The 40-year-old business found it easiest to keep the original name when it moved to Mystic Ave. several years ago.

Not surprisingly, Harvard Square and its surrounding area also has a healthy share of unusual Harvards.

The Harvard Fish Market is an example. True, Harvard students have a reputation for being studious, and fish is considered brain food. However, aside from the broiled scrod served in dining halls, people don't usually associate "Veritas" with gills and fins.

The Fish Market currently resides on Cambridge Street, next to Inman Square. But, according to its manager, Ray, the Harvard Square name creeps beyond its physical boundaries.

"[The Harvard Fish Market has] been built since 1912. My great-great-grandfather started it--he [named it] Harvard because it was close to Harvard Square. He just liked the name, I guess. It's not connected."

There are situations where stores in the Square adopt the Harvard name and then move away.

The Harvard Do-Nut Shop, says owner Jilda B. LeBlanc, once had several locations, including one in Harvard Square. Now, however, the store operates in Central Square.

"People come in and wonder why it's called Harvard [when] it's in Central Square," she says.

LeBlanc says she doesn't think the Harvard name has significantly affected her business.

Many of the other owners and managers agree with her. Although some say customers like the name, they say that it appears to have made little difference in reputation or in sales.

But some businesses apparently have a different opinion.

When the end of the year rolls around, Harvard students use up enough packing materials to store all the books in Widener. A Harvard Folding Box Company seems logical.

And indeed, it does exist. But there's one small hitch--the company is in Lynn, quite a trip for the average student.

Manager Julian Krane says that the name was not chosen for the benefit of potential customers, but rather for the benefit of the owners.

"In 1957, the owners took the name, figuring it was prestigious," he said. "Once in a while, we get someone who says `Did you graduate from Harvard?'"