WORKING mums who named their recruitment company on the historic title for a peaceful stretch of the River Thames, have been defeated by extremists who tainted its name with terrorism.

Kate Faulkner and colleague Vanessa Case set up Isis Resources six years ago and were horrified when the jihadist group adopted the same name.

Despite clinging to their name, the Abingdon women relented this month and renamed the business, after an increasing dive in interest from frightened clients.

Mrs Faulkner, who works from home in the town, said: "We named it after the River Thames. We wanted a completely home-grown name that signified the area.

"A lot of thought and hard work went into it; we wanted something that was personal to us. The river is beautiful and it signifies people's lives because it is constantly flowing and changing. It is also the name of a goddess, which was a big part of it for us as women."

But as Western media began referring to terrorist group Islamic State as Isis, standing for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, prospective customers turned their backs.

The mum-of-two said: "In the last 12 months as Isis attacks got more atrocious, it became an issue. Clients started saying things like 'a light will be flashing in an office somewhere' if they search for us online. Responses dropped for our job adverts and people were frightened to reply.

"People read all these things about being infiltrated, that typing our name would set off an alarm somewhere.

"At colleges when candidates went to send an email to us they were blocked."

She said applicants were scared of being tracked by governments and intelligence agencies that monitor terrorism trigger words online.

Miss Case, who also has two children, added: "There was an increasing air of suspicion when we stated our company name.

“One client made the mistake of typing ‘recruitment’ rather than ‘resourcing’ into Google and was faced with the most horrific images."

Three weeks ago the business partners officially ditched negative connotations by rebranding as Shine Appointments.

Mrs Faulkner said: "We probably should have changed sooner but we were so keen to hold onto the heritage of the name. We just had to admit defeat. Clients have said 'thank goodness for that'.

"It is very sad to say goodbye to a name that once had only positive associations with a beautiful part of the country, but every business has to react to their changing environment.

"Shine is a really positive name; it makes people smile."

It is not the first time the name's new infamy has plagued Oxfordshire organisations. Earlier this year specialist school The Isis Academy in Oxford switched its name to The Iffley Academy, and last year Summertown-based estate agency Isis changed to Wallers of Oxford.