Business Naming Terminology Helps Identify Name Effectiveness

Posted on November 17th, 2008 by MartinJ

Like almost anything else, corporate names can be classified by type or category. Why would you want to do this?

Well, some types are more effective, more powerful name types than others. So with the descriptions below, I’ll also give my opinions about each types business naming effectiveness.

Name Types Ranked by Effectiveness

Before proceeding I must insert a couple of disclaimers. Quite often a name could logically fall into more than one category.

Also the categories themselves are not what you’d call “industry standards”. You’ll see other classifications in which different terminology is used, or where additional name types are defined and one or two of my list are omitted.

The purpose to this blog post is to identify name effectiveness.

Personal Names

These are businesses named after people. Both last names and first names qualify for this category. Multiple names are also included. Naming your business with your own name can be effective if your name carries some recognition with your market, or if you wish to establish a “personal brand”. However, personal names are not very distinctive. And if you ever plan to sell the business, your name on the door may be a deal-killer. You may also have a problem trademarking a personal name depending upon the other words contained in the name.

Geographic Names

These names are derived from place-names. They might be names of municipalities, states, geographic landmarks or features, regional “nicknames” (Queen City) or streets and other man-made places. Not included in this category are names beginning with “American” or “National”, or ending in “International” or “Global”. Using a local name as your business name will not differentiate you in the least. Just open a phone book to the name of your city or state to see what I mean. There may be gold in a geographic name as I pointed out in the post, 10,000 Business Names at your Fingertips, so don’t reject this name source out-of-hand. But please, don’t follow the crowd. One other thing: geographic names may be difficult to trademark.

Descriptive Names

These are names that, to some extent, describe the business being named. Many names in this category will begin with a suggestive word or benefit followed by one or two descriptive words. (Integrated Management Services, Enterprise Information Management, etc.). They can also be descriptive of the business’s industry, product category or product function. Descriptive names are, by and large, the least effective names. They normally rely on passive, Latin-derived words. They are usually too-long. Quite often descriptive names get shortened to an acronym, and that ain’t good as I explain in the next paragraph, Names from Initials. One last thing, as companies evolve over time, descriptive names become obsolete causing companies to re-name in order to reflect new directions and trends. Descriptive names can also be difficult to trademark.
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Names from Initials

In this group are names comprised of initials. There may be a word or two following (C&S Construction), but the name is about initials. They may or may not be acronyms. But the fact that they are just a string of letters makes them hard to remember and to associate with the company, its products, services or brand. Initials have no personality, do not differentiate and generate no passion. They are like model numbers. Nuff said.

Arbitrary Names

In this category are names that are not descriptive or suggestive of the companies having assumed them. Nor do they fit in other categories like geographic or historic. Examples include: Arbor Networks, Gryphon Technologies, Blue Pumpkin. Here are names that can become house-hold words, that can be promoted with imaging and messaging “out-of-the-box”. The best example is Apple. But be careful. Many companies have attempted to follow Apple’s lead only to call. Think of Zebra and Radish, both hi-tech darlings for a few minutes. They probably didn’t thrive because of other factors, but imitating a name type might demonstrate a “me-too” approach to running the businesses. Arbitrary names are usually not too difficult to trademark.

Suggestive Names

Here, a business incorporates a word, usually the first word, that suggests a benefit, or at least a positive attribute of the company. Examples: Summit Mortgage, Priority Leasing, Precision Staffing. Also included in this group is a sub-category, Historic/Classic names. They were enfolded here because these words are usually suggestive of positive attributes (Athena, Lincoln, Galileo). If a suggestive name is meme-like, it can be powerful. (Memes are words or images that upon exposure are instantly associated with an idea, situation or activity, and evoke a common reaction.) Trademarking a suggestive name is usually fairly easy.
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Offbeat Names

This is a potpourri of small categories. They include: alphanumeric names (5Linx Enterprises), whimsical/humorous names Jamba Juice), names comprised of phrases (Counsel On Call), and non-English names. There’s just too much variation within the offbeat class to classify the category as to effectiveness or trademarkibility.

Coined-Word Names

This group is comprised of names that were “made-up” or derived from sets of letters from other words. Five types are identified here: combined words (CyberStaff America), fuzed words (Amerisource Funding), tacked/clipped words (Fanta), alternately spelled words (Sirius Solutions), and morpheme constructions (Adonix). Although there are a great variety of coined-word names, I can generalize about them. First, most people don’t like them initially, but with exposure and association, coined names grow on people. It does take time, however. In addition, they are the easiest to trademark. They, like suggestive names, can be powerful if they are derived from memes. They can also be based upon parts of descriptive, suggestive and even personal word-parts. When combined, fuzed, tacked or clipped, they become differentiated even though they impart the connotations of the original words. I’m a fan.

Summary

Yes, the list above is somewhat arbitrary. But every list of name types is somewhat arbitrary. I’ve recently performed an analysis of some 5,000 names and used this classifying system. And even though you can place some names in more than a single category, there was room for every single name.

So I hope you’ll find this classification useful. And remember, coined-word names and suggestive names are generally the most effective in differentiating a company with a unique and compelling presence.

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