A good name doesn’t have to describe anything. It has to be easy to remember, set you apart from competitors and belong to you, legally and online.
What makes a good name
- You can say it and spell it. The phone test: give the name to someone over the phone and ask them to write it down. If you have to spell it out, you’ll be doing that for years.
- It stands out in the industry. If five companies in your category have “tech”, “soft” or “group” in their name, the sixth will get lost in the crowd.
- It works in the markets you sell to. Check pronunciation and meaning in your customers’ languages. A harmless word in one language can have an unfortunate connotation in another.
- It leaves room to grow. A name with a city or a single product in it gets in the way when the company enters new markets or broadens its offer.
- It’s available: as a trademark, in the company register and as a domain.
Types of names
- Descriptive, such as “Fast Freight”. They say right away what you do, but they’re hard to protect and easy to confuse.
- Suggestive, hinting at a quality or benefit without naming it outright. Often the best compromise.
- Invented or abstract: words that didn’t exist before. The easiest to protect, but they need more communication before they mean anything.
- The founder’s name. Good for building trust in services, less so when the company grows or changes hands.
- Acronyms. Easy to come up with, hard to remember until the brand is known.
The process from list to decision
- Criteria from positioning. First settle what the name should communicate and in which markets it has to work.
- A long list. A hundred or more ideas, with no judging at this stage.
- A shortlist. Drop everything that doesn’t meet the criteria. Keep ten to fifteen names.
- A preliminary availability check, described below.
- A language check in every language you sell in.
- A test with people. Don’t ask “do you like it”, because people usually react to new names with reluctance. Check whether they can repeat and write it after hearing it once.
- Legal clearance before the decision, not after the business cards are printed.
How to check whether a name is available
Trademarks. Trademarks are registered in classes of goods and services, so a similar name in a completely different industry doesn’t always get in the way. The risk is similarity in the same or a related industry. Search:
- the USPTO trademark search for the United States,
- TMview, which shows EU marks and marks from national offices in one search,
- eSearch plus from the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO),
- WIPO’s Global Brand Database for international registrations.
Company registers: in the US, the business entity search of the state where you register; elsewhere, the national company register, to check nobody already trades under the same or a very similar name.
Domains and profiles. Check the domain in the main extensions and the handles on social media. A taken .com doesn’t have to rule out a good name, but check who owns it. If it’s a competitor, that’s a problem.
Searching on your own filters out the obvious conflicts. The final assessment of whether a name can be registered and used safely is worth handing to a trademark attorney before you invest in a logo, a website and materials.
How we do it
Naming is part of a full branding project: we prepare three name directions and run an initial trademark check. If you’re wondering whether your current name still works for you, also read the article on signs your brand no longer fits. Read more about the process on our branding service.
Let’s talk about your project
The first call takes 30 minutes and is free. After it, you know whether we can help and what it will cost.
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