[NotUrsula]

The S is almost surely uppercased to make the signage more attractive. It also allows them to trademark the name.

The abbreviation of common men's names has kind of fallen out of favor now, but it was once quite common, and it was especially common on signage for shops in the days when signs had to be painted or carved by hand. The idea behind this name is much like that of Betty Crocker: that the "shop" is owned by a tailor named Joseph A. Bank. Also, because it appears to be an old-fashioned name, it gives the impression that the company is one that has been around forever, which tends to be a popular conceit among menswear retailers -- "old and established" is supposed to be synonymous with quality and timeless style. (Which is why the trademarked Brooks Bros. logo includes the words "Established 1818.")

 

[tlbwriter]

If you look at their website, you'll see they don't consistently use a capital S in the text. I think that's just the design of the sign. In which case, it's not that the S is big, but the O is small.

 

[Geoff_M]

A lot of men's names used to be abbreviated. If you do much in the way of genealogy research you'll see this a lot with cemetery headstone "readings" and census records. As examples, William will often be shortened to "Wm" and James will be "Jas". The James abbreviation may also explain "Jos" for Joseph since "Js" isn't specific enough for either name.

 

[scrapquitler]

I think its just an old-timey thing. I think I've seen the big S in names on the Declaration of Independence, and it always just reminds me of the PerFuit of happineff...where they used to write the lowercase f instead of the S sometimes in the old fashioned script. I think that JoS A. Bank just uses it as part of their signage to be distinctive, like McDonalds uses their stylized M.

 

[maelstrom]

A lot of men's names used to be abbreviated. If you do much in the way of genealogy research you'll see this a lot with cemetery headstone "readings" and census records. As examples, William will often be shortened to "Wm" and James will be "Jas". The James abbreviation may also explain "Jos" for Joseph since "Js" isn't specific enough for either name.

My family's business name includes the name George, and when I look at old signs and advertisements, sure enough, the name is shortened to Geo.