> The "Roland" name was selected for export purposes, as Kakehashi was interested in a name that was easy to pronounce for his worldwide target markets. The name was found in a telephone directory, and Kakehashi was satisfied with the simple two-syllable word and its soft consonants. The letter "R" was chosen because it was not used by many other music equipment companies, so would stand out in trade-show directories and industry listings. Kakehashi did not learn of the French epic poem The Song of Roland until later.
"Sony" has an interesting history as well. The official line is that it was a mixture of "sonus" and "sonny" boys (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony). But I have it on good authority from people in the know in the company that the real reason for the name Sony was that it sounded like an American company name to Japanese ears. America was cool. That is, namewise Sony was the Japanese equivalent of Haagen-Dazs. It's even written in Katakana, the script for foreign words.
Obviously it’s the English pronounciation that is difficult for them. See also how Japanese try to avoid saying “reflex” in relation to cameras: An SLR is an 一眼レフ Single Lens Ref and Nikon’s camera with a reFlex mirror is the Nikon “F”. Mirrorless seems to have fared better, but I have seen shops selling them as 一眼カメラ, Single Lens Cameras.
