Business Naming Basics

Almost all the suffixes and prefixes we use in English come from the Latin or Greek. But for business naming, I think we can invent our own suffixes and prefixes.

The key would be to make those new word parts familiar enough that they easily integrate with your word root. There are two approaches that are easy enough to implement

First you can incorporate suffixes and prefixes into names that are derived from common, pronounceable abbreviations:  Innovinc, Banco, Diddibid, Rig-etal, Ficafast, Asaptrax are examples.

Second, try finding letter groups whose sound suggests their meaning, i.e., onomatopoeia, and use them in place of traditional suffixes and prefixes. For instance, Buzzworthy, Crankout, Sunboost, Powoomph.

Some day soon I’ll compile lists of those two synthetic suffixes and prefixes and share them on this blog.

Tags: Naming Ideas by MartinJ
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Why limit yourself to 26 characters when business naming?

Don't limit your naming opportunities: think numerals and symbols

Though hyphens are not good naming devices (they’re hard for folks to remember to use, and this is especially important for domain names), there are other characters and symbols that can be used when naming a company.

The most obvious would be numerals.

There are certain strings of numerals and characters with inherent meaning. For instance A1 or One A meaning top notch. Don’t forget that numerals can also be expressed in Roman form. So you might look at a name like Factor X or Alpha III.

Number sequences can also be familiar expressions favorable to a company’s identity. Everyone is familiar with 101 and 123 meaning easy. Other combinations, though not as familiar, can be explored. The main attribute of a number sequence is whether or not it can be remembered easily.

As we’ve seen on the web, the use of the “at” sign (@) can be incorporated into a name. So can the ampersand (&), the pound sign (#) and of course the plus sign (+).

In the same manner as numerals, individual characters such as the “A” in “A1” can be used in names. Other examples include JohnnyO, Double-D, Factor-X, Blog-E.

So as you build your name candidate list, look beyond the 26 characters of our alphabet to embrace familiar symbols and numbers.

Tags: Naming Ideas by MartinJ
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When you’ve been in the company naming business as long as I have, my family knows what to give me for Christmas.

Books about words.

I love words – their meanings, their origins, their attributes.

So this Christmas, as in days past, I was delighted to find books under the tree. This year my wife found three really unique ones. All are enjoyable in themselves, and are also welcome additions to my naming resources library.

First was Hunter Davies’ Book of Lists: An Intriguing Collection of Facts and Figures. I own at least a dozen “books of lists”. This one comes from England and is a real olio of topics; everything from “Burial places of the famous” to “Favorite car colors”. And in between I found several lists that promised to be fruitful in naming a business or a product. For instance, under “American mountain biking slang” were these gems: acro-brat (a kid “jumping” his bike) and endo (flying over the handlebars end-over-end). Oh, I’ll spend some time during TV commercials of Lost enjoying this one.

Speaking of enjoyment, the kind that comes from an “aha” experience, Bloom’s Bouquet of Imaginary Words is an absolute prize. This small volume takes real words and with a deletion or addition of a character, or a combining of two words, or the switching of phonemes create new words the authors then define cleverly. Examples:

cabooze – bar car
bamboom – explosion in a rattan furniture factory
Lincoin – a penny
sermoan – a dull Sunday speech
martiny – a small cocktail
pugeon – chubby bird

I’ll use this book for naming ideas, and I’ll find it a source of instruction about how some of the words on my list of name candidates can be manipulated into new name possibilities.

Third is another England-originated reference: How Not To Say What You Mean: A Dictionary of Euphemisms (Oxford Paperback Reference). The majority of euphemisms have negative connotations – that’s the reason we use them in the first place. However, leafing through this 450-plus page, and using its thematic index, I found some fascinating words and terms that might lend themselves to name development. Problem is, the euphemisms are of English, not American, origin so there meanings are sometimes obscure.

I would like to see a compilation of only-positive  euphemisms, slang, idioms and colloquialisms published one day. It sometimes gets tiresome browsing the existing specialized dictionaries because of the raft of negative words that need to be culled.

Anyway, if you didn’t receive any good books for Christmas, you can check these three out by clicking on their titles above. And if you did, why not share them in the comments section below?

Tags: Naming Resources by MartinJ
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Consider incorporating the name of a color in your corporate name.

Often reciting the name of a color will produce an emotional response almost as strong as viewing the color itself. Thus, Red Bull, Greenway, Yellow Book convey energy, nature and bright respectively even in a radio commercial.

But there are a couple of caveats:

First, different colors may evoke different emotional responses in different cultures. For instance, white is a color linked with death in the China.

Second, the color (word) should be hooked up to an active word so that the combination name will be unique as well as memorable.

As I mentioned in the first paragraph, certain colors have strong associations, so it’s wise to know what they are before adopting a color name in your company name.. Here’s a rudimentary list of primary associations:

Red evokes aggressiveness, passion, strength, vitality.
Pink suggests femininity, innocence, softness, health
Orange means fun, cheeriness, warm exuberance.
Green evokes tranquility, health, freshness, and can also represent money.
Blue says authority, dignity, security, faithfulness and security. Plus it is universally popular.
Yellow is cheerful and easygoing. It stimulates creative and intellectual energy.
Purple represents sophistication, spirituality, costliness, royalty and mystery. It’s upscale.
Brown suggests utility, earthiness, woodsiness and subtle richness
White evokes purity, truthfulness and refinement
Gray says somberness, authority, practicality and a corporate mentality.
Black reminds us of seriousness, boldness, strength and somberness.

And don’t forget the many naming opportunities shades and variations of major color groups can produce.

Tags: Naming Ideas by MartinJ
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When you begin the naming process it can be helpful to break the process into four distinct components.

Those four phases in sequential order are: preparation, generation, evaluation and registration. Each is distinct, calling for different mindsets.

Preparation

Preparation is best performed by creating a naming brief. That is a document normally derived from your business plan. It sets down those considerations from a strategic point of view that will influence the next phase i.e. name candidate generation.

Preparation also includes a definition of exactly what you are naming. Quite often, an entrepreneur will look for the company name to also be the name of a product or service. At this stage, it is important to look ahead to try to determine if there will be any conflicts or confusion as new products and services are introduced. Any taboos or prejudices about names should be documented here as well. And a set of naming criteria should be included.

The point is the naming brief is to give clear direction to those involved in the name generation phase of naming. Insightful input provided at this stage will ensure more relevant name candidates.

Generation

For most folks name candidate generation is the fun part of naming. But for some it is pure hell. I believe it is essential to generate a great number of name candidates, and when you are through, develop even more. Therefore many sources and techniques for generating candidates are recommended. These range from web based word generators to common reference books; from brainstorming to mind map development.

Once you have a basic candidate list you can go over it and select certain words that could be further manipulated. Quite often the best candidates are the last ones generated. They will be found to be more innovative and unique, partially out of desperation and partially out of inspiration.

Once you have a list of at least 200 candidates, you’re ready for the next phase

Evaluation

Part of the naming brief that you created in the preparation phase should contain your name criteria. These criteria can be generic in the form (short, memorable, unique) or they can be very specific to your business. I suggest that each criterion that you invoke should be weighted. Then as you evaluate the most promising names, you apply these weighted evaluators to each name. Below is a sample of a chart which I find find valuable in evaluating candidates.

Assign weights to each attribute, then assign a rating to each candidate and muliply the weight by the rating and add all the rows to score each candidate

Another aspect of evaluation is determining whether or not the candidates you like are available to you. If you are planning to only do business locally, you must check your state records for your chosen name. This can normally be accomplished by going to your particular state’s website under State Department or Commerce Department. There you can enter candidate names and get feedback as to their availability. A list of those sites is available at here.

You will want to check the U.S. trademark directory as well to determine if your name candidate is registered as a trademark by someone else in your particular product classification.

Registration

Once you have chosen a name and determine that it is available for your use, you’ll want to register it. Although it is possible for you to incorporate your business without one, I suggest engaging an attorney or a company whose business is helping small businesses incorporate. There could be a lot to consider, especially if you plan to do business in more than one state.

Summary

So you begin by wearing your strategic hat while preparing your naming brief. Then you put on your creating hat to generate a large list of name candidates. Then you switch to your judgmental hat while evaluating those candidates. The last part of the evaluation phase and for the registration phase, you will want to wear your administrative hat.

There is a lot involved in each phase and I’ll be covering each subsequent posts. State tuned. You might want to subscribe to my RSS feed .

Related Blogs

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CatchThis: The Company Naming and Product Naming Blog » Blog …

Tags: Naming Strategies by MartinJ
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As the owner of a naming company, I must confess that I don’t always hit home runs.

It’s not that I don’t try. It’s just that everyone doesn’t have the same idea of what a perfect name is. Several of my clients are in that category.

Comments that aren't helpful in selecting a business name

Sometimes I will recommend a business name I believe to be a winning name but the client has other ideas. Or to be more accurate, they don’t have any ideas that provide constructive direction. They are just uncomfortable with the candidates I’ve presented.

This happens even though in most cases we have agreed upon naming goals and criteria before I’ve generated naming candidates. I do that with a document called a naming brief.

Most often, I find that clients are uncomfortable with the out-of-the-box uniqueness of a coined word name. But there have been instances when name candidates of any construction just won’t suit them. And usually they find no specific objection. They just don’t feel comfortable with the candidates presented.

Today I attempt to get in sync through the use of a couple of additional questions in the naming brief. (The naming brief is a document I ask my clients to fill out of me. It requires the client think about the purpose and goals for the name, along with other relevant information.) At the end of this document I now ask that the client provide me with five names of other companies that they like and would feel comfortable with. I also ask that they give me business names of five companies they do not like. Also I ask them to divulge any taboos or sacred cows concerning their new name.

This will not eliminate all of the problems in communication between us. But I have found many more name candidates are looked upon with favor.

Many will think it odd that I am not as adamant as some consultants are about their recommendations. But I have found that a company’s name, at least for the company’s CEO, is a very personal, ego driven decision. There is no use trying to sell a client on a particular name if he or she does not enthuse about it.

Using this method has created many more situations where my first recommendation is accepted with enthusiasm.

I adhere to the proposition that the client is right, particularly if it is his company that is being named. I just provide him or her the best options I can invent.

Tags: Naming Issues by MartinJ
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Some business naming techniques have a long history, yet still manage to produce fresh name candidates.

Tack a Suffix to a Root Word for Unique but Relevant Names

The activity of “tacking” is one of them.

One form of tacking adds an appropriate but unexpected suffix to a descriptive root word. Ideatrics, Visioneering, Profitology, Travelocity and Webolution are examples of corporate names created by suffix tacking. For this technique to work effectively, the first word part should be familiar and connote the meaning or arena in which the company plays. The suffix must also “fit”, i.e., help reinforce the meaning, and add uniqueness.

For instance, Ideatrics is a good name for the company that adopted it – they help surgeons design and produce specialized surgical instruments. Thus, the “atrics” suffix (meaning medical treatment) puts the company in the medical field. And coupled with “idea” somewhat defines the business an unique and innovative. Each of the examples above follow this same pattern.

Note that tacking prefixes can perform the same duty but not usually with the panache as suffixes.

So use a definitive list of suffixes as you compile your list of name candidates. You can find such a list at this naming resource.

Tags: Naming Ideas by MartinJ
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Domain naming is very similar to business naming.

This is particularly true if your business is primarily an Internet-based business

Judging Domain Name Candidates

Yet there are subtleties that should be pointed out. That is why I’ve created this list of criteria for naming domains. For any particular business you may wish to weight several of these items more heavily than others. It is up to you to determine the importance of each based on your naming brief.

In case you haven’t been a regular reader of this blog, you should know that I am an advocate of the naming brief, a document that sets the direction and relevancy of name candidates. Mostly, the content of the naming brief comes from your business plan and identifies market segments; competitors; your business model; your internal values, mission, and vision. It may also give guidance to the tone and style of your website and other branding elements.

Here are the criteria in no particular order

1. Can the domain name also be your enterprise name?
2. Does the domain name contain your major keyword?
3. Is it available as a “.com” name?
4. Is the domain name the same as someone else’s enterprise name?
5. Is it available for other domain categories besides “.com”?
6. Does it use tricks in order to be available as a “.com”?
7. Is it short?
8. Is it memorable?
9. Is it similar to competitive domain names?
10. Is the name representative of the site and the business
11. Does it flow naturally?
12. Can it be trademarked?
13. Does it translate well globally?
14. Has it been owned previously?
15. If someone else owns it, can it be purchased from them?

Just a short note about the sixth criterion: if you must use hyphens within the domain name or insert words such as “online” or “now” or “blog”, you are creating a name that will be difficult for most people to remember and or to type.

As I said before, you can weight each of these attributes, or even ignore one or two if they are not relevant to the business

Hope this post will be of value.

Tags: Name Evaluation by MartinJ
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Using numbers in corporate names can be powerful.

One reason: not too many do it

Oh, numbers are used in product names quite often, particularly for those products that are upgraded every so often (Mark 5, Version 12, III).

Using a number after the product’s original name both ties the brand into the heritage of the past success the product enjoyed, and provides a springboard for the advanced product. Since the old and new do not sit side-by-side on the shelf, the new product is not a line extension. It is a replacement. So you benefit from both the equity of the old brand and the promise of the new are enjoyed. Using the next number in sequence provided that clue to consumers.

But for a business name to contain a number is unique.

Now some numbers in and of themselves have a connotation and relevance: Lucky 7, Fifth Dimension, Catch 22, 101.

In a competitive situation, the number 1 can have significance as a rating device (Bank One or First Bank).

There are also several famous number combinations – 1776, 4-minute mile, Apollo 8 that convey positive association and reaction.

Finally, company naming using mathematical expressions and symbols might be worth investigating: The sign for infinity, a "plus" sign, a term "squared".

Perhaps not for every company, but certainly for some, you might consider numbers and math as a source for your corporate name.

(Incidentally, I’ve heard that “Googol” was the first choice of the folks at today’s “Google”, but Googol was already taken as a domain name. Googol is one to the one-hundredth power.)

Tags: Naming Strategies by MartinJ
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According to trademark law, a trademark’s sole purpose is to identify the source of a product or service rather than identifying the company itself.

So I am not allowed to trademark my company name, Signature Strategies LLC, but I could  trademark Signature Strategies as a service.

I know that’s a little confusing so I’ll try to elaborate.

Whenever you use your corporate name followed by its legal designation (Inc., Company, LLC, Ltd or another designation that your name modifies) that is a “trade name”. In this form it does not identify the source of a product or service, rather it identifies my corporation’s entity. In my case, Signature Strategies is an adjective phrase modifying LLC.

But I could probably trademark “Signature Strategies” as a source of branding and positioning knowledge and experience. In other words, I shouldn’t say, “Signature Strategies® is a branding firm”, but I can say “Signature Strategies® services can help you profit from the power of branding”. In this way it identifies the source of a service, not the business itself.

The Coca Cola Company just happens to have a product by the same name. Thus the product is trademarked but the company name is not. If you’d look at a Coca Cola Company business card you would see that the name, Coca Cola Company is not accompanied by a registration mark. But if the product were also on the card, in its distinctive logo format and color, it would have a trademark registration behind it. That logo, if complying strictly to the trademark code, would be visually removed from the corporate name and address.

Certainly, Coca-Cola Company cannot protect its corporate name. It just that that protection will not come from a trademark.

I’m not a legal eagle. I’d say its best to get advice from an intellectual properties attorney to determine the best way to protect your corporate name.

Also, think ahead. If your company name is also the name of your first product, as in Coke’s case, your naming considerations will be slightly different than if your products or services were to be named separately from the corporate name.

This factor should be considered in your naming brief, the document that will direct your naming effort.

Tags: Naming Strategies by MartinJ
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