What's In Your Name?
What's In Your Name?
What's In Your Name?
When I come home with new business plans and business ideas, my family runs and hides. They actually love hearing about the new idea and have inspired many of my best ideas. Why do they hide? They know the next step is to name the business. Endless lists on every white board and piece of paper in the house. Endless searches on the Internet. It truly is a miserable time around my house. Why all the fuss?
What's in a name? Naming your business can be one of the most important and stressful tasks in starting a new business. There is a lot of controversy over what makes a good name and a bad name. We all learned a lesson from Chevy when they named a car Nova, which in Spanish means No Go! So, there are bad names. These would include names that are impossible to pronounce, names that are so long they don't fit on a business card, names that have unintended meanings. However, let's talk about what makes a good name.
School of thought 1: A name describes what you do. Some believe the best names are very descriptive of what your company does. International Business Machines is a classic example of a very successful company dating back to the 19th Century. They are the world's fourth largest technology company and the second most valuable global brand (after Coca-Cola). For those of you not old enough to remember this company, they shortened their name some time after 1947 to IBM. What I bet you didn't know is they were originally incorporated as Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation.
Using a literal name would seem the most logical way to name a company, but it has serious drawbacks. First, the names tend to be long Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation. Second, it is very difficult to get a trademark on a name that is descriptive. Getting a trademark on the logo is not as difficult since it is a unique design, however the name can be very challenging.
School of thought 2: Abstract names that are a blank slate. The thinking behind this is that you create the meaning of the name through your branding efforts. Spend enough money and everyone knows Nike is not the winged goddess of victory in ancient Greece, but rather an athletic shoe. These names can be trademarked if they do not describe your company or what your company does.
School of thought 3: Coined names (names that come from made up words). These names may have no meaning at all. Squidoo is a good example. Google took the number googol (10 to the 100th power) and modified it to create their name. These are easy to get trademarked since they are very unique and do not describe your business or what you do. Some believe these names are more memorable, and other say there is nothing to relate too, therefore they are quickly forgotten.
School of thought 4: Use your name. We have seen this successfully done with consulting firms. McKinsey and Company, one of the most prestigious firms in the management consulting industry is a great example. Your name also works for local businesses such as Marie Calendars. Marie started a local pie store and grew it into a major food chain. Many very successful direct marketers simply use their name. It is unique and something they would like everyone to remember. It is difficult to get a name like this trademarked, however, it can be unique and powerful for Internet searches. Search for my name and you don't find much competition for search results!
So, what is the best way to go? I can't answer that, but if you consider what you are trying to accomplish with your business name you may be able to choose a direction that best fits your business.
Here are some tips:
Imagine how the potential name will
* Look (on business cards, advertisements, with a logo)
* Sound (ease of pronunciation)
* Be remembered (connotations the name may incite)
* Distinguish you from competitors (avoid trademark infringements)
You may want to avoid
* Embarrassing spellings, abbreviations, profanities, potentially offensive undertones
* Implied associations with organizations/people the business is not connected to
The classic rules are:
* One or two syllables (Google, Nike, etc.)
* Early on in the alphabet (Acme, AAA, etc.)
My advice is to keep the suggestions and rules in mind, then break them and use a name you like. After all, behind your company name is your name. Is this a name you want to be associated with your name?
Now for the fun part. Here is a list of names I've used for my companies and why. You will see that sometimes I follow the rules and sometimes I break them.
Beaverwood Products Custom furniture company.
Concept Equations I joined a company named Concept Technologies and played off the company name to name individual products.
Avalon Pre-press software. This is the name of a city I passed through while driving to the mountains to ski. I liked how it sounded.
FlowPoint A DSL router company I joined as co-founder. The name refers to a particular point on a circuit board schematic.
Demi Energy My daughters name but also worked as an acronym. Distributed Energy Management Infrastructure. We invented energy efficiency solutions.
ThreeDCatering My three daughters chocolate fountain business. All three of their names start with a D.
PowerHand My handheld software company.
Kago Networks WiMAX equipment company. Kago is Japanese meaning calm or peaceful. Also defines a type of human powered chair.
Entelica Energy I combined the words Energy and Intelligence and played with the ending to come up with Entelica.
What's in your name?
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