Entire Books have been written about the art and science of naming businesses and products. This learning section has not yet reached an entire books length of information yet, but we are continually adding to this section and are even creating a free ebook about this subject. So visit this section often and you will see new information being added in often.
Business or Product Naming
This learning section is very detailed, which gives a lot of information to anyone who is looking for in depth knowledge about how the business and product name creation works. I have written a crash course blog which is much shorter and attempts to take all the information in this learning section and condense it to a quick guide to help anyone who is trying to figure out how to name their business or product. You may always come back to this learning section to get even more in depth knowledge of the subject. My crash course blog is Click Here.
The Importance of a Good Name
It all starts with an idea of a business, service or product. Often during the creation of the business, service, or product, they are given qausi code names, for example: Mikes Accounting Service, or company naming website, or sometimes even as elaborate as longhorn, or project babylon. Some businesses actually end up keeping the code name and working under that name, others come up with a better name somewhere during the business development, but then there are many others that haven't come up with a perfect name yet and they turn to experts in the field for business and product name creation.
The reason they turn to experts is because they know that the name itself can make a company or product. The more lively and attractive the name the better, up to a certain point of course, You still want hints of professionalism to the name. The best names are the ones that are so memorable and catchy, that after time has gone by, you remember a certain business or product by that cool little name they had. Some names denote such attractive descriptions of the business or product that it will actually compel people to buy the product from that business because they really associate that business or product with the name's cool description (example: Acura). Acura denotes accuracy so the car must be engineered with accuracy. These names are in actuallity so powerful because they really help a business or product with it's positioning in the marketplace, and this positioning is vital towards business survival. The better the positioning, the better the money, the better the survival and even luxury. The name is the spokesperson and front image of the business. The name is the sharp dressed salesman exuding charisma. You don't want to send a hobo out to represent your business or product.
How To Come Up With A Name Idea
It's not difficult to come up with a name. All that's really required is imagination and the ability to incorporate a business or product description into your imagination. Most naming companies and namers will write down about a hundred different crazy names from out of the blue, sometimes they will come up with a thousand different crazy names, then they begin the process of sorting and sifting and dropping the obviously crazy names that are in front of them. Eventually they come down to a list of usually less than a hundred of potential names for the business or product. Some namers are so precise, focused, and imaginative with a description that they can come up with a perfect perfect name within 20 names, but even still, the name must be tested somehow before being actually applied to a business or product. The best way to test a name is simply by running it by a dozen or so people and then asking them a week later what that name was that you ran by them. If they remember right away, you know the name is memorable at least, but does the name have personality to it? This is where I find voting to be an extremely powerful tool towards coming up with that final perfect name. If people are presented with about 20 really really good names and one or two of those names are standing out with the highest votes, there must be something about those particular names, most likely they have that certain personality that is attracting the votes, it's as simple as choosing between the names: Acura, or High End Honda Cars. Obviously most people would vote for the name Acura, because the other name is dull and boring sounding. So really all it takes to come up with a good name is coming up with crazy out of the blue words that somehow describe the company or product and then choosing the one that is the best of the bunch.
How To Name A Company, Business, Service, or Product
There are 3 extremely important aspects towards coming up with a great name. These 3 aspects are the most important aspects of all towards coming up with a great name. 1: Verbal 2: Visual 3: Perceptual Meaning.
1: Verbal) It's hard to say if this should be #1 or #2 on this list, because Verbal and Visual are of equal importance. The name must sound good. The name doesn't neccessarily have to sound like a familiar word, but it must sound good and not sound like in any way like something that is insulting, derogatory, offensive, or have negative connotations. There are exceptions, but they should be very carefully examined closely before actually using as a name or part of a name. An example of this could be yahoo.com. Yes, yahoo could mean a person who is repulsive in appearance and barely human. A bum could be called a yahoo. On the other hand, yahoo sounds like someone who is having fun and yelling YAHOO! which is a very positive sound, and of course this name has not stopped yahoo.com from becoming a huge name in the computer industry. There are words though that you absolutely should not use, swear words is an example of this. Of course this choice is entirely up to the person(s) choosing the name for their business or product, but anyone who is serious about obtaining a great name for their business or product should steer very clear of bad sounding names. Bad sounding names are also highly subjective to ridicule. So you don't want a bad sounding name, but you do want a good sounding name, and just as important, the name should be easy to say, which really helps towards memorableness. The sound of the name is of vital importance also because the name will travel by word of mouth. A group of people might be talking about businesses over a dinner and one of them might think of your business and if (hopefully) they remember your name, they will tell the others about it and it will just keep spreading, but if the person can't remember the name, it won't be said and the spread of the word will be severely stiffled as so will your potential customers. The sound, is very important.
2: Visual) The name must be visually appealing. The name must be able to be pronounced by a glance of it. A name must also be very clear as to the way it is spelled, but yet also have some kind of personality with an energy behind it. Visual is very important, because the name will be seen more than heard. People will write the name down, people will see it on the Internet and in phone books etc. etc. So the name must be visually readable and appealing. Lets look at Lycos for example. Just a glance of it and I can spell it easily for the rest of my life with my eyes closed. I can pronounce it very simply as well. In fact this is such a well crafted name that I would have to really go out of my way to mis-pronounce it, and this is all from one glance of the name. Lycos also doesn't look like gibberish, it looks like it flows as a word should. I don't see any negative connotations to it either. I do think of licking when I see it, I imagine a dog licking it's owner when the owner comes home. I also think of Like, to like something. I like-o you. Although the name doesn't mean licking or like at all, it actually comes from a technlological term that is used to classify a type of spider called a Wolf Spider which is in the family of Lycosidae. The added personality that I see in the name is the " y " in the name. The " y " added in makes this name look like it is not just a boring word used as a name, what if the name was Liecoes or Likeos or Likos. It wouldn't quite look like it was a name that was created for a company. By the " y " being in the name, it makes the name Lycos very visually appealing.
3: Peceptual Meaning) What is the first glance meaning of the name? what does it seem like it means? A name can have a completely different meaning than what the business is about, for example: Sony. Sony doesn't say anything about technology or electronics, so of course Sony doesn't mean technology or electronics, but it doesn't have any negative meanings either. When I see the word Sony, my very first perception is somebody's name, ok, what do they sell? There is nothing wrong with this kind of name. On the other hand, for example: well, we can't mention any names here, but names where if you take out 1 letter usually somewhere in the middle, it straight out says a cuss word. These are obviously not good names and won't work well in the professional world. Think about some names and your first perceptual meaning of them, Amazon (I think of the Amazon river), MicroSoft (I think technology and software), Apple (I think of an Apple and the taste of an Apple), myspace (I think of my space, like I own my own little bubble to do with it whatever I want), well you get the idea. So always look at your name or your name idea from the perspective angle before deciding that this is your name that you are going to conduct business under.
The Types
There are many different types of names that companies and products use. There are arguments about which type is the best type. I simply say that variety is the most important anyways, because if all businesses were named by the same type, the one that was named with another type would stand out so far that it would be the biggest and best. So ultimately, there isn't any particular type that is the best. Here are some of the different types:
Coined Names / Blended Names: Microsoft, Gatorade, Intel, RiteAid, Costco, FedEx, EngiName
Coined or Blended Names are great. There are many different ways to mix, blend, reverse, and fuse words together. There are so many ways that there is almost an infinite amount of possibilities of good names for businesses and products. These types of names are also great, because they are usually so unique sounding. There is usually a matching available .com domain name for them as well.
Umbrella Names: Wal*mart, Sony,
Umbrella names are great, because they are not confined or limited to any certain product, service, or business. An umbrella name can sell many different types of products or services under it. An umbrella name is a must if you plan on expanding to other areas of business under your brand name.
Initials and Acronyms: IBM, ABC, CBS, NBC, AT&T, JVC, NASA.
A lot of professionals out there recommend staying away from acronym company names, but I say: What if you happen to actually come up with a really good acronym and it fits your company perfectly? What if IBM didn't choose their acronym name, they would have been stuck using International Business Machines still. I would say go for it in this case, however, the domain name is most likely not available, and the acronym also is most likely already in use, so finding a good acronym name will most definitely be a challenge. However also keep in mind, that IBM didn't start out as IBM, they did start out as International Business Machines and built up a reputation with that name first, people just kept referring to them as IBM and the name stuck.
Real Words: Saturn, Oracle, Apple, Sprint, Virgin, Borders, Pioneer. Pavillions.
Real words can work well also as a business or product name. I have often wondered, how is it that Apple can trademark their name? but Coke is having a hard time keeping their trademark because it's becoming generic, is Apple generic? Other than the political, a real word name that fits good with your business or product would be a great name to have.
People's Names: Ford, Dell, Don Francisco's, Disney, Hilton, Hewlett-Packard, McDonald's.
This is another one that many professionals will say you should steer away from, naming a business after someone's name. But again, I say that the name is half the game, and these company names listed above are well and thriving and are named after someone. I remember these names very well and even associate them with their respective businesses and products. When it comes to considering a person's name as part of the business name, I look further at the look, sound, feel, and personality of the person's name.
Invented Words: Acura, Kodak, Lego, Xerox, Pixar, Nikon, Mozilla, Exxon, Motorola.
Invented names are great, but are not always too descriptive. Who would have ever thought that Kodak would convey camera? In a sense though, coined and blended names are invented too and should also fall under invented names, but the real difference between the two are that the invented words are not actual words that are blended together somehow to make a coined name, invented words are completely their own new word, there is no word Acu and Ra and put together making a coined name. The point is, an invented name can really have impact if formed very well. An invented word is also very challenging to come up with, but can be so unique that it would sail right through the trademark process, and the domain name for it would probably be available too.
Quirky Names: Wok On Inn, Think Geek, Pizza The Action, Zany Brainy, newegg, Fuddruckers.
Quirky names are entertaining, and they're usually easy to remember. They are usually made up of a short quirky phrase. I love seeing businesses using quirky names. When I see a quirky name, I think the business is friendly. I think a well crafted quirky name has serious potential to becoming a well known franchise, and that means successful.
Generic Names: Kleenex, Valium, Aspirin, Escalator, Jungle Gym, Thermos, Yo-Yo, Zipper, Paperclip.
Yes these were actually at one time product names that were even trademarked, but after years of use and people start to associate all other same type of products (but under different companies) as Example: a thermos, the product name actually becomes what that product is and the name becomes generic. Most companies don't want their names to become generic, because they lose their trademark rights to the name then. Coke is constantly battling to not lose it's trademarked name and become generic.
Plain Names: Joe's Plumbing, Mike's Accounting Service, John's Auto Mechanics, The Wall Street Journal.
These types of names are functional, and even have the hint of professionalism to them. They are not flashy types of names, but this may be what the business owner intended. Sometimes flashy names are a little overboard and if you want to stay away from flashy, then a plain name will work great for you. Is The Wall Street Journal a flashy name? it's not very flashy, but it does denote professionalism and is simply using a plain name. It's probable that if The Wall Street Journal did use a flashy name, they wouldn't be as big as they are today, but on the other hand, some companies wouldn't make it on a plain name and they will need a flashier name, for example: what if google was called "Internet Search", somehow I don't think that they would be in existance anymore. So depending on the circumstance of the business/product, a plain name may take you pretty far due to the straight non flashy professionalism that is conveyed by such a name.
Two Word Names: Circuit City, Best Buy, Taco Bell, Burger King, Pioneer Chicken, Pep Boys.
Two word names are as great as any other. The only downfall I can see is that possibly, it may bring advertising costs up for your business a little bit. Usually it costs more money to put two words up on a sign instead of one word, maybe the newspaper will charge per word, etc. but besides that, there is nothing wrong with two or three word names as you can tell by the examples above. Two word names are just as easy to remember as one word names as well. The first time I ever saw Burger King, I remembered it. The first time I saw Sobe, I didn't remember it, even though it is just one short word, I had to see it a few more times and actually buy one before I finally remembered it, but that is because of perceptual meaning, my mind could not place any meaning on the word Sobe, but my mind instantly was able to understand Burger King. So when thinking of two word names, the same rules apply, try to make your name have meaning, because if Sobe was hard enough for me to remember, imagine two hard to remember words being used as a name. On the other hand, of course names can eventually become familiar and then end up being great names, I love Sobe and think it's a fantastic name. Two word names can also have that same effect.
Single Word Names:
Unique Spelling/mispelled/tweaked spelling Names: Qwest, Google, Flickr, Digg,
Neat Ending Names: Flickr, Squidoo, Technorati, Isolatr, Zoomr, Meebo, Friendster, Favoor, Google.
Notice that these are all website names. I looked everywhere but could not find any neat ending regular company names, I will keep my eyes open and list it here when I find one. Neat ending names are great. You can take any regular word and just tweak the ending a little bit and presto, a word that immediately has meaning and is spelled playfully which conveys fun. These playful fun looking names do very well in social network sites, because they convey fun. It's like the website is a playground online with a name.
Names including numbers: 3Com, 3M, 7-11, 20th Century Fox, A1, 76, Big 5.
Descriptive Names:
Phrases:
Geographic: Bank of America, California Pizza Kitchen, Seattle's Best, L.A. Zoo, San Diego Zoo
As you can see, some companies with Geographic names do just fine with their seemingly limited name. A geographic name could put you on the map, but could potentially keep you pinned down as well. Geographical names are very common, you could open your phone book and see many businesses with their names incorporating the very city or state that they are located in. A geographical name could make a business sound more authentic, almost like they are the official business for that city/state. The only real downside I can see with a geographical name is that it may be a bit harder to expand into other areas of the state, country, or world, but seeing from the examples above, a geographical name can go pretty far. A geographical name can do quite well, and half the name is already created. Seattle's Best Coffee is great down here in California, I always get a sense that it's been specially imported from another part of the world.
Cultural Names
Names may have different meanings in other cultures and countries. If the business or product will be selling in other countries, the meaning of the name should definitely be looked at in their language. Even the color of the name might have a meaning in another country. For example: A famous known blunder that Chevrolet made was when they sold their Chevy Nova in Latin America and Mexico. The word No Va in spanish translates to It Doesn't Run. I have since heard that even though the car had the name Nova, it still sold just fine in Mexico because the word is one Nova, but to say it doesn't run is No Va (2 words). Either way I'm not sure that the name really was a good choice if they were to sell it in Mexico, but on the other hand it does stand out quite so much that it does advertise itself pretty well in Mexico, if anything maybe sales went up due to the humor of the name.
Name Demographics / Scope
Another point to look at in naming is the scope. How precise is the name or how loose is it, meaning, is it too descriptive of the business or product that the business can't expand, Example: John's Ventura Book store. This name pretty much sticks John with selling only books in only Ventura. For some businesses this would be just fine, but others need to be able to expand and have the same name expand with them. Imagine if Sony was limited to selling only it's very first product ever: A Rice Cooker.
Web 2.0 Names
You may have noticed there is a new marketing buzzword out there called Web 2.0. Here is an informative article that explains how the term Web 2.0 came about. From our understanding and from what other people are understanding is that the earlier days of the Internet (before the .com crash) there were many websites that you heard of but don't hear much from now, example: napster, these earlier websites were part of the Web 1.0. Newer websites today that have replaced the older websites are known to fit into the Web 2.0, example: itunes, so basically Web 1.0 is like saying that the Internet had a version and it was version 1.0. The Internet today is version 2.0 hence Web 2.0. When you hear the term Web 2.0 name, it merely means a website name created during this version 2.0 time, which is actually different than Web 1.0, because during this Web 2.0 time, a lot of the normal domain names are already taken up, so it leaves a new website with having to figure out either a new coined name, or invented name, which leads to some of these website names you see today, EngiName is a Web 2.0 name, Digg, Flickr, Squidoo, these are also examples of Web 2.0 names. Web 2.0 names are great we think, because they are truly unique names and will serve to make completely tweaked out words become meaningful, which will help businesses and websites in the future be able to play off of these Web 2.0 types of names, imagine looking up Flickr in the thesaurus and there are multiple synonyms for flickr. There are already talks and mentions of Web 3.0.
Business/Product name vrs Domain Name
Getting an exact matching domain name for your business/product is ideal, but so many domain names are already taken and there is that chance that the name you want, has an already taken matching domain name. This should not be something that holds you back however from using your name idea if you really love your name and the matching domain name isn't a business running under that name. It is perfectly fine to use a name for your business/product and use an expanded domain name that is nearly a match for your name. For example: EngiName.com is Taken, but EngiNameNaming.com is available. There are many companies and businesses running just fine, even without the matching .com domain name. So if your business/product isn't entirely a web based business that absolutely has to have the .com matching domain name, then your options for a great name are actually opened up a bit further, which is great for you because you can probably find an even better name than otherwise, but also keep in mind that if you do decide to go the matching .com domain name route, you will most likely find a truly unique name. Keep your options open and always strive for the best possible name for your business/product. The name of your business/product is more important than whether the matching .com domain is available or not. Don't let a taken .com name hinder your pursuit of a great name. If your business/product does well while using a great name, you may just end up being able to purchase the matching .com name afterall.
Finally - The Methods on how to come up with a great name
If you have read everything above this section, you should have a pretty good grasp of the basics of great names. You will probably have a new perspective each time you see a business/product name, you will see names and notice just how much work went into that name. Some names are so great that they look like there was no effort put forth in the name creation, when in fact there were months of research and ideas involved. Some names are so bad that they look like no effort was put forth into their creation, but you will be able to tell the difference. We recently noticed a company named PODS. What a simple, clean, fun, perfect name that looks as though it was an effortless name that just happened naturally. The fact is that this company was previously named Portables, which actually isn't that bad either, but PODS is even far better, yet simple and elegant and even playful sounding. A lot of work probably went into such a simple outcome. Your business/product should be no exception and the more work you put towards your frontman (name), the better of a name you will achieve. Now to apply your new understandings and start to generate some serious name ideas.
1st: Brainstorming
Brainstorming is definitely the first step. You begin by just writing down name ideas that come to your mind, don't stop writing. I usually open up notepad on my computer and just start typing away. One person can do this, but the more people involved, the more imagination and ideas that will come out. Keep writing ideas down for 5 to 10 minutes at least. This is where EngiName really accels at coming up with name ideas, because there will be imaginative people from all over the world entering in name ideas for your business/product, and some of these namers are really good at coming up with very fitting clever names for your business/product. It's like a brainstorming session in slow motion. During this brainstorm session, write any name idea down no matter how good or bad it may seem to be, write it down anyways, you can weed out the bad names later. The reason you should write down even the seemingly bad names is because sometimes a name sounds or seems like it is a bad horrible name, but later on when your thinking about it, it turns out to be a great name afterall. We love to give the Yahoo example here: Imagine that the founders of yahoo were brainstorming and came across the word yahoo and then just dismissed it due to it's negative side meaning of repulsive bum (who wants to name a business repulsive bum?), if they had just dismissed it we would have never heard of yahoo today, but they looked at it again and realized that this is actually a very positive sounding great name, yahoo sounds like someone is having a lot of fun and yelling YAHOO!. It turned out to be a great name and they chose it and surely it has been a huge factor in positioning them to where they are today, so even write down the names that seem to be bad. Keep writing and don't let your hand stop writing. Write two word names, three word names, phrases, one word names, weird out of nowhere not making any sense names, coined names, duplicate names, everything, but do try to stay somewhat focused on what your business/product is about, because you are trying to get a name that is fitting for your business/product afterall.
2nd: Thoughtful Brainstorming
Brainstorming is definitely the first step, but you are not done yet. The Thoughtful Brainstorm is another brainstorm that should be done after the 1st brainstorm. The 1st brainstorm is more of a random quick name ideas generator where there is little to no thought or analysis of the name ideas that are being written down. The Thoughtful Brainstorm is where you actually do try to bring together your thoughts about the business/product and form thoughtful name ideas. This is similar to being serious about a name for your business/product where as a regular brainstorm is not to be taken seriously. The Thoughtful Brainstorm is more concentrated towards forming genuine name ideas about your business/product. The Thoughtful Brainstorm is also not so time sensitive, it could take 5 minutes for you to think up one formed name idea, you may need a break after a couple name ideas, take the break, go to work, write an idea down while your at work, go for a drive, do you get the idea, I have taken up to a week before just trying to focus in on good name ideas, it may even be that one night right before you fall asleep, a really good name idea suddenly pops into your mind, write it down, do not fall asleep yet! write it down. I say this because it has happened to me and I swore that the name was so good that I wouldn't forget it, but first thing in the morning, what was that name?? so now I always get right up and write it down then fall right back into bed. Somewhere during the Thoughtful Brainstorm, about half way through, take a look at your list from your first brainstorm, but not at first during the 2nd brainstorm, there may be some name ideas on there that you thought of during the 1st Brainstorm that could be brought into the Thoughtful Brainstorm, words that can be fused with words during your Thoughtful Brainstorm, always write down the name ideas. It is very common that during the Thoughtful Brainstorm, you will find yourself stuck on a name idea and giving it serious consideration about becoming your final name for your business/product, but don't do it yet. I have found myself glued to a name before for 3 days and churning over it in my head the whole 3 days, but just not completely certain about it, and then on the 4th day realizing the name is horrible. So it's fine to get stuck on a name idea, but don't settle yet, you are still in Thoughtful Brainstorm mode. If more than one person is also doing the Thoughtful Brainstorming with you, that is great, because the more imaginations at work, the more creativity that is going to come out of this. EngiName is great for all the imaginations that will be at work for your business/product name. We recommend that you do the Thoughtful Brainstorming for at least a week.
3rd: Analysis Time
After the week has gone by and your probably getting anxious by now, it's time to really start analyzing your name ideas. You should have lists of name ideas from both brainstorms. Sometimes there is already a name idea really standing out, move it to the top of your list. It is time to start weeding out the bad names from the good names. If during this weeding out stage you get name ideas, write them down. How do you tell if a name is bad? some names are very obviously bad, names with profanity are obviously bad, names that look like profane words with a couple letters in between are obviously bad too, just cross them out, but always keep in mind the yahoo example. Going through the name ideas does take some time, but this time could be the difference between luxury lifestyle or just scraping by. It is possible that you have already found a perfect name and that you are going to be looking at all these other name ideas as inferior, but at least take a quick peek at the name ideas anyways and run your perfect name idea by at least 5 smart friends to get their inputs and pay close attention to their initial response to the name idea, you want to be sure that they are not just saying: "oh! ya! this is is pretty good" when they don't really mean it, remember this is your business/product and can make a huge difference in it's success by the name of it. Whatever you do, absolutely get other opinions of the name idea, because if you choose it yourself without anyone elses input, you could be making a huge mistake in the case that you like the name, but nobody else does. You must get general consensus of approval. Don't only get smart people's opinions of your name idea, get opinions from all ranges of intelligence as well, see if they can understand the name right away. Make sure your name idea passes the Verbal, Visual, and Perceptual Meaning tests. Is your name hot? sit on it for a week, I say this because I have fallen in love with names, but after a week has went by and seeing the name from other angles after the week has gone by, I realized that the name wasn't actually very fitting for the business, for example: one of the name ideas for this site was fusion, just simply fusion. Fusion was on my mind for a week, it sounded great, simple, smooth, sexy, and hot to me. The idea in my mind was that names can be made by fusing words together to make one coined name word, so fusion would work perfect and is a very easy to remember word, but after seeing it from different angles in regards to what our website is really about, the word fusion didn't really quite fit anymore, and general consensus also decided that this is a great word for a name, but not quite there for our website, so then we started looking at unique ideas. So sit on your idea for a week at least to be absolutely certain. After the week has gone by, ask those people again what that name idea was that you ran past them, if they remember right away, you have a memorable name, they may forget it after a few months, but that is normal and happens if they're not exposed to the name more than once. If they do remember it after months, you have a very memorable name.
If you haven't found your name idea yet and are still weeding out the bad names from the good, remember the 3 most important things that you should compare the individual name ideas to: Verbal, Visual, and Perceptual Meaning. Go through the names, one by one and see if they fit these 3 important aspects, if they do, keep them listed, the idea here is to narrow your lists down to 100 or less name ideas, it is still possible that you still haven't written down the perfect name yet and that it's not on the list, but if it is on this list, we are going to find it, and surely at least of couple of these name ideas on the list are standing out already and if your perfect name isn't on the list yet, don't worry, it exists somewhere and will pop up, because if the brainstorming doesn't work, there are a few other ways to figure out a great name. Naming is an art and a science, in our advanced learning section, we will be going through some of these scientific ways used to derive great names, some naming companies use complex algorithms and word filters to obtain spectacular names, we touch on these subjects as well in the advanced learning section.
Another method to use towards analyzing name ideas is to create temporary logos using that name idea, I like to go to those free logo websites and enter in the name idea and change the font, add a picture logo next to it, etc.. this really helps with the visualization of the name and has dramatic results. Taking such a seemingly meaningless boring word and turning it into a logo has a way of really making that word have serious impact all of a sudden, it can also show you a seemingly great word turn into mush. I always check my name ideas using free websites so that I get a really good idea of the potential impact on people that the name and logo will have and this really helps towards the decision of which name idea to choose.
How To Pick That Final Name From The Crowd
How to finally pick that final name from the crowd of name ideas. This is actually the most difficult part, because once you pick a name to use, that is going to be the name that you will hear over and over, and that is the name that you are going to be going all out with for your business or product. We know exactly how difficult of a decision this could be.
There are a few different angles that you must look at with your new name prospect and a few things that you absolutely must do before going forward with using the name that you are considering. For one, you have to realize that the name is half the game, the other half is of course the quality of the business, service, or product that you are attaching the name to, if you have a pretty good name and your business, service, or product has good qualities, people are going to remember your name in a good light, the name becomes better and more valuable due to the good light that is casted onto it. This is where a clever, memorable catchy name will really accel, especially because the good name will also cast good light onto the business or product, on the other hand, a perfect name can be completely ruined if the business or product has bad associations with it, for example: I can't imagine many people wanting to do business with Enron Corp, people right away think of bad bad bad. I'm afraid to even mention their name on this webpage, great name, but the actual company ruined that really good name.
Almost certainly, you have already narrowed down the name ideas to somewhere between 1 and 5 of name ideas that you are going to be choosing from, sometimes the decision is really simple because one of the name ideas is standing so far out and is so obviously perfect, but don't jump on it just yet, always, always, sit on the idea for at least a week, afterall, this is a very important word that you will be incorporating into your life. Make sure to get at least 5 other people's opinions about the name idea, 10 other people's opinions is even better, if they are all in a mutual agreement that the name idea is really good, the name idea is probably really good and will cast a great light onto your business or product.
One way to narrow down your name ideas, is to do some simple searches of your own, to make sure the name isn't already being used somewhere else.
1st: Use Google, Yahoo, and MSN's Live search. If there is somebody using that name idea of yours and they have used it for at least a month, it will probably show up in the search results of these search engines.
2nd: Use the USPTO's TESS (Trademark Electronic Search System) system. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will list if there are any businesses running under the registered trademark using your business or product name idea.
3rd: Use Switchboard. This is a great website that just about has every Filed Fictitious Business Name in it for the United States. Just enter in the name and most definitely you will see your name idea come up and many similar ones, this doesn't mean you can't use the name, you would have to check your local laws about this, but you will know who is using that name or similar name and where. Multiple businesses can actually use the same name as long as they are in different cities or states and are also attaching other words to the name, for example, John's Plumbing (in New York), another business could use the name John's Auto Mechanics, especially if John's Auto Mechanics is in California, both businesses are sharing an identical name: John's. I'm explaining this because it does happen very often when using switchboard.com, but there are also times when switchboard.com has no results for your name idea, this is a great sign, because it means that your name idea is unique and probably completely available for use.
Using these 3 methods will probably knock off at least one of your name ideas.
Ok, so now to the nitty gritty of how to choose that final name. As I said before, you must get other people's opinions about the name idea other than yourself or anybody else who has participated in your name venture, feedback is tremendously important, ask random people what they think of the name, after a week ask your friends what that name idea was that you had ran past them, if they remember one of them, that is a pretty good indicator that the name idea is memorable, if they really remember one of them and are positively responding to it, then you know it's memorable and has personality. The best way to make a final decision on a name is when multiple people all agree that the name is a good one and that you should use it for your name, and when you know that many people are positively responding to that name, you will gain confidence in the name and will probably ultimately choose it to run your business under or sell your product under.
Also of great importance, is make sure that you really like the name a lot yourself, because how you feel about the name, is most likely how others are going to feel about the name, sometimes you may lose sight of how you feel about the name yourself, but after getting feedback on your name, it will become clear again about how this name is going to do, then if you and everybody else are all in mutual agreement that the name is hot, great, and perfect, that is the name to choose, afterall, you have to make the decision eventually and start building up your business, just be sure to keep your great name in a good light, and your great name will return the favor even more so. So happy name choosing!!
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