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On the surface, choosing a brand name seems like a fun exercise. But if you are reading this post right now, you are probably knee-deep in the mind-melding, tension-building process that feels far from “fun.” But there’s hope. After going through the naming process with several clients, I’ve picked up a few tips to make it easier.
Be (fairly) easy to repeat and remember
Avoid names that are difficult to say or spell. Your business name is a key part of your brand, and as you can imagine, if someone cannot spell or say your name correctly then you will already be off to a rocky start with brand awareness.
Think about it: a friend recommends your company to someone. She’s not exactly sure how to pronounce the name, but she gives it her best shot and tells her friend to “just look them up on google.” Her friend then goes to google, tries to spell the name that her friend gave her, and can’t find you—then gives up.
Your job is to make your brand as “sticky” as possible in your customer’s mind. And part of that stickiness comes from the name. As I’ll get into later in this article, there are some types of names that tend to be more easily remembered than others.
Convey key brand attributes
Although your name won’t convery everything about your brand (see pitfalls below) it should convey a key attribute of your brand. If you haven’t already, take some time to define the values of your brand, your key differentiators, and talk through what kind of feeling you want a customer to have when they associate with your brand.
If you are a modern company, don’t choose a traditional-sounding name. If you’re a startup, your name shouldn’t sound too corporate. If a key value or feeling you want to convey with your brand is playfulness, the name can help you showcase that.
Have a positive connotation
This one may seem a bit obvious, but it’s important to consider the connotations your name already has, especially if you are choosing a concrete name. You want to make sure that you are conveying the right sentiment with your name. The easiest way to check? Ask people, ideally your target audience, what kinds of thoughts, feelings, or associations come to mind when they read your name.
Not be trademarked
I’m not a lawyer, so be sure to look into trademarking your name with a professional before finalizing it. But you can do your own preliminary search on the US Trademark Database. Just because a brand name is already in use does not necessarily mean you can’t use it. You can only file a trademark within your industry, so a name is only off limits to you if you share the same industry. Say you are in retail technology; someone with the same name in book publishing wouldn’t be an issue.
...and bonus if you can snatch a good domain
It’s nearly impossible to get the exact domain you want in this day and age, and with the rise of google it’s not necessary to own the .com version of your brand name, but it’s a good parameter to keep in mind. Check and see what’s available, you’ll want to avoid choosing the same name as another brand if they are in a similar industry and already have a good online presence.
Your name won’t encapsulate your brand.
No one element of your brand will completely encapsulate the brand in its entirety. Not the logo, the name, the colors, or fonts. All of your elements working together will do that. I often find that clients can’t settle on a name because it doesn’t convey everything they want it to. If you get stuck in this cycle, it’s helpful to choose the most important thing for your name to convey — then go from there. Not sure where to start? What’s the biggest value your brand delivers to your customers? The answer to that question can guide you in the right direction to finding the right name.
You most likely won’t love it at first.
It’s only human to think “when I see it, I’ll know it.” But that’s not often the case. Just like love at first sight, it’s a rare phenomenon. More often than not, you’ll need to live with the name for a while. Familiarity will help you better understand the benefits and drawbacks of a particular name.
Exercise:
Try narrowing down to two or three names. From there, print them out and hand them up somewhere you look daily. Then write out a page for your website or a social bio with the names. Which flows more naturally? Are there any issues with misinterpreting the word in writing? What name works better with the personality of your brand?
Don’t choose a name that sounds like your competitors.
Again, this may seem obvious. But you’d be surprised. Make a list of your competitors and write them down next to any brainstorming you do. You want to stand out from competitors, so don’t sound like them. Sometimes, you’ll find trends in their names. Are they all pronoun-based names? Don’t use a pronoun. Are they very traditional sounding? Try a more playful, invented name.
Don’t choose a name that limits you.
The last pitfall to avoid is choosing a name that works well for you now, but limits your brand’s growth in some way. BluJeans may be a great name for a denim brand, but it doesn’t leave a whole lot of room to pivot or grow (they’d have a harder time breaking into the linen pant market).
Okay. Now that you’ve got the ground rules (you got all that, right?) let’s cover the different types of brand names you can consider. I like to put all names into two large categories: concrete and abstract. But there are subcategories, too. Let’s explore:
Ex. Airbnb or Burger King
Descriptive names describe, in some sense, what the brand does or provides. You expect to find burgers at Burger king and a Bed & Breakfast type experience at Airbnb (although technically this could also be considered a combo name). These names tend to be some of the easiest to remember because the words are already used in our language, and there’s not as much room for interpretation as to what the brand does. This makes it easy for a brain to make an association between the brand and the name because, well, we’ve already made it for them.
Pros:
Cons:
Ex. Apple or North Face or Nike
Similar to descriptive names, correlated names are typically concrete nouns. However, unlike descriptive names, at face value, they don’t actually describe the business. Apple is not the shiny fruit plucked from a tree in Fall, it’s technology. Nike is not the goddess of victory, in this case, it’s the name of an athletic brand. Still, there should be a connection here to the brand story or something the brand aims to convey.
Nike = victory, something meaningful to their target market of athletes
Apple = the forbidden fruit with one bite already taken, showcasing the rebellious spirit of the brand when it launched
Pros:
Cons:
Ex. McDonald’s or H-E-B
More often than not, these names come from founders. It is more common for older brands and many have “modernized” through the years by shortening to acronyms (H-E-B, H&M, etc.) These are not the most inspired names, in my opinion, but they have their place.
Pros:
Cons:
Ex. MetLife or FitBit or Instagram
Take two words, put them together, and what have you got? A combo name! This type of naming has risen in popularity with brands because you can essentially create a new word (and get a good domain) but still hold onto the memorability of concrete words.
Pros:
Cons:
Ex. Wii or Geiko or Shopify
These names are completely created. Often by creating phonetic spellings (Wii = wee!) or by re-working a similar-sounding word to something your brand does (Shopify). The long-standing joke in the naming world has been to just add an “ly” or “ify” to the end of a word, and BAM, you’ve got your new startup’s name. I encourage you to put more effort into this, though.
Pros:
Cons:
Ex. Google (from Googol) or Reddit
These are intentionally misspelled words, often leaving out a letter, or spelling a word phonetically. These can be tricky because until your brand name gains a lot of brand awareness, you risk getting misspellings of your name. Like “Readit” instead of “Reddit”.
Pros:
Cons:
I always start any naming exercise with a mind map. Put your brand’s unique value in the center, add personality traits, and any other words that come to mind with your brand. From there, just start to add any associated words that pop into your head. From that mind map, you can start exploring some of the options I listed above.
Good luck out there! Let me know what name you settle on.
