This document provides 15 tips for naming a company. Some key recommendations include choosing a short, powerful name of 12 characters or less; using a name that is clear, easy to pronounce and spell; ensuring the matching domain name is available; avoiding names too specific to products or locations; and brainstorming a list of 100 names to find the best option. Following these tips will help select a name that stands out and represents the company well.
3. TIP 1:
A SUCCESSFUL NAME SHOULD
BE SHORT AND POWERFUL
Think of these globally successful brands; Apple, Nike,
Samsung, Pepsi.
If you noticed well, you would see that these names, despite
being short, are powerful. So you’ll need to make sure your
company’s name does not exceed 12 characters.
4. TIP 2:
GOOD COMPANY NAMES SHOULD
HAVE BOLD TEXTURE AND CLARITY
You immediately know a great brand’s name when you see or
hear it. These names are simple and easy to say. Your
company’s name should sound right when you say it. You will
need a name that’s clear and easy to pronounce. You also will
want to avoid a name that has a difficult spelling. Remember,
the easier your name is to pass across, the easier it will be for
your customers to recall.
5. TIP 3:
YOUR COMPANY’S NAME SHOULD
BE EXPANDABLE AND INTEGRATEDWhen you name your company you don’t want to pick a
name that is too stereotyped to a geographical or product
scope. So you choose a name, for example, “Dallas Everyday
Pizza Delivery Company”, (aside that it’s too lengthy), you are
limiting yourself to Dallas, Texas. So be careful of including a
specific product or service to your company’s name. “The
Hotdog Joint” will limit the product offering, for example;
thereby making expansion very difficult.
6. TIP 4:
AVOID NAMES WITH NUMBERS,
HYPHENS AND OTHER NON-
Generally speaking, numbers and hyphens will only get your
customers confused. Try sticking with alphabetic characters,
or at least stay within an alphanumeric name. Even If you
decide to use a non-alphabetic character like &, %, @, #, you’ll
want to pay particular attention to clear communication. For
example, “Big!Trucks” uses an exclamation mark in the
middle of their name. Though It looks great on their signage,
but it is a little confusing without the graphic elements.
Additionally, the exclamation mark is not a valid domain
character, so the firm will not have an exact match domain
name.
7. TIP 5:
MAKE SURE THE DOMAIN
NAME IS AVAILABLEOn the internet today, the .com domain extension signifies
business. So you will want to select a name that has a
matching .com domain name available for it. For most
companies, a great name is of little use except you have the
exact-match domain. It’s quite easy to find out if the name has
registered or still available.
8. TIP 6:
ENSURE THAT THE NAME
CAN BE LEGALLY USEDThere is nothing that gives a bigger headache that coming up
with an awesome name, only to find in use somewhere else.
You need a name that that is highly unique to your business
and does not infringe on the rights of another company. You
can check the free search available online at the United States
Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) database and also the
European Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market
(Trademarks and Designs).
9. TIP 7:
CONSIDER THE GLOBAL
TRANSLATION OF THE NAME
If you have the intention of marketing your goods and
services outside on your home country, you will need a name
that will be accepted universally. You can run the names you
have in mind through Google Translate, or any other
translators to see if your name has the same meaning in other
languages.
10. TIP 8:
A GOOD NAME MUST FIT
THE FIELD YOU OPERATE
You don’t want to name your company “Teddy Chemicals”
while you sell clothes, it just doesn’t fit. You won’t only be the
only one patronizing, but people will think you need help.
Ensure you select a name that works with your field.
11. TIP 9:
SELECT A CATCHY AND
TRENDY NAME
Your company’s name should be trendy and appealing to the
ear, not a name that will sound old in a few years. It may take
some critical thinking, but it is of a very high importance that
you pick a name that flows with time.
12. TIP 10:
EXCELLENT COMPANY NAMES
DON’T FAVOR COMPETITORS
You don’t want to select a name that has anything similar to
your competitor’s name. If your competitor is bigger than
you, you will fall flat to your face. For example, naming your
company “Bucci” will only make people think it’s the misspelt
version of “Gucci”.
13. TIP 11:
YOUR COMPANY’S NAME SHOULD
BE EASILY ABBREVIATED
You will need a name that won’t be a hard work to abbreviate.
For instance, “Warner Bros” can be easily abbreviated as
“WB”. Abbreviations help people to remember your
company’s name faster. Make sure you bear this in mind.
14. TIP 12:
LOGO-FRIENDLY AND
PRINT-FRIENDLY
Your company’s name must be appealing to your customers’
eyes. Be sure to consider how it looks on business cards,
signs, stationeries, etc. The better your company name looks,
the more customers you get.
15. TIP 13:
TRY USING COINED NAMES
You might not have noticed, but coined names tend to help
you with a more creative and trendy company name, because
they always have creativity written all over. Making use of
“Camon” as your company’s name will make it obvious that
you are a photographer. “Cam” means camera, so “cam” +
“on” means “camera on”. Who puts the camera on? You tell
me.
16. TIP 14:
AVOID UNUSUAL
SPELLINGSYou will want to avoid spelling your company’s name in a way
that will only look meaningful to you, but Greek to your
customers. You will only be making a big mistake, if you do
that. It is highly imperative that you use a name your
customers will find easy to spell. If you mean “Famous,” don’t
spell it “Phaymus”.
17. TIP 15:
WRITE DOWN A 100
NAMESThis may sound like work to you, but it works. Write as many
names as possible; while some names might sound funny to
you, they may end up being that golden name you make use
of. Even if you can’t get a straight name out of the list, you
might be able to combine two silly names to get an awesome
one.
18. BY NOW,
I BELIEVE YOU MUST
BE SMILING
AS BRIGHT NAMES
COME TO YOUR MIND.
19. FOLLOWING THE SIMPLE TIPS
WILL HELP YOU A GREAT DEAL
ON HOW TO NAME YOUR COMPANY!
ENJOY!