Brainstorming
Define your business. Before you begin to brainstorm a name, you need to be able to define the products, services, and customer experience your business will provide for its customers. Write down the key benefits of your products and services, as well as what will make your business unique. Write down at least ten adjectives that will describe your business, and ten things that will make your business stand out. Once you have a firm sense of what your business will be like and what it will do, you'll be better able to find the perfect word or phrase to define it.
Use your resources. Look through the dictionary, magazines, books, and a catalogue of business names to find words that stand out to you, or to look at the names of successful companies and figure out what makes their names work. Why do the brands Nike, Sephora, Old Navy, or Victoria's Secret stand out? What can you do to make your business stand out in the same way?
Hold a brainstorming session. Plan a session with all of your future employees, or even your family members or creative friends if you have a small group of people. You should sit down and dedicate your time just to thinking of a name to get the best results. Set a rule for the brainstorming session that everyone suspend judgment on any name ideas suggested. The key to good brainstorming is freedom to create a list of ideas inspired at the moment, not to immediately choose the perfect name.
Brainstorm ideas that are closely related to your business. You should start by brainstorming names around the benefit, features, and customer experience. But as you expand your ideas, you can start thinking more broadly. At first, use these qualities, but you can also think more abstractly. Here are some things to keep in mind as you expand your ideas: Go broader and brainstorm names around intuitive and associative feelings around the benefit, features, and customer experience, such as visual, audio, smell, touch, taste. Ask participants what imaginary or visceral associations come to mind when they think of your business or product benefits. For example, when you think of your product, does it make you think of a cool calm sea? A tiger? Relief? Bitter taste? Use real words that are easy to understand, or made-up words that are fun and roll easily off the tongue. Don't pick a name that is too close in sound or spelling to the name of another company."Nikey" might be pronounced differently from "Nike," but the names sound too similar.
Write down at least 100 names. Even if some of the names sound silly or irrelevant, they may end up being your golden ticket. At first, while you're suspending judgment, you should just write down as many names as you can so you have more to work with as you start filtering down your options. Get creative. You can make up a name, like "Acura," that captures the essence of your product without being a real word.
Consider investing in a professional naming service (optional). Though a professional naming service can be costly and can take from six weeks to six months to find the best name for your company, the value that the company brings to your business may be worth it. If you've tried brainstorming a number of times and have come up with nothing you like, this may be an option for you if you have some money to spare.
Filtering
Eliminate names that are too complicated or unwieldy. You want the name of your business to be easy to say and easy to remember. You may think you're being original or clever, but if no one knows how to say your name or can't remember it, you're in trouble. Here are some things to think about as you start to eliminate complicated names: Avoid names that are more than 2 or 3 syllables long. Avoid names with a long set of initials or numbers that will be hard to remember. Eliminate any names that just don't sound good. If it doesn't roll of the tongue, it's not a good name for a business. Avoid cute puns. Unless the outside world thinks the name is funny and cute and customers actually "get" the joke, you run the risk of alienating your potential customer base.
Eliminate names that are too broad. Though your company's name should appeal to as many people as possible, it shouldn't be so general that customers have no idea what kind of business you have or what service it represents. The name should signal the value, expertise, and uniqueness of your business, so it has to be specific while not constraining you. Watch out for names that limit the potential scope of your current and future business. If you call your coffee shop, "Mary's Coffee Shack," you may limit it to selling other items.
Eliminate the names that are already trademarked. Once you've eliminated most of the names you're working with, it's worth it to check to see if the name is already trademarked. If the name is already taken, you can run into a lot of trouble that can bankrupt your business down the line. You're better off checking that the trademark is available first. If you're in the U.S., you can use this search tool to find out if the name is available. You should also ask a professional agency to make sure that the name is not taken.
Eliminate the names that aren't web-ready. Once you've narrowed down your search a bit, you should eliminate any names that don't have available URLs. You don't want to pick a website name that is slightly different from your company name, or to have to buy an existing website from a customer who already owns it. It's easier to start fresh. Just do a simple web search to see if the name is available online.
Leave at least five names on your list. These remaining names should be easy to say, specific enough to convey the value of the company, and they should not be trademarked. Once you've narrowed down your options, you can test these names to find the perfect fit for your company.
Testing
Do your research. Do some consumer research by testing out the five or so names with potential customers and see how they respond to the names. You can even talk about the names with a focus group, seeing how a group of people reacts to each name and hearing what they have to say about the feeling that each word evokes. Hearing how other people would react to the name can help you find the best fit. Just make sure that you're testing the names on people who might actually make up your customer base. Different names resonate with different types of people.
Doodle each name. This may sound silly, but you can get a better sense of what works for each name when you write it down, draw it, or even start doodling a potential logo. Having a sense of how the word would look on the page can help you see if this name is something that you can see on top of your business stationery or hanging above your store.
Say each name aloud. Saying each name aloud will help you see which name rolls off the tongue the most smoothly, and which name sounds the best when said aloud. This can give you an idea of how the name of your business would sound if you heard it over the radio or over the phone.
Go with your gut. If you've narrowed your list down to two or three names that meet all of your criteria, but you just can't settle on one, just think about the one that will feel the most right. Which name would you love to have representing your business? If you really aren't happy with any of the names you're left with, keep brainstorming. If professional naming companies can take months to come up with the perfect name, then you should certainly spend more than a day or two on this difficult decision.
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