Crafting a Memorable and Unique Brand Name: A Comprehensive Guide

Choosing the perfect name for your brand can feel like a daunting task. After all, your company name is everywhere—from your URL to your social media handles. A powerful name can help shape the perception of your brand and foster strong connections with your customers and community. Let’s explore the process of naming your brand with step-by-step instructions and useful tips.

The Importance of a Strong Brand Name

Your brand name is more than just a word; it reflects your company's values, personality, and unique identity. A strong name can:

Define your brand's vision, mission, and strategy Resonate with your customers and community Evoke the right emotions and convey the essence of your brand Ease memorability and facilitate sharing on social media and word-of-mouth Earn recognition and become a symbol of your business

Step-by-Step Brand Naming Process

Naming a brand is a systematic process that involves several key steps. Follow these guidelines to ensure your brand name represents your business effectively:

Step 1: Prepare a Brief

Before launching into a brainstorming session, answer these essential strategic questions:

What is the offering? Who is your target audience? What is the history or context behind the brand? What makes this idea distinctive? What is the brand's personality? How should the brand make people feel? What are the overall objectives? What are the creative criteria?

Use the Brand Strategy Canvas to guide your process and share this resource with the people you recruit to help brainstorm.

Step 2: Do Your Research

Collect information on naming best practices and create a plan that suits your needs, budget, and style. Review naming trends and seek advice from professionals in the field. Key activities in this stage include:

Understanding the naming process Identifying naming trends Consulting with branding experts

Step 3: Brainstorm

Assemble a diverse team and schedule two separate brainstorming sessions. Follow an agenda that ensures you don’t waste time or come up empty-handed. Aim to generate hundreds of name ideas, ranging from distinctive phrases to creative combinations.

Step 4: Filter

Narrowing down your choices can be overwhelming. To make this easier, categorize your names into themes such as letters, numbers, heritage, and mythology. This process helps:

Identify duplicates or overlapping ideas Spot themes within each category Eliminate obvious no-gos based on your criteria

After filtering, select your top 50 options and gather feedback from a small group of trusted advisors.

Step 5: Select

The right name should:

Align with your brand’s vision, mission, and strategy Have the right meaning or connotation Be visually appealing and easy to remember and spell Be unique and available

Review your finalists, consider feedback, and choose the name that best represents your brand.

Tips to Help You Choose the Perfect Name

TIP 1: Use Acronyms

Create memorable names using acronyms. For example, ALO (AmeriLink Online) and AMC (American Motors Corporation). This can make your brand more user-friendly and easier to remember.

TIP 2: Create Mash-ups

Combine meaningful words from your business to create a unique name. For example, TripAdvisor combines travel, reviews, and opinions, while Evernote blends ever and nothing.

TIP 3: Draw Inspiration from Mythology and Literature

Mythology can provide rich sources of inspiration. For instance, Nike, Hermes, and Mars are all powerful names from Greek and Roman mythology. Consider how these figures can resonate with your brand.

TIP 4: Use Foreign Words

Incorporate foreign words to make your brand seem more exotic and memorable. Think of a hair salon with a French name or a tea shop with a Japanese one.

TIP 5: Get Inspired by Geography

Use names inspired by geographical features. For example, Amazon, the Internet retail giant, is named after the world's largest river.

TIP 6: Blend and Break Apart

Mix segments of different names to create something unique. IKEA, for example, combines the founder’s name Ingvar Kamprad with his hometown Elmtaryd Agunnaryd.

TIP 7: Merge with Another Brand

Create a hybrid name by combining parts from different brands. When Twentieth Century Pictures and Fox Film Corporation merged, they simply became 20th Century Fox.

TIP 8: Use Symbols

Draw inspiration from symbols that represent your work. A name like Naturol can both communicate the business and be easy to remember.

TIP 9: Be Descriptive

Use words that describe your business best. For example, 7-Eleven clearly communicates their business hours and creates a unique brand identity.

TIP 10: Use Latin

Draw from Latin roots to create a unique name. Volvo, for instance, is a Latin word meaning 'I roll' which is both descriptive and memorable.

TIP 11: Tweak Spellings

Modify well-known words to make your brand stand out. Examples include Flickr and Tumblr, which both shortened common terms.

TIP 12: Tell Your Story

Use your company’s backstory to inspire your brand name. Virgin, for example, was the founders' way of saying they were entering a new and untested market.