Thanks Nicolas,
I found an option in the Gantry Control Panel for that template called "Build Title Spans". Setting that option to "Off" allows the Characteristic Name to display properly after removing the CSS patch above. I'll have to see if that causes problems someplace else, but I think the option primarily has to do with the ability to have the first word of a title be a different color from the rest. If that's all it affects, no problem.
I do know that this particular problem is not seen with other Rocket Themes.
Regards, and congratulations on your anniversary of HikaShop!
Ed