Isis name to stay

Lisa Hotton owns Isis Financial Services, she named her business because of her love for Egyptian history. PHOTO/Andrew Warner

Egyptian history buff Lisa Hotton is determined her business Isis Financial Services will keep its name - despite an Islamic militant group sharing the title.

Miss Hotton named her Tauranga debt collection business after the Egyptian goddess Isis, one of the principal deities of the ancient Egyptian religion.

"I am so into Egyptian history - the culture, the civilisation, the pyramids. They were such an intelligent race of people," she said.

"I have Egyptian stuff all through my lounge, including some Isis statues. They are everywhere."

When Miss Hotton set up her business in the mid-2000s, she wanted a feminine-sounding name and also wanted to tie in her love of Egypt, so decided on Isis.

"She's the goddess of love, health and abundance and things like that.

"When I hear about the other Isis, I did think about changing the name but the childish side of me thought 'no, I had it first'," she said.

"What really clinched it for me was when I was watching a TV show a few weeks ago called Secrets of the Bible. They said on there that Isis was to the ancient Egyptians what Mary is to Christians so I thought, 'Nah, I'm keeping it'."

Miss Hotton has had to explain the source of her business name a number of times since the militant Isis became a household name, but said everyone she told had "understood totally".

She said after a Christchurch newspaper ran a story about another business called Isis that changed its name, she had received an email from a man congratulating her for sticking to her guns.

"That was so nice, it really made my day. I've got a really basic website, but on it there's a photo of me and it's fairly obvious I'm not a terrorist walking around with a machine gun."