You’re onto something big. Fantastical. Your up-and-coming business idea has so much potential. Everything’s finally coming together, except for one thing. You’re missing a business name.
Coming up with how to name a business might seem like such an overwhelming task, like climbing up a mountain. It’s in good practice to do a couple of things before starting the process. Break the process down step by step. Hone in on what’s most important in regards to your business. Meditate on the past, the present, and what you want the company future to look like. Think about how this will coincide with your brand design. Now that intentionality is stirring, we’re here to outline the process, and offer up tips for success in how to come up with the best business name.
The process
In the beginning, it’s best to start with brainstorming. When we say brainstorming, we mean a limitless, free flow of ideas and inspiration. Whatever suits you best in your process for recording your thoughts, go for that. Journal, type it out, draw it out, record voice messages, construct food sculptures to visualize and eat the ideas. Anything goes, truly. Remember to take breaks - that’s part of the process.
Consult with existing resources and tools to help you along the way.
Twinword has a free LSI (Latent semantic indexing) keyword generator and visualizer to help you see which other words are being used surrounding a given topic.
Answer the Public generates a word map for those who are more visual.
Visual Thesaurus provides visuals around a keyword.
Shopify can help with their business name generator and simultaneously show if the domain is also available.
Name Mesh is another fun company name generator to play with.
Naminum will generate a name based on a theme.
Namelix uses artificial intelligence for their branded business name generator.
Eat My Words offers a quick test to find out how strong your business name is.
Hipster Business Name Generator is there just for fun, but might help bring more ideas to the table.
Fake Word Generator comes up with words that aren’t words at all! It might be just what your business needs.
Physical books, magazines, and newspapers are also your friend. Take in as much as you can, and make sure to write down phrases and words that resonate with you - even if they have nothing to do with your company. Something might click later. Bruce Lee once said, “Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is specifically your own.”
While you’re collecting ideas, here are a few questions to ask yourself while doing so:
How would you describe your company?
What is the driving mission of your company?
What are you trying to accomplish?
Which values do you, as a company, believe in and seek to communicate to the world?
Who is your audience?
Which words is your audience drawn to?
Which feelings would you like to evoke within your clientele?
Which adjectives come to mind when you think about how to name your business?
How does the name sound when I say it out loud?
Get in touch with your industry. Further research emerging trends, keywords experts and customers often use when googling your industry and where you see your own role within that. Record business names you love and those you hate. There’s something to learn from each of these. Dive in to find out why you love or hate these names for competitors and beyond. This exercise in itself will set secure intentions for your company naming process.
Be open to wordplay as an option to create depth within the meaning of your future company name. You can consider adding your service within the name if your company is service-based, such as “Sunny Day Designs”. Understand naming trends within your industry and on a broad spectrum. Here are a few:
- One word confidence (Uber, Apple, Sonos)
- Compound words (Evernote, Facebook)
- Human names, especially used for solopreneurs (Beyoncé, Oprah, Warby Parker)
- Mash-ups (Instagram)
- Suffixes added at the end (Spotify)
- Omit the vowel (Flickr)
- Intentional misspellings (Lyft)
- Plant and animals, together (Fig and Sparrow)
Try it out visually. Implement potential company names in a placeholder logo design just to get a feel for how it will look and sound. Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback. Test it with those you respect and trust. Google offers an editable form you can use to send a short and sweet poll about the names you have in mind. Jessica Walsh, co-founder of design agency Sagmeister & Walsh states, “If no one hates it, no one really loves it.”
Qualities of a good business name
Now that you’ve got your unfiltered ideas written out and mapped out, you’re well researched within your field, and have a group of contacts you’re waiting to test the potential names on, let’s go through all of the qualities of what constitutes a good business name.
It’s attention-grabbing. Your company name needs to be distinct, to easily be differentiated from your competition. Think about qualities your company is offering which your competition is not. How can that be portrayed in the name?
It’s memorable. For obvious reasons - you want the name to stick in the front and back of mind for those who come across it. Take note of what stands out to you and why.
It’s future proof. Think about your company’s story, values, and key differentiators as you brainstorm. How big or expansive do you imagine you’ll grow? Make sure every aspect of your name will not limit this future expansion. You’ll want a name that can and will evolve with you.
It’s inclusive. Do your due diligence to make sure the name is not offensive and is as inclusive as can be. Moving forward, you want your business to add to a climate in which respect, equity, and positive recognition of differences are all cultivated.
It’s user friendly. Your company name must be easy to say, spell out, and type into Google. See if you’re able to keep it to only a few syllables. Roadblocks such as difficult words will affect how well your name works with your concept. This is particularly important when it comes to SEO.
It has depth. For a big task such as naming your business, make sure there is intentionality behind it. It doesn’t make sense to randomly pick a name without a story behind it.
It’s full of energy. How vital does this name feel? Does it buzz? Does the potential business name make you feel excited?
It’s available. Research trademarks, use the GoDaddy domain name search, test to see if handles are available on social media. Look through the US trademark search, UK trademark search, and EU trademark search to start.
What is the Logogenie story?
The Logogenie is in fact a compound name, playing with both “logo” and “genie”. The inspiration behind our company naming process was the idea that everything happens like magic with a genie. “Jinn” is the Arabic noun from which genie has been Anglicized from, and its primary meaning is "to adapt”. Just like with logo design and our generator, genies are adaptable. Additionally, these supernatural creatures have made their way into pop culture as happy, fun-loving characters full of personality. When thinking about genies, a distinct visual comes to mind. When paired with design, or in our case, “logo”, we get a distinct visual as well.
Back in 2014 in the beginning, we were looking to create an automated logo design site. Only a handful of logo makers existed at the time. It was our idea to make a difference with next level features and logo templates. We wanted to make design more accessible for all.
When branding and logo design come together, it does feel like magic. What makes it even more spectacular is the ease in its use for everyone. The generator acts as the genie: a friendly helping hand in supporting your business. A genie knows all, and in our case the genie knows everything about logos.
The name has stuck since the beginning, and we don’t think it will change any time soon. We love our Logogenie.
The flexible nature of naming a business
Larry Ackerman, an author and expert on organizational and personal identity stands behind his words, ““Identity is cause; brand is effect, and the strength of the former influences the strength of the latter.”
While the importance of finding a name true and authentic to your business is high, know that there is flexibility in renaming and rebranding and revolutionizing your company as it evolves. A name amplifies the execution, the vision, the products, the services, and the team behind it all. The name is not the end all be all.
You can always merge platforms. You can always rebrand, though it will take significant time and money - so make this one count as long and as much as you can. Now’s the time to get started and create that stand attention-grabbing, memorable, future proof, inclusive, user friendly, thoughtful energetic and available business name.
Once you've got yourself a business name, why not try design a logo online
Logogenie’s third generation free logo maker allows you to specify your company’s industry and preferred font type. Through three steps, you can personalize your logo through your company name and baseline, or slogan. First step: enter company details. Industry choices have a wide range, including construction, fashion, technology, wellness, food, transportation and more. Step two: choose a logo template. There are hundreds available, and following your choice you may preview and download. Customization is made through unlimited modifications. Layout, color palette, fonts and symbols can be altered. Step three: a high resolution download is made available, and in many formats. The logo design is compatible with programs, such as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
Caption: Design your own logo using the Logogenie logo maker
Logo design is made easy through clear tabs to the left, with options to further design through icons, details and symbols, color palettes, and placement. Logogenie’s easy-to-use “undo” and “redo” options on the left allow for vast experimentation. There are new options, such as the social network option, resizing for specific social platforms and easier branding, as well as the exclusivity option, which gives you rights and contract offers to copyright.
To the right, the helpful “recenter” tool is there to keep everything aligned should you choose to do so. Next to the “recenter” tool, you can find the “help” option, where all tutorial videos are easily accessed to assist with questions that might come up during the design process. Amongst the videos, there is a quick introduction on how to use Logogenie’s design tools. The videos also explain how to modify text, applying appropriate usage of colors and gradients, and tips on including special details to your logo design.
Online chat is available at any time, should you have questions about this part of the game. Have fun!
