Business Naming Basics

Business naming can be a trend-following activity.

When a lot of company names are just three letters, many think that would be a cool way to name their business. Plus it doesn’t take a lot of thought – not to even mention creativity.
  

But unless those initials already stand for something  that’s appropriate for the company (MVP, QED, ASAP), initials don’t mean a thing to prospects and customers until they have a considerable history with the company. And then the initials have no actual meaning, just an identification – like a part number.
 
Initials have no personality They don’t resonate. They don’t elicit emotion. They are hard to remember, especially for those just experiencing the name. They don’t differentiate the company. They communicate no passion, history or expertise. They are just initials.
 
So I suggest going instead with a short, active one or two word name. Even if it’s a coined word name, that’s so much better than lifeless initials.

Related business naming posts:

1. Business Naming with Three Initials – Bad Branding IBM, RCA, AIG and MSN are recognized corporate names, but I wouldn’t follow their lead when naming a company. That's...
2. Business Naming with Descriptive Words: A Bad Idea Using a descriptive business name leads to a dead-end for rapidly growing companies. But that’s just one problem when trying...
3. Tacking for Company Names Isn’t Tacky At All Some business naming techniques have a long history, yet still manage to produce fresh name candidates. The activity of “tacking”...
4. Business Naming Practiced By America’s Fastest Growing Companies: the INC 500 I analyzed the company naming practices of the fast growing private companies listed in the annual INC 500 issue of...
5. Business Naming Terminology Helps Identify Name Effectiveness Like almost anything else, corporate names can be classified by type or category. Why would you want to do this?...

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