Of all the decisions
you make when starting a business, one of the most crucial is picking a name.
It’s a crowded world,
after all, and often you don’t get much time to grab the attention of potential
customers. A catchy, memorable name can give you a real advantage, while the
wrong choice can confuse people or send the wrong message.
So in this three-part
series, we’ll teach you everything you need to know about naming your business.
In this first tutorial,
you’ll learn all the steps to follow when choosing a name for your business.
You’ll get tips on what criteria to use, what pitfalls to avoid, how to make
your name “web-friendly,” and how to test it out before you make the final
decision.
Then in the rest of
the series, we’ll go through the steps involved in trademarking a name, and
explain how to change an existing business name.
Step 1: Brainstorm
The first step in
picking a name is to brainstorm. But don’t worry, we’re going to give you some
help here. After all, it’s hard if you’re just starting with a blank sheet of
paper. So here are some key things to think about.
Descriptors
Think of what your
business does, and write down different terms for it. Use a thesaurus, or try
typing your key terms into a visual online brainstorming tool like SnappyWords or WordStorm. Try to come up with a list of at least ten
key terms, and preferably more.
Even if you don’t want
your business name to be a simple description of what you do, these key terms
can help inform a more unusual name. For example, Microsoft is a unique name,
but it’s also formed from some basic terms for what the company does—selling
software for microcomputers (as PCs were called back then).
Associations
Next, start to think
more broadly. Write down some wider associations or metaphors for what your
company does.
For example, the name
“Twitter” is not a literal description of what the company does, but you can
see how a large volume of very short bursts of speech could be likened to the
twittering of birds.
Similarly, the photo
sharing service SnapChat incorporates the idea of speed, while the messaging app
WhatsApp plays on what we say to each other when we’re just checking in:
“What’s up?”
Name Variations
Finally, think of ways
to use your own name, or your initials, or combinations of your name with the
names of your business partners.
The toy company
Hasbro, for example, is an abbreviation of the names of the founders, the
Hassenfeld brothers. Oprah Winfrey’s production company Harpo is her name
spelled backwards. And IKEA is formed of the founder’s initials, along with the
initials of the place where he grew up.
Sometimes simple is
best, too. It may not seem very creative just to use your surname as the
company name, but it’s worked out just fine for McDonald’s, Mars, Ford, Prada
and many others. Or you could be more informal and get on first-name terms with
your customers, like Ben & Jerry’s.
Put Them Together
When you’ve got a list
of key terms, broader associations, and versions of your name, try combining
them and see what you get. These are the basic building blocks of most company
names out there, so keep mixing and matching until you get some names you like.
At this stage, the more ideas you can come up with, the better. We’ll start
filtering them in the next steps.
If you’re stuck for
ideas, try asking other people. You could do a shout-out on Twitter, or even
run a contest offering a small cash prize or other incentive to the person who
picks the best name. This has the dual benefit of generating good ideas and
making people feel involved and engaged with your brand.
While sites like
Twitter and Facebook provide an ideal venue for crowd-sourcing ideas by asking
thousands of different people at once, you can also use more traditional
methods like asking people face to face. If you have employees or business
partners, ask them to contribute some ideas too.
Step 2: Narrow it Down
So by now you should
have a good list of possible names to choose from. Now let’s try to shorten
that list, and finally pick a winner. Here are the key criteria to consider.
Type of Business
The type of business
you’re in makes a difference to the name you choose. A new, made-up word works particularly
well for tech firms, for example, because it conveys novelty and progress.
Think of Google, for example.
But if you’re running
a more traditional business, a novelty name might confuse your customers.
Imagine you’re driving along and a light comes on in your car, indicating you
need an oil change. If you see a sign saying “Johnson’s Auto Shop,” you’ll pull
in there. But a sign with a made up name like “Tribble” will leave you
wondering what the company does, and you’ll probably keep driving by.
Image
Have you ever wondered
what Häagen-Dazs means?
The answer: nothing.
It’s a made-up word. The company’s Bronx-based founders chose a name that they thought sounded Danish,
because they wanted to convey an image of exotic foreign quality. It worked:
they were able to market their ice-cream as a premium brand, selling for more
than their competitors.
What image do you want
to convey? What type of customers are you targeting? If you’re competing aggressively
on price, something like Joe’s Discount Club may be just the ticket. If you’re
targeting higher-end consumers, go for something a little more elegant.
Acoustics
The sound of the name
is also important. Think of a name like 7-Eleven, which began as a simple
description of the store’s opening hours, but was incredibly successful because
it rhymes so nicely, making it instantly memorable. Eight Six just wouldn’t
have been the same. Coca-Cola is another name that works well because of how it
sounds, the rhythm and of the two very similar words together.
Web Compatibility
More and more commerce is moving online
these days, so even if your company is primarily a bricks and mortar business,
you’ll still need to consider whether the name you’re thinking of will work
well online.
Is it easy to spell? Is it fairly short, or
can it be easily shortened into a manageable URL? Does it have any ambiguity—for example, a word that can be spelled in different ways, or a hyphen or
special character that people don’t know whether to include?
It also pays to think about search engine
optimization. One argument for including some kind of product description in
your company name is that it helps people find you when they’re searching
online. If you sell candles, for example, a name like Candle Shack will
probably attract more searchers than a name like Waterberry’s.
But the search engine rules are changing
all the time, and having keywords in the name is already less important than it
once was, so don’t choose a name purely based on attracting search traffic.
It’s just one factor among many.
Step 3: Check for Duplicates
By now you should have
narrowed your original list down to a handful of possibilities, or you may
even have a clear winner already. The next step is to see if anyone else has
had your idea before.
A web search is a good
start, but for a more robust check, search for registered trademarks. In the
US, you can do this online through the US Patent and Trademark Office’s search tool.
If the name is very
unusual and has already been used by someone else, particularly a well-known
company, then it’s best just to avoid it. Naming your business Google, for
example, is a bad idea, no matter what industry you’re in.
But in some cases, it
may be okay to use a business name that already exists. If it’s your own name,
for example, you can use it in most cases. And if it’s a name already in use,
but for a completely different type of business, then there’s some scope for
duplication. “Lotus,” for example, is the name of a British car company, and
also a US software company (now owned by IBM). There’s no chance of people
confusing a spreadsheet with a sports car, so the two can coexist. There’s also
a Lotus Foods in California, and various other Lotus companies around the
world.
Generic names are usually
fine too. “Fresh & Clean,” for example, is the name of a Michigan dry
cleaner, a New Mexico portable restroom manufacturer, a WordPress theme,
several carpet cleaning firms, and many others. No single firm can claim
ownership over common words like “fresh” and “clean,” so again some duplication
is OK.
But be very careful
here, because the last thing you want is a lawsuit from someone who thinks
you’ve stolen their name. The best thing, of course, is to pick a completely
unique name. If you’re duplicating another company’s name, make sure that
customers couldn’t possibly be confused, or think that you were trying to trade
off the other company’s popularity. If in doubt, consult a trademark attorney.
Also make sure that
you can find a web domain name you’re happy with. Finding available “.com”
addresses is increasingly difficult, but you may get lucky, or be able to make
an offer to the existing owner of the URL you want. Again, having a truly
unique name will help a lot here.
Step 4: Test the Name
Once you’ve found a
name that you’re happy with, it’s time to get feedback. Ask friends and family,
run web surveys, and use social media. Run a contest and offer incentives for
people to give you their honest feedback. The more people you can test it with,
the better your chances of getting it right.
It’s also important to
see how the name sounds to people of different nationalities and cultures.
There are plenty of examples of naming misadventures over the years, from
IKEA’s short-lived Fartfull workbench to Kraft Foods spinoff Mondelez
International, which means something very bad in Russian.
Even if your proposed company
name doesn’t have an offensive meaning in other languages, it may simply be
very difficult to pronounce, or have completely different connotations than in
English. It’s worth getting input from as broad a cross-section of the
population as possible. Even if you plan to start out as a local firm, you may
want to expand later. And the internet can give even local firms the potential
for global reach.
Also test out the name
for yourself by sketching some possible branding and logo ideas, drawing up a rough
design of your website, and picturing the name on your business card and
stationery. Make sure the new name feels right in all those situations.
Step 5: Decide
You’ve now learned how
to brainstorm for company names, what criteria to use to narrow your choice
down, how to avoid duplication, and how to test the name with a broad audience.
Step 5 is to put it
all together and make a final decision on the right name for your business.
Ideally it’s a name that:
Is memorable.
Communicates something about what you do or how
you do it.
Is appropriate for your type of business.
Appeals to your target customer.
Has a catchy sound or rhythm.
Works well online.
Can’t be confused with someone else’s business.
Is approved by most of the people you test it
with.
If it at least meets
the majority of those criteria, then you can move forward with confidence,
knowing that you’ve done a thorough job of finding the right name for your
business.
In the next tutorial
in the series, we’ll look at how to protect your new name from competitors.
We’ll cover when you need a trademark, what the benefits are, what types of
names are eligible, and how you can apply. Then in the final part of the
series, we’ll examine what happens if you need to change your business name
later on after your company grows.
Resources
Graphic Credit: Brainstorm designed by SuperAtic LABS from the Noun Project.