What’s in a Name?

Naming a brand or a product is super hard.

I know from experience. Over my career, I’ve named hundreds of brands and products for start-ups and incumbents.

Choosing a name is the second most important business decision you can make.

The first is branding your company. Something you should definitely do before naming.

But I digress.

A great name can deliver your brand promise. Create awareness. Claim mindshare. And market share.

It can serve as an anchor for your cause. A symbol to your story.  A shortcut to your message. Or express your point of view.

As soon as you paint 'Virgin' on an airplane, it eliminates the need for advertising or PR dollars.

 A great name can come to define a category: Kleenex. Velcro. Jell-O

But finding that perfect name is not the end of the arduous process.

There were an estimated 64.4 million active trademark registrations worldwide in 2020, so registering a great name can be a nightmare.

Every time you think “Eureka I’ve found it” – uspto.gov will tell you, “Sorry it’s taken.”

And now that we live in a Global Economy, your name should translate without glitches.

Coca-Cola was first rendered as Ke-ke-ken-la in China. After thousands of signs were printed, Coke discovered the phrase meant "bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax" depending on the dialect.

40,000 Chinese characters later and a close phonetic equivalent was found. "Ko-kou-ko-le," - loosely translated as "happiness in the mouth."

Of course, the only thing harder than nailing a great name is convincing a client that the strange sounding name is absolutely positively the right one.

As I was recently reminded. Yet again.

Everyone has an opinion.

Some look for logic. Sometimes the best names defy logic.

Ever hear of Ikea?  Or Haagen Daz?

Leonard Lauder always said – “the promise / benefit should be in the name.” He favored descriptive names that tell you instantly what the product or company does. Think Netflix, Shopify or Chapstick.

They’re also super hard to trademark.

Boy, I did get into trouble when I disagreed with Mr. Lauder’s naming rule. 

But I’m pretty sure Steve Jobs would have agreed with me.

What does an Apple have to do with computers?

There’s lots of speculation and lore around that name. 

Evidently, Jobs liked apples and thought it sounded fun and not intimidating. He also held Isaac Newton in high regard. Newton Apple – get it?

Then there’s something about preceding Atari in phone books.

 I’ve always been partial to the whole Eve taking a bite out of the forbidden fruit myth.

 Again, I digress.

 Beside Descriptive Names, there are Metaphoric Names like Nike, Amazon, Yahoo and Kindle.

 They reflect imagery and tell a story.

 More unique, emotional and ownable. But require more investment to build.

 There are Abstract Names that create a new word from scratch. Like Viagra, Kodak and Oreo.

Or Neologisms – newly Invented words by changing, adding or removing letters. Like Snapple – combination of “snap” and “apple”.

They are the most unique. Easiest to trademark but require the most investment to build.

And just try selling those names to the team!

There are rhyming names like Reese’s Pieces and Lean Cuisine.

Alliteration is always fun. Krispy Kremes, Dunkin Donuts, Coca Cola

Once upon a time and eons ago, two math dweebs began collaborating on a new search engine. They named it Back Rub to pay homage to its ability to analyze the “Back Lines” necessary to find a given website.

One day they went searching name and came up with the idea of a really big number. Googol – a mathematic term meaning 10 raised to the power of 100.

Except they misspelled it.  Accidents happen. 

I personally had always thought it was a matter of oogling – as in intense interest.

No matter, wonder if we’d be Back Rubbing the way we Google.

A few words of caution. When it comes to naming our internal critics have a field day.

They start with the negative.

Look for the potential instead.

A great name may make you cringe—at first.

But what was uncomfortable just may become so real, you can’t imagine any other name in its place.

Wonky names can grow on you.

Give it time, and you might find you can’t get it out of your head.

And remember a name on a Word Doc laundry list doesn’t mean anything yet.

Some names are empty vessel names – until we give them specific meaning.

Even the greatest name cannot tell the whole story or build the brand on its own.

It really comes to life through logo, visual system, brand lexicon, communication and customer experience. Again, think Haagen Daz.

So, take that weird name for a spin. Imagine it in real world scenarios.

You might find your top choice doesn’t make sense outside of the boardroom, or an underdog might end up being wildly popular and hugely successful.

If you get stuck, be sure to reach out. Happy to help you find a great name that’s both easy to remember – and hard to forget.