Wouldn't it be interesting to see just how many businesses can be found that have the same names as various EQ characters and places..? With the help of a US business telephone directory on CD-ROM, I've tried to assemble a partial answer to that question. :-)

In doing this, I've set the following restrictions:

• A business name must start with the EQ name being searched. This rule is mostly based on an inherent restriction in the phone database software, however.
• The business name must match the EQ name with no extra affixes or suffixes, and no internal spaces. Therefore, a business called "Tree Stump Removal of Podunk" would not qualify as a match for Treestump's name, but something like "Treestump Appliances" would. Business names involving a possessive form are noted, but counted separately. Therefore, "Treestump's Bar & Grill" would be OK, but would not be counted with the "Treestump" names. Which reminds me-- the names in the database I'm using omit any punctuation that may have been present, and all names are given in ALL CAPS. This means that determining the difference between a "Treestump's" (possessive) and a "Treestumps" (plural) is only possible through context clues-- if any.
• Professionals with listings under their own names (i.e. "Treestump, John D.D.S") are included with the listings on the CD-ROM database I'm using. I've decided to count these as well, but, when present, I'm giving their totals separately-- i.e. Dart has a count of "281+22 (303)" This means that there are 281 business names in the database under "Dart", and 22 professionals whose last names are "Dart", for a total of 303 entries for "Dart".

For some names, I've listed a few examples from the database (no street addresses or phone numbers to avoid copyright problems regarding the database information, however). Some of them might be considered amusing bits of coincidental juxtaposition, but I will say I expected to find more such 'amusing' ones. Oh well. :-)

BTW-- if you happen to live near one of the places listed below and/or happen to be travelling by-- why not take a photo and share it with us?

General Words:

Elf

ELF N MAGIC (Santa Anna, CA)
ELF PUBLICATIONS (Englewood, CO)
ELF TRADING INC (Long Beach, CA)
ELFIN HUGS OF VERMONT (Morrisville, VT) [If only... :-) ]
ELFIN MAGIC (Estes Park, CO)

Quest

QUEST END COUNTRY CRAFTS (Duanesburg, NY)
QUESTS END (Newhall, CA)

Warp

Character Names:

Adar

ADAR COMPUTER BUSINESS SVC (Valley Village, CA)
ADAR INVESTIGATIONS INC (Sarasota, FL)

Ahdri

Aroree

Bearclaw

BEARCLAW ARCHERY (Astoria, OR)
BEARCLAW PET SUPPLY PLUS (Saint Marys, PA)
BEARCLAW TAXIDERMY (Daytona Beach, FL)

Chot

Clearbrook

Cutter

CUTTER GRAPHICS INC (White Plains, NY)
CUTTER VETERINARY SERVICE (Stratham, NH)
CUTTERS DEN (Sycamore, OH)
CUTTERS FRIED CATFISH (Caldwell, TX)
CUTTERS HAIR STYLING (Keokuk, IA)
CUTTERS TREE SERVICE (Lynnwood, WA)
CUTTERS WAY (Vincennes, IN)

Dart

DART AUTO WRECKERS (Bronx, NY)
DART CESSPOOL CLEANERS & BLDRS (Centereach, NY)
DART CONTAINER CORPORATION IL (North Aurora, IL)
DART GRAPHICS (Des Plains, IL)
DART OIL AND GAS CORP (Marion, MI)
DART PEDORTHIC FOOTWEAR (Prospect Heights, IL)
DART PEST CONTROL (Southaven, MS)

Dewshine

Drub

Ekuar

Ember

Flam

FLAM TRAP (Salem, OR)

Freefoot

Goodtree

Kahvi

Krim

KRIM FM RADIO (Phoenix, AZ)

Jethel

Jink

JINKS TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT (Nashua, NH)

Kahvi

Leetah

Madcoil

Mantricker

Mender

Moonshade

Newstar

Nightfall

NIGHTFALL MOTEL (Minocqua, WI)

Nonna

NONNAS IMAGES (Rohnert Park, CA)
NONNAS PRINTING (Chicago, IL)

Oddbit

One-Eye

Picknose

Pike

PIKE LIQUORS (Clementon, NJ)
PIKE DRIVE IN THEATRE (Montgomery, PA)
PIKE AND WESTERN WINE MERCH (Seattle, WA)

Pool

Prey-Pacer

Rahnee

Rainsong

RAINSONG NURSERY (Dallas, OR)

Rayek

Redlance

Savah

Scouter

SCOUTERS CORNER (Lubbok, TX)

Shuna

Skot

Skyfire

SKYFIRE GRAPHICS INC (Denver, CO)

Skywise

Strongbow

STRONGBOW BAKERY (Valparaiso, IN)
STRONGBOW INTRNTL TRVL SVC INC (Valparaiso, IN)
[Hmm... Note that the Strongbow Turkey Farm was also in Valparaiso, Indiana... Perhaps the SAS needs to take a field trip there or something... :-) ]

Suntop

SUNTOP INTERNATL INC (San Gabriel, CA)

Suntoucher

Sust

SUST MANUFACTURING CO INC (Stockton, CA)

Tanner

TANNER LEATHER WHOLESALE (Boston, IN) [...plus lots more leather-oriented store names...]
TANNERS QUEST (Morgantown, WV)

Teir

Timmain

Timmorn

Treestump

Trinket

Two-Edge

TWOEYS CORNER (Hillsboro, TX)

Two-Spear

Tyldak

Venka

Windkin

Wing

Winnowill

WINNIE WILSONS PUPPET SHOWS (Jamaica, NY)
WINNIES ALTERATIONS (Tallahassee, FL)[Endorsed by Tyldak, probably... :-) ]
WINNIES BEAUTY SALON (Englewood, OH)
WINNIES BURGERS & SHAKES (Canton, OH)
WINNIES FISH & PETS (Hurst, TX) [Ummm... I'm not sure I want to know what sort of "pets" they sell there... :-) ]
WINNIES GIFTS (Madison, KS) [Also endorsed by Tyldak... :-) ]
WINNIES HOUSE OF BEAUTY (New York, NY)
WINNIES MESSAGE CENTER (Dickinson, ND)
WINNIES WLD MINI GOLF & GO (Derby, VT)

Woodlock

Yun

YUN FUN RESTAURANT (Brooklyn, NY)
YUNS FASHION (Rialto, CA)
YUNS USED STEREOS (Portland, OR)

Zhantee

Wolfrider Soulnames:

Dyrr

Fahr

FAHR BEVERAGE INC (Waterloo, IA)

Jial

Lree

Sohn

SOHN DRIVING SCHOOL (Lebanon, PA)

Sur

SUR GRO PLANT FOOD CO INC (Liberty, MO) [Too bad Redlance's soulname didn't lend itself so well for this one...]
SUR GREEN (Montgomery, AL)

Tam

TAM COMMUNICATIONS (Norwalk, CT)
TAM ENTERPRISES (Shawnee, OK)
TAM ELECTRONICS (Irvine, CA)
TAM INDUSTRIES INC (Seattle, WA)

Twen

Ulm

ULM USED CARS (Ravenna, OH)

Wyl

WYL INC (1 World Trade Center, New York, NY)