Setting up a new reinsurer brings with it plenty of headaches for company founders ? there are the rounds to make with investors to raise initial capital ($1 billion is now the generally accepted minimum amount if you want to be a serious player), and then there?s finding office space (something that posed a real problem for the wave of new Bermuda reinsurers coming to market in December) let alone finding specialist insurance staff, and accountants, both in short supply on the Island and wherever else you look around the world.

Despite the obstacles, a wave of new insurance and reinsurance companies were successful in getting up and running in the Bermuda market in time to take advantage of January 1 renewals.

But at least one thorny issue remained for the new companies ? deciding what their new companies should be called, a task made more difficult by the fact that most of the good names had already been picked over, or the Internet domain name, a primary consideration in an age where much business is Internet driven, was taken.

?We looked at thousands of names,? said Ed Noonan, chief executive of $1 billion reinsurer Validus Re.

?In the end I think I have to claim responsibility, for better or worse, on this one.?

Mr. Noonan, who set up the company with backing from private equity investors led by Aquiline Capital, a new firm run by former Marsh & McLellan chief Jeffrey Greenberg and partners, said one of the names to end up on the cutting room floor was ?New Hope Reinsurance?.

Before relocating to Bermuda to run Validus Mr. Noonan lived in New Hope, Pennsylvania. ?You have to imagine the devious things people do,? said the 26-year industry veteran of the difficult task of picking a name, a process he?s been involved in on a number of occasions through the years. ?New Hope would quickly have become ?No Hope? to our competitors.

Any number of names were excluded on how they could have been abused in the market.

?It is harder and harder to find names, either they are taken or the Internet domain is not available,? he said.

In the end Validus was chosen, a name derived from the Latin root for ?strong?, and also a botany term meaning ?well-developed?.

Mr. Noonan said Validus, a global reinsurer, is a name that can appeal to customers across borders.

?And of course in Latin it basically means strength. The more we use the term Validus the more we liked it,? he said.

?The Catholic brothers who taught me would be proud I?m using Latin,? he laughed.

Private equity firms like Thomas H. Lee Capital Partners, the Blackstone Group LP, and Trident III LP, along with hedge funds like the Citadel Group and West End Capital, created the string of Bermuda-based insurers and reinsurers late last year to take advantage of expected premium rate increases after costly storm damage from Hurricane Katrina and other storms. In total, investors handed over in the region of $10 billion.

One of the new reinsurance companies picked a name to give customers the feeling they are on a firm footing by doing business with them. A reinsurer is effectively an insurance company that provides extra coverage to other insurers in case of catastrophic losses. Brent Slade, development director for West End Capital Management Ltd., said when the hedge fund company decided last year to establish a new reinsurance company it hatched on ?Flagstone? because flagstones symbolise a path to success and prosperity.

?The name also symbolises a firm floor or surface beneath your feet ? and one that you feel comfortable walking on,? he said.

The name of another ?Class of 2005? reinsurer won?t surprise those that know the man behind the venture. Ariel Re is named for the sprite in William Shakespeare?s The Tempest, an epic based on the 1609 wreck of the Sea Venture on Bermuda. The name, chosen by chief executive Don Kramer, also makes a clear reference to an earlier company Mr. Kramer formed in 1993: Property-catastrophe reinsurer Tempest Re.

Tempest was set up when there was a surge in demand for property-catastrophe reinsurance policies after 1992?s Hurricane Andrew led to a capacity shortage. Tempest was later sold to ACE Limited and today stands as ACE Tempest Re. Mr. Kramer?s new company, Ariel, attracted some of the top private equity investors, including Thomas H. Lee Capital Partners and the Blackstone Group LP.

?We looked at an array of names,? said John Berger, chief executive of $1.5 billion reinsurer Harbor Point, conceding the task was a daunting one. ?With some of our first choices, the names were taken.?

That was the case with Mr. Berger?s first choice. ?I wanted Aberdeen, which is the road I live on in New Jersey, and it was taken?.

He said the final pick, Harbor Point, played up its office location ? it is in short-term quarters with a subsidiary of one of Harbor?s lead sponsors, Chubb Corp. ? overlooking Hamilton Harbour. It also implied a ?safe harbour? hopefully giving customers a sense of safety and security, he said. Trident, a unit of the former private equity arm of Marsh & McLellan, Stone Capital, led investment in Harbor Point along with Chubb.

Mr. Berger said Harbor alone wouldn?t have carried enough punch. Point was added to incorporate the elements of focus and discipline.

Most of the reinsurers in the so-called ?Class of 2005? picked names that carry some positive meeting.

Arrow Capital, one of the new reinsurers, is owned by investment firm Goldman Sachs Group, and has so far declined to give much detail on the company. At the very least one can say the name gives the sense that this is a company steadfast on hitting its mark.

Another of the new Bermuda reinsurers, this one set up by hedge fund guru Ken Griffith?s Citadel with a focus mostly on selling property-catastrophe reinsurance, picked a name with a regal ring ? New Castle.

Ascendant, a ninth major reinsurer being formed on Bermuda, is still in the process of raising capital ? and if its name is a sign of things to come, the company could be a rising force, when it does come to market.