How to Choose an Effective Name for Your Business
Naming a business or product can feel exciting, daunting, and even a little nerve-wracking. What seems like a simple task is often full of hidden challenges. In this post, we’ll explore the qualities that make a brand name truly effective, along with examples from Vancouver-based businesses.
The stakes are high when it comes to choosing a name for your business, product, or service. The strongest names require the least marketing—they set you apart from competitors, create an emotional connection, and naturally build brand awareness.
A great name doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the outcome of a well-defined brand strategy and a thoughtful naming process.
Too often, though, names are chosen informally, e.g. “I like the sound of it” or “My wife loves it.” Or for the wrong reasons: because they’re quick, functional, or convenient. Without careful exploration and screening, these names rarely stand the test of time.
So what makes a name strong enough to last? Let’s look at the key qualities of a great brand name, and how successful businesses put them into practice.
Qualities of the Best Brand Names
1 / Unique
It’s easy to miss the mark and choose a name that’s too similar to another existing business or product.
By choosing a unique name, you’re demonstrating to the world that you are different.
Changing part of your name, or the spelling, doesn’t make it distinct enough. The surprising truth connected to this: audiences often only retain part of a name that’s longer than one word.
Having a name similar to another business in your category might result in sending potential customers to the wrong business.
For example, if you’re planning to launch a pet grooming service in Vancouver, you’d want to avoid using “Woof” as the first word in the name as we already have:
Woof & Meow Spa
Woof Dog Shoppe
Woof Wash Mobile Dog Grooming
Woof Woof Dog Grooming
An expensive issue is at stake here. If the other similarly-named business chooses to legally pursue rights to the name, you may be faced with:
Changing your name
Losing all the brand equity that you’ve built to date
Starting over with the expense of new branding
AVOID THIS PITFALL by doing your research. Start with a competitive analysis to rule out any names already in use in your market(s).
Once you have a shortlist of potential names, consult a search engine with potential variations on your business name in all the markets that you plan to do business in to ensure your name will be unique and not confused with another existing business. Also refer to business directories, government databases, especially the Canadian Trademark Database.
2 / Memorable
If your name isn’t unique, it won’t be memorable. Going one step further, choosing a name that’ll stick in someone’s head when they need it in the future is incredibly important.
The name needs to be easy to remember, pronounce, and spell.
One approach is to keep it simple. Including more than three words will be harder to remember.
Think of convoluted quadruple-barrelled law firm names, and then appreciate some of the most successful brand names around us like Google, FaceBook, Apple, Casper, Uber, Glossier—consisting of one remarkable word.
Solid Vancouver examples of simple names from our food scene include Botanist, Burgoo, Forage, Flourist, Nightingale, and Tacofino.
Another approach is to rely on mnemonic devices (techniques to help memory) like rhymes, puns, homonyms, or acronyms.
Being clever with a name assists with recall. Think of Elon Musk’s tunnel construction services company, The Boring Company. Some have called the name a little too on the nose, but it’s witty and thick with meaning.
The Boring Company is a great example of a unique and very memorable business name.
The sight and sound of the name is related to its memorability. A strong name lends itself well to graphic representation. It also has rhythm and is easy to say.
Do you know how to say this brand name: XOCO? I struggle with it, so instead it’s “that chocolate store in Squamish.”
Names derived from other languages tend to be unique, but they need to be tested to ensure that audiences understand how to pronounce and spell the name after hearing it.
AVOID THIS PITFALL by conducting contextual testing, e.g. say the name, leave a voice message, mock it up on a business card, etc.
3 / Meaningful
What does your company stand for? A meaningful name communicates something about the essence of the brand, and it supports the image that the company wants to convey.
Meaning can be approached in a number of ways. The name could:
Be related to what you do
Evoke positive connotations
Reflect your mission or values
Connect with your audience
Vancouver’s craft beer scene is packed with examples of well-chosen meaningful brand names like Brassneck, Strangefellows, Andina, Luppolo, Container, Electric Bicycle, and Storm Brewing.
But having meaning shouldn’t be taken at face value. This isn’t a reason to go with a purely descriptive or functional name like East Van Brewing. Simply describing your product or service will make your name too generic—and, putting it bluntly, boring.
AVOID THIS PITFALL by doing the brand strategy legwork before naming. Creating a brand name should be part of a process that involves careful consideration of the brand personality that you want to communicate to your audiences.
4 / Future-Proof
A name should be timeless: it positions the company for growth, change; and is sustainable.
Don’t be tempted to latch onto a trend in your name, or focus it on your initial product. It’ll be restrictive if you decide to expand your product or service offering.
For example, Rocky Mountain Soap Co. started out making only soap, and now it represents a small part of their product offering which includes sunscreen and skin care.
A future-proof name is protectable. It should be available to be registered within your business trade area and possibly trademarked. A closely-related domain name should also be available for registration.
AVOID THIS PITFALL by envisioning the name being used five or ten years in the future. Remain open to the possibilities of expanding into new markets, exploring new customer bases, or broadening your product/service offering. Will that name still be suitable?
5 / Positive
The name must have positive connotations in the markets that it serves, and in potential future markets.
If you choose an unusual name, a word from another language, or an acronym, be sure it isn’t infused with negative meaning that might deter certain audiences.
When I worked at Artizia, their in-house street-sportswear brand TNA (short for Talula National Athletics) wasn’t popular with some mothers - not the end users of the product at the time but the purchasers - who didn’t want their daughters wearing sweatshirts emblazoned with an acronym for “tits ‘n ass” (what the acronym was known as in their generation).
Connotation is a more common naming mistake that you may think! This post on “10 Worst Product Names Ever” has some great examples including one for a meal replacement drink called Soylent—which, to me, sounds disgusting without even reading about the nasty origin of the name. When you blend the two syllables together, I hear “soil” which sends me running in the other direction.
AVOID THIS PITFALL check the dictionary, urban dictionary (slang and colloquial phrases), translation apps, and have others say it out loud to ensure your name won’t be misinterpreted.
A strong brand name doesn’t happen by chance—it’s built with strategy and intention. If you’re ready to create a name that truly works for your business, reach out and let’s make it happen.
Blog image source: Elena Koycheva on Unsplash