Business Naming Basics

Business naming using coined words probably give you the best chance of getting your corporate name trademarked

Several examples of truncated names

There are several techniques for creating coined names. One of those methods is called truncating. You take parts of two words, preferably from words relevant to the subject being named, and combine them into one word.

Here are a couple of examples: Webolution (web and revolution), and Champale (champagne and ale). In both those examples note that one of the words is used in its entirety while the other is truncated. You may also truncate both words as Washington Mutual attempted to do with the nickname, WaMu.

(Editorial aside: Though I doubt if the WaMu name had anything to do with the bank’s downfall, I really thought adopting WaMu was a terrible strategic mistake for a bank. I just wouldn’t feel comfortable banking at WaMu even if I felt that most banks were too stodgy. Washington Mutual just went too far over that line for me.)

When you abut two words in their entirety, that’s not truncating it’s just combining them. Combining is another technique which is certainly viable and provides many more naming candidates as well.

I’ll write more about coined names in future naming tip posts.

Tags: Naming Ideas by MartinJ
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   There are some reference books I keep going back to during the business naming process.

(Note, I created the Ah, Books name and logo for a client several years ago.)

Here are my most prized company naming in-print resources:

Word Menu by Stephen Glazier.

Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus edited by Barbara Ann Kipfer.

The Complete Word Book by Mary A. De Vrie

The Synonym Finder by J.I.Rodale

Word Stems: A Dictionary by John Kennedy

Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable, edited by Ivor H. Evans

Dictionary of Art and Archaeology by J.W. Mollett

Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion by W. L. Reese

Merriam Webster’s Geographical Dictionary

The Complete Rhyming Dictionary by Clement Wood

The links above will refer you to Amazon. They were current at the time of posting. But several of these books are out of print and only used copies are available, so you may find upon clicking the link that a particular volume is sold out. But usually one of Amazon’s used book partners will have a copy on hand, usually very cheaply.

Now I don’t use every volume for every project, but I do find myself going back to these resources time and time again. They only account for perhaps an eighth of my naming research library, but as I said, they are my "indispensable’s".

If anyone has a particular favorite naming resouce or two, please add it (them) as a comment below

Tags: Naming Resources by MartinJ
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Quite often a business owner will ask his employees to help name or rename the business through a contest.

I believe this is a bad idea.

Better stage a race than ask employees to name your business.

There are several reasons for this, the first being that very few acceptable names are produced in this manner. Every so often you will hear a successful name being generated by a contest, but this is the exception, not the rule.

For smaller companies this process can also generate bad blood, or at least hurt feelings if someone’s “perfect gem” is not chosen. And if no name is picked from the pool of contest entries there are bad feelings all around.

So often an entrepreneur will accept a poor name rather than cause poor morale within the organization, and ask him or her self, “Why did I think a contest was a good idea?”

The answer, of course, is not to start a contest in the first place.

Reserve contests for blood drives and the bowling team.

Tags: Naming Issues by MartinJ
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One way to expand your corporate name candidate list – and possibly find a winner – is to look at some of the basic words you’ve introduced into the list that can be spelled differently. Mostly these will be the descriptive words that always creep into the lists even if you’re not planning to develop a descriptive name. (it’s a good idea not to develop descriptive names as I discussed in the blog, Business Naming with Descriptive Words: a Bad Idea.) However, they will slip in.)

Examples of five variations on a theme

Some of those words can be spelled alternatively or phonically.

Thus if you were naming a naming agency, you might explore “Knames”, “Gnames”, “Naims”, “Naymes” and “Naimz”.

There is a caution in that some candidates are really homonyms that could become confusing. (Homonyms are words pronounced the same way but spelled differently. (feet, feat, fete).

In addition, you may run into legal hassles if someone in your trademark classification has trademarked a name containing the more common spelled word. If the courts were to decide your variation led to confusion in the marketplace, you would probably have to change your name.

A thorough trademark search for variations before adopting a name is always a good idea.

Tags: Naming Ideas by MartinJ
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I believe company naming should essentially begin with a naming brief.

If your business helps your clients name businesses, I’d like to know what you think is necessary prior to beginning the creation of name candidates.

Specifically…

Do you use some type of fill-in-the-blanks document that you request the originator of the naming project to complete for you?

Or do you request a meeting with them and then go over some pre-determined questions you wish them to answer?

What type of information do you generally believe is necessary before beginning a naming project?

What types of existing documents do you request before beginning a project?

Do you establish naming criteria before beginning an assignment?

Please use the “comments” button below to respond to my query.

Tags: Naming Strategies by MartinJ
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Adopting a possessive company name such as Bob’s Vital Signs or Victoria’s Secret might be effective for some companies, but not for all.

Three unique possessive names

A possessive name will connote a less formal, more friendly business – one delivering personal and responsive services. But it just doesn’t seem appropriate for a bank or a valve manufacturer or many other business types.

They certainly seem more appropriate for local service businesses. But therein lays the rub. You’ll find hundreds of businesses with possessive names in your local yellow pages. So to make your name unique, the second word, the object being possessed, should be unique. That will help you differentiate the business. (And it doesn’t hurt having the possessive be unique as well, even if it’s fictitious)

With this approach, even a world-wide business might be comfortable, even successful, with a possessive name. It certainly worked for Victoria’s Secret.

So look beyond a definition of your service/product category. If you’re a mechanic, think about something like Otto’s Motive.

Another variation: just use a one-word possessive without tacking on an object. But for this approach to work, the possessive must be really unique, as in the name I created for a local day spa, Molly Coddler’s.

Tags: Naming Ideas by MartinJ
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Rather than adopt generic company naming criteria, I think you should look at your corporate name within the context of your industry and the markets you serve. And look at the name candidates with the eyes of your major stakeholders.

I believe you should be naming your business with their needs and their reference points in mind, not for your own ego satisfaction.

Out of a well-constructed brand platform come your naming criteria

And so, like all the branding elements you will develop, the name should come from a well-thought-out branding platform. That document, usually derived from a comprehensive business plan, will address corporate mission, vision and core values; your business model and strengths, industry conventions, standards and trends, competitive activity and positioning, market conventions and expectations, and your distinctiveness within the competitive arena.

From this document you should extract the criteria for evaluating name candidates.

With that said, there are several characteristics that will probably be common to any good name. These things can form the foundation of your evaluation. They include:

Uniqueness
Memorability
Relevance
Conciseness
Pronouncibility
Longevity

In addition to those, the following might be major criteria depending upon how and where you’ll be doing business.

Cross-cultural acceptance
Connote a benefit or value
Is pleasant and positive
Reflects the company vision
Contains you core message

And other considerations might crop up in any particular situation.

One more admonition: remember that business naming is a strategic activity.

Hopefully, the name will come to represent all that’s good about your organization. It will be emblematic of your endeavors. So think of how the name you select will “wear” over time. Place the name candidates within your vision statement and test how they might resonate over time. As the company acquires a reputation and a position in the marketplace, visualize how the names might symbolize and bolster your desired position.

Tags: Name Evaluation by MartinJ
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Using a descriptive business name, as I wrote yesterday, leads to a dead-end for rapidly growing companies.

But that’s just one problem when trying to morph a description into a corporate name.

Another major problem is that to truly describe a business usually takes at least three words. Not only that, they are usually multi-syllable words. The names are too long and too “intellectual”.

Here are four such company names from the latest list of INC 500 Rapidly Growing Companies:

Advanced Planning Services
Ancillary Care Management
Apex Facility Resources
Assured Information Security

Each is certainly a mouthful. But besides being hard to remember because of word-length, there’s nothing with a spark. Nothing “grabs” you.

And I’ll bet by now stakeholders within and outside the respective companies have resorted to calling the companies by their initials: APS, ACM, AFR, AIS.

And pretty soon, one or more will officially change their name to those initials and believe they’re making a wise choice.

But as I’ve stated more than once (my blog entitled Business naming with three initials – bad branding, for instance), initials have no personality or vitality. The name becomes a liability instead of an asset.

So for a multitude of reasons, descriptive names are bad names and should be avoided.

Tags: Naming Issues by MartinJ
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There’s a great danger that you will outgrow a descriptive name.

The problem is that entrepreneurs don’t see business naming as a strategic activity. In the beginning, they just want to be identified with an industry or product category by adopting a name that describes their business. They do this without thought to the company’s future.

The last name change I was involved in would have cost the company – a regional construction supply business – around $50-thousand. Because of the expense, they opted to retain their name which identified them as a supplier of industrial staples. So their sales force must continue to explain to prospects that they can also supply re-bar, compressors, and generators even thought the company’s name just promises “staples”.

The solution is to not adopt a descriptive name. How could a company like Go-Daddy that began life selling domain names exclusively grow as rapidly as it has if their name had been ABC Domain Names, Inc.? The major players in hi-tech today have usually adopted coined word names, suggestive names or arbitrary names.

Those names types will require some getting used to by the company founders, and they will need to be promoted before they become household names. But this will pay off over time as they grow out of their original product/service niche.

Tags: Naming Issues by MartinJ
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