The name "Syfy" may not exactly be one of the newest words to hit the English language (and certainly not in the Polish language, where it has some other not-so-nice translations), but it does represent what NBC Universal believes is the future of science-fiction fandom.

After all the interviews SciFi Channel president Dave Howe did over the past couple weeks, he was finally able to spend some one-on-one time with me, who many (including myself) credit for actually creating the "Syfy" moniker, in a conversation that was both refreshing, enlightening, and really made an impression on me.

Seriously. I know that some expected a conversation between myself and Dave Howe would come off like Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer, but it wasn't that at all. Mr. Howe is most certainly the right leader at the right time for SciFi Channel, and despite what some fans might think, he actually does care about what viewers -- new and old -- have to say.

I heard that in a conference call he did Monday with a small handful of reporters, including one from the popular genre blog io9. That site over the weekend had developed a satirical "yo9" logo meant to poke a little bit of fun at the name, and Mr. Howe had not only seen it, he brought it up with the reporter with a chuckle.

In our conversation Tuesday, Mr. Howe had already read my report on the conference call, although I hadn't been officially invited to it, and talked a little bit about how he understood why I hadn't bought the Syfy.com domain name several years back (I had said I was a young reporter making $18,000 a year back in 2000, and wasn't willing to give up 20 percent of my annual salary just to obtain it).

That's something Mr. Howe doesn't have to do, you know, read all the coverage -- especially the negative coverage out there. But he does. And that says a lot about his character, and how he is definitely trying to balance fandom and the future.

So why the change to "Syfy"? That was pretty much my very first question to Mr. Howe on Tuesday.

"I think we have to acknowledge the changing media landscape," he said. "When the channel was launched 16 years ago, everyone watched the SciFi Channel live 8 o'clock on Fridays, and other times. But 16 years later, we are now the No. 1 DVRed network out there. Over half of our audience is not watching live, they are DVRing, or they are downloading it from iTunes, or they're figuring out how to illegally obtain shows."

One problem that older-school networks and media companies have struggled with in recent years is trying to keep up with those trends, and SciFi Channel is trying to buck the trend.

"The world is a different place," Howe said. "This notion of a world channel, from a branding perspective, is slightly different. You need to have a recognizable brand name.

"When you launched SyFy Portal, you recognized it. You could've had Sci-Fi Portal and argue that was a brand, but we didn't have another word attached to [Sci-Fi], so it was limiting to us."

As he revealed previously, SciFi Channel execs did look at completely changing the name away from SciFi and into something less of a homonym. But if they had made a change like that, despite what many fans have suggested since the "Syfy" name was announced, the backlash could've been far greater than what the network received for the name it chose instead.

"If we had done that, it would've looked like we were abandoning [the science-fiction part] of our audience, and we aren't doing that," Howe said. Syfy, on the other hand, "bridges our past with our future and creates a recognizable name that will actually enable people to find our shows in any platform and in any media anywhere."

Still under dispute is where the "Syfy" name has come from. There is no doubt that I was using the name as early as 1998, and while there might be variant spellings out there of the word that might pre-date my usage (although none of them were intended to phonetically replace the word "sci-fi"), Mr. Howe maintains that it is possible for other entities to still independently come up with the name.

He credits Michael Engleman with developing the name independently, literally a day before marketing company Landor -- which the network originally credited with playing a key role in developing the name -- backed off such claims, saying the network had already kicked around "Syfy" by the time they came on board. Engleman was responsible for the rebranding efforts at CMT, and while he didn't have a track record with science-fiction and fantasy, he was given the task of rebranding the network.

"We had a team of people working with a bunch of companies, and they developed upward of 500 names," Howe said. "Out of that 500, maybe 10 of them were variants of 'sci-fi,' like Scyfy and Sifi and SciFi Plus, SciFi 2.0. We narrowed it down to a short list of five."

It didn't take long for one of those variants, "Syfy," to become the darling of network executives, and they set out immediately to find out if anyone else had the name. Mr. Howe made it clear that SciFi Channel's publicity department was well aware of SyFy Portal, as they had been working with the site for many years, but none of those people were a part of the rebranding, so if there was knowledge of SyFy Portal among the branding people, it was minimal.

Another source for the network, who asked not to be named, told Airlock Alpha Wednesday that they couldn't be sure when it was that SciFi Channel became locked on "Syfy," but the general belief was that SyFy Portal wasn't big enough to claim creation rights on the name, and that any waves I did create would get squashed from the initial coverage that wouldn't mention us at all.

Instead, network executives apparently were surprised when I did make some waves, the source said, and quickly turned a lot of industry media to my side, believing that crediting the source of the name -- me -- was just as important as the name itself, and that SciFi Channel was missing the boat on that one.

What also impressed some of the people in the lower levels of upper management at NBCU was the fact that I could've generated even more publicity by blasting the name change and confirming false rumors that NBCU stole the name from me and the like. Instead, however, I became one of the few people who publicly spoke in support of the name change, and worked hard to make it clear that NBCU's negotiations for the brand name were on the up and up, and that they had total control over the name. I had no interest in making any additional claims, except for the fact that I should be credited with its creation.

There were some missteps along the way in getting this new brand out there. The initial press release picked up by the New York Times was intended for media planners and advertisers, not necessarily the general viewing public, as it was meant to lead in to upfront advertising presentations that usually only attract the interest of advertisers, not viewers, Mr. Howe said. That caused some aspects of the initial release to come off as "cold" to viewers as it didn't really address them directly.

NBCU still plans a strong roll out for viewers as the weeks count down to the July launch of the new name. And yes, even with backlash continuing against the name, SciFi Channel has every intention to rename itself Syfy come July. Although it will take some getting used to for viewers, people have a tendency to adjust, and Mr. Howe hopes some of the upcoming programming like "Stargate: Universe," "Warehouse 13" and the "Battlestar Galactica" prequel "Caprica" will help bring the focus back to content rather than what the network is called.

"Ultimately, we create great TV shows, and that's what people are watching," Howe said. "The branding element is important for our future. But if we got great shows and great content, the name will work and we'll be ready for the changing landscape ahead."