Below are some fifteen naming tips in no particular order. They are mostly insights and shortcuts to generate multiple name candidates. All are not relevant for each naming project, but if you do enough naming, you’ll find each has some merit.
- Instead of naming a company Strategic Innovations, reverse the words and call it Innovations Strategic. Medical Insights becomes Insights Medical. Proactive Solutions – Solutions Proactive. Legal Perspectives – Perspectives Legal
- Use of alliteration (Signature Strategies, Peak Paths) or rhyming (Compliance Alliance, Rare Care) helps make a name memorable.
- Utilizing a verb in the name connotes action and promotes action (Skills Abounding, Hooked on Phonics).Turning Point Consulting is more action-oriented than Turning Point Consultants.
- Naming a company and then promptly using its initials to identify it is, excuse me, dumb. To customers, and especially prospects with no history with the firm, initials do not differentiate, are not memorable, get confused with other initial-named companies. The only way to effectively use initials as a name is if those initials already possess positive connotations (MVP, HQ, MD), otherwise it’s just alphabet soup.
- Possessive names (Victoria’s Secret, Bob’s Vital Signs) are more personal and somehow connote a more responsive organization.
- A strong “K” or “C” in the middle of a name sounds good and strong, is easy to pronounce and spell – Dakota, Wakota, Dakona, Takona, Dakola, Nakola, Dekopa, Rekopa, Vokita Fokoda, Latoka, Ritoka, Wolika, Doloko, Rimiko, Pamoko, Tanaka, Prekoda, Drokima, Teloka, Parkita, Lacoba, Bocono, Socimo, Quico, Veconi, Vicudo, Barico, Licita, Jacida, Lanica, Bracle, Zacera
- Truncate (pack) – Take two words, preferably that describe the subject being named, and combine them into one. Webolution, Byerlympics, Champale
- Spell descriptive words phonically or alternatively – “Names” becomes “Knames”, Gnames”, “Naims”, “Naymes”, Naimz”. Sigh becomes Psy, Psigh, Sy, Cy. Homonyms – words pronounced the same way but spelled differently. (feet, feat, fete)
- Add an appropriate but unexpected suffix to a descriptive root word – Ideatrics, Visioneering, Profitivity, Webolution, Travelocity
- Consider numbers as part of the name (3D, A-1, 4- star)…also number-related words/symbols such as prime, pi, square, plus… includes ranking (1st), greek alpha, etc., …bi, tri, quad…degrees (360 or 32F)…roman numerals
- Take the idea of western brands but change the descriptor to a non-traditional brand word. Instead of lazy-8, H bar G or circle X, use hi-tech descriptors – Star-4, A-slash-B, Mach-2, Arc-8.
- Single letter names – mostly associated with single words. A- One, Double-D, Factor-X, AAA… Combine with number (A-1, 4-F)…
- Old reliables – animal, bird, fish, flower, fabrics, tree, weather condition, historical/mythical personality most closely associated with product attributes. Often nouns can become adjectives to describe product (Silk Skein, Rain Rinse, Pine Scent, Eagle Claw)
- Look to geographic place names (recommended by founder of Haverhill) that have good sound, and connotation. This can extend to foreign places, ancient places, mythic places. Use an atlas
- Use rhyming and alliteration Use two initials and word to form name…ie – I.C.Ewe…F.Y.Eye…R.U.Dunn…
- Use the first part of two-part proper names (ie – Mc, Mac, O’, Van, von, D’, Di, De, Del, Bel, San, La, L’) and hook them up with positive last names like McNuggets, O’Cedar, MacFrugal. Incorporate suffixes and prefixes into names that are derived from common, pronounceable abbreviations – Innov inc Ban-co Didd-ibid Rig-etal Fica-fast Fifo-sist
- Make names stand out by such visual devices as hyphens, common symbols (+,!), all lower case, words run together, underline word parts, combine UPPERlower case, CapsINmiddle, color, pronunciation marks (Jels’-ema), two Different fonts
- Substitute “a”, “i”,“o”or “u” for a word-ending silent “e”, esp. for verbs (hope, arise, groove)
- Deliberately misspell words to create a new, trademark able name – Qwest, Ikon, Duque.
