Giving the idea a name

Back then, YEOUBI was still supposed to be a thrift store.

The idea existed.

The plans were starting to form.

But there was one problem.

We didn't have a name.

What do we call this?

My friends and I spent a lot of time thinking about it.

We went through different ideas, trying to find something that felt right.

One of the names we considered was T Vault — short for *Thrift Vault*.

It made sense.

But it didn't feel like us.

Something was off.

So we kept looking.

And eventually, I came across a word that stayed in my mind.

YEOUBI.

Sun. Rain. And a fox's wedding.

Growing up in Kerala, there's a familiar saying connected to a strange and beautiful moment in the weather.

When the sun is shining and rain begins to fall at the same time, people say:

The fox is getting married.

A fox's wedding.

Then I came across the Korean word YEOUBI.

A word associated with that same kind of weather — the sun shining through a light rain.

A quiet, beautiful moment where two things that seem like opposites exist at the same time.

Sun.

And rain.

I loved that.

And for some reason, the name wouldn't leave my mind.

The name that stayed

There had been other ideas.

Other names.

But YEOUBI felt different.

It wasn't a name created specifically for a thrift store.

It wasn't tied to one product or one category.

And maybe that's why it survived even when the original idea changed.

The thrift store didn't happen.

The vision evolved.

The idea became something much bigger than what we first imagined.

But the name stayed.

I told my friends about it.

They liked it too.

And eventually, there was nothing left to think about.

The idea finally had a name.

YEOUBI.

Pronounced:

YUH-BEE.

A name that began with sun and rain.

A name that stayed through every version of the idea.

And a name that would eventually become ours.