R.I.P. Blackwater

Notorious security contractor Blackwater Worldwide has changed it name… to “Xe” (pronounced like the letter Z). While it makes perfect sense that a company with a near-obliterated reputation and a dropped contract to provide private security services in Iraq would want to rebrand, “Xe” seems almost as villain-esque as the original.

Blackwater president Gary Jackson announced the name change in a memo to employees, the Associated Press reported this weekend, saying it reflects a shift in the company's focus away from private security and toward operating training facilities around the world.

Xe will be the parent brand for two-dozen subsidiaries, none of which will have “Blackwater” anywhere in their name. To me it seems like Blackwater would have done better to go in the direction it chose for its former Blackwater Lodge and Training Center, now renamed “the U.S. Training Center, Inc.” Unless you’re going to change the name to “The American-Iraqi Friendship Alliance” or “Puppies and Rainbows, Inc.” it seems like extreme neutrality in title would be the way to go.

Since the company is not providing any information on how it came up with “Xe”, we’re left to speculate. A friend of mine suggested it was some derivative of Xerxes, the ancient Persian ruler. Interesting that the name Xerxes means “rule of heroes.”