> [You] refer to NASDQ and DAQ as would-be acronyms.

Well, I questioned DAX as an acronym because the letters D.A.X are not the first letters of the name it stands for (Deutsche Aktien Index) and FTSE at least fulfils that criterion - even if it does not *in theory* create a 'word'. The X in DAX is avoidable too since D.A.I. could be pronounced.
SCSI is another example of an acronym which theoretically cannot be pronounced, but is (either 'Scasi' or 'Scassi')
My favourites nowadays are (false) acronyms of multiple acronyms side by side layered into this beautiful indecipherable blend of upper- and lowercase letters.
Another thing I've noticed of late is that names like 'LeAnn' are becoming quite popular - it must be because it looks French I guess - If LeAnn did exist in French, then it would surely be L'Ann and would therefore not produce the desired pronunciation.

In the meantime I found out that Hang-Seng means something like 'ever-growing' - far more straight-forward than that Nikkei sun circle story. All the economics terms are so cryptic! For example what is DAQ, Faldage ;-)