The language of real estate seems to have always been designed to impress and, in a certain sense, confuse the consumer. Savvy buyers have learned to read the code behind the superlatives: “cozy” more often than not just means a place is small. “Rustic”? Try dilapidated. But in the nascent fractional real estate market, even the most well-informed buyers are likely to be left scratching their heads at the profusion of euphemisms developers use to define their products.

Fractional homes are alternatively called private residence clubs (or PRCs for those in the know), residence clubs, fractional resort real estate and most recently, as Luxian, a new development in Scottsdale, Ariz. coined, equity resort ownership. And it’s about to get even more mind-boggling. The new destination club being launched by Abercrombie and Kent is set to confuse matters further with its decision to call itself a residence club.

More than anything, it’s the relative newness of fractional real estate that accounts for the proliferation of names for what is, in most cases, essentially the same model of ownership. But beyond this, there is the need felt by developers to overcome what is seen as more or less the original sin of fractional real estate—the time share—and all of the associations that go with it, from tacky locations to shoddy properties and unscrupulous developers. That so many fractional developments call themselves clubs, and not only clubs, but private clubs, plays directly to this need to connote that very air of exclusivity and membership—that necessary exclusion of the too-common Florida condo timeshare owner with his wine coolers and fanny pack—that fractional real estate leveraged to appeal to a new luxury demographic in the first place.

Fractional real estate developers have their sights set on the aging, mass-affluent boomer with the desire for a luxurious second home but perhaps not the time or interest to use it every weekend. But if fractional real estate marketers feel they have succeeded in eliminating the taint of timeshare ownership with their naming conventions, they may be struggling with the altogether different challenge of coming up with a cohesive name for their product. After all, it has to be catchy enough to stick in the mind of the consumer, but clear enough to eliminate confusion among buyers. What’s needed at this point is a general agreement on what the industry will term their real estate product. This sentiment was recently expressed during a casual meeting of fractional developers at our offices in San Franciscio. Perhaps it can be a topic for next year’s Ragatz!

Which name should be adopted as an industry standard? Weigh in with your own suggestions.