Naming your brand, from start to finish
You’ve opened an email about naming: one of the most challenging—but rewarding—parts of the branding process. Read on to find out why.
This is OFF Brand—a newsletter by Koto, a team of brand specialists made up of designers, strategists and writers based in five cities around the world.
Naming is both an art and a science. Extremely creative and intensely practical (not to mention potentially litigious!)
In this edition, we lift the lid on the entire naming process: covering everything from how to generate a longlist of killer names, all the way through to finding *the one* and navigating the byzantine intellectual property market while you’re at it.
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Alright. Let’s discuss naming.
What you’ll learn about naming
Why naming matters
The benefits of a strong name
Koto’s naming truths
Brainstorming a longlist
Finding *the one*
Why naming matters
We’ll let you in on a secret: the name is probably the least important thing about your brand.
That might seem controversial, given this newsletter is about naming. But it’s true. Companies don’t fail because of a bad name.
Twitter’s rebrand to ‘X’ seems to have been universally ignored by its users and the world’s press alike. Yes, it probably has helped degrade the social media platform’s credibility, alienated loyal users and spooked advertisers, but only as part of a wider spate of controversial decisions since Musk’s takeover.
It’s hard to conclusively say how much of a brand’s success is down to its name. Would Google have become one of the world’s most valuable and powerful companies if it had stuck with the name BackRub?
In fact, you’ll find plenty of globally recognized brand names with less-than-positive connotations. Siemens. Smeg. The Nintendo Wii. Acne. The Ugg Boot. People don’t stop to think about them, they just accept them. Because that’s the thing about brand names; they quickly become just that—a name. Given time, a healthy marketing budget, quality product, and good reputation, a business can transcend a mediocre name.
If your name is the least important thing about your brand, then what is the point of spending time and money agonizing over it?
For exactly that reason: there’s not much to lose and everything to gain (as long as you stay on the right side of trademark law, more on that later).
So actually you could say it’s the most important least important thing.
The benefits of a strong name
A good name will elevate your brand above the crowd. A great one will cement you firmly within the cultural psyche. And a truly great name, when paired with a strong product, will transcend all competition to achieve the holy grail and become a byword for the category. Or, better still, a verb.
Put simply, a strong name…
Gets noticed. A distinctive, memorable name can act as a billboard for your business, providing a snapshot of the experience to come.
Is a way in. Your name can help people understand and navigate your offer. A signpost as well as a billboard.
Becomes part of the experience. A name with a strong concept can form a central pillar of your overall brand. It can be the glue that binds together the strategy, product experience, and visual and verbal identity.
Is a vehicle for storytelling. Your name is one of the best places to bake emotion into your brand. It can explore an idea or celebrate a story. It can say something about your founding values and beliefs, or how you want people to feel.
Shapes culture. A strong name, attached to a successful business, becomes part of the fabric of people’s everyday lives. It informs how they relate to the world around them, and even how language itself evolves.
Comes from the heart. A thoughtfully chosen name can feel genuine, showing you’ve put care and attention into the details of your brand.
When rebranding a theater in North London, we wanted to use the opportunity to tell a story that could run through the entire experience and create a connection with the local community. The name we were replacing was the Tricycle Theater, which people found misleading (assuming it was a children’s theater), and which had no link to the surrounding neighborhood.
In consultation with the theater board and locals, we came up with the name Kiln. Not just an abbreviation for the local area, Kilburn, a kiln is a furnace where clay undergoes transformation into pottery. This reflects the transformative potential of the very best live performances — you leave the theater feeling changed in some way, having experienced something powerful. As a name it created a jumping off point for a rich piece of placemaking branding.
Hopefully by now we’ve convinced you of the benefits of securing a strong name. Next we’ll help you find one.
Koto’s naming truths
Your brand could be named literally anything, so where should you start?
Yes, there are AI tools that can generate lists of names and screen trademark databases. But we find the hardest yards occur once that initial list has been generated. When the time comes to whittle down your longlist, sharpen the storytelling and sell your choices to key decision makers.
That whole process becomes a lot easier if you have a sense of what you want early on. This is why at Koto we find it essential to set clear parameters upfront. We base these parameters on a set of naming truths that break the naming process down into a series of key decisions.
Naming truth #1: A name can’t do everything
A name is one or two words. It can only say so much. But the type of name you choose can immediately influence what it communicates.
Of course, these aren’t clear-cut categories. Names can be real word-descriptive (American Airlines) or coined-descriptive (Netflix). Abstract names can range from associative-abstract (Kindle) to the extremely abstract (Spotify).
There’s no right or wrong choice here; it’s a strategic decision. Although we do find that names at either extreme—very descriptive or very coined—can be the hardest for people to remember.
When naming an Internet of Things platform from scratch, we wanted a real-word descriptive name that could instantly educate customers about the new technology. The chosen name was Pairpoint, which reflects how the single protocol layer pairs multiple devices together.
On the flip side, when we united bike-sharing companies Smoove and Zoov under one name, we wanted to go for something that signaled a clear departure from the very similar coined names we were replacing. The new real-word, abstract-associative name is Fifteen, which reflects the urban design principle that states everyone in a city should be able to access essential services within fifteen minutes.
Considering the structure of a name, as well as its meaning, can give you a place to start focusing your brainstorming.
However, when faced with a blank sheet of paper it’s equally worth remembering our second naming truth…
Naming truth #2: There are no more truly original names
The world is saturated with companies, all selling something. And each of these companies, and each of their products, has a name.
Consequently it’s basically impossible to come up with a genuinely original brand name these days. Even if you come up with something that no other company in your category, or even in the world, seems to be using, it’s unlikely to be original. Because names, like everything else, follow trends. We all remember the Flickr, Tumblr, Grindr missing ‘e’ era. And it’s no surprise that Shopify and Spotify were both founded in 2006.
It’s easy to get bogged down in trying to stand out. Instead, we find it’s better to flip the question, where do we want to fit in? Which brands do we want to sit alongside?
The name of canned water brand Liquid Death reflects its origin story. Founder Mike Cessario started the brand after discovering that, because many rock festivals are sponsored by energy drinks, performers were staying hydrated by drinking water out of Monster or Red Bull cans, to fulfill sponsorship obligations. His solution? Canned water with a name that reflects both heavy metal and energy drinks.
And on the subject of Liquid Death…
Naming truth #3: A name doesn’t exist in a vacuum
One reason why the naming process is hard is because it’s where we see the names in their most ‘naked’ form—as a word (or words) on a page.
In reality, the name will always have context. Whether that’s in marketing, surrounded by the rest of the visual identity. Or in the press, talking about the business and its goals.
It’s helpful to consider these things within the naming process. The name Liquid Death makes amazing creative sense when seen in the context of the rest of the brand. It can help to make visual moodboards, decide upon the brand strategy, mockup press headlines and billboards—anything that starts to make the name feel ‘real.’
In terms of the process itself, we believe it’s best to name in tandem with (or just after the strategy—more on this here). By then you’ll know the direction the brand is going in, and have a sense of its personality and defensible moat.
Or you can even attach different design routes or moodboards to different names, to see the overall effect for your potential brand.
In short, the sooner you can take potential names from being words on a page to brands-in-waiting, the better.
Because…
Naming truth #4: Language is complicated
At Koto, we sometimes get naming briefs that ask us to think of names that will land well within a particular market or region. More often, we get asked to come up with names that will be easy to spell and pronounce everywhere.
This is near impossible. Even between neighboring countries, letter pronunciations vary massively.
Take TikTok. It’s a great name. Phonetic and onomatopoeic, it feels truly global. Even so, it still has a local name in its home market of China. The name is Douyin, which means ‘shaking sound,’ so both names share a thematic starting point.
In fact, many global powerhouse brands choose to localize, particularly between Eastern and Western markets.
Too much of a focus on pronunciation and spelling is a surefire way to kill good ideas. And people will always find creative ways to mispronounce your name anyway. Better to choose something exciting and interesting that you love, and live with the inevitable variations. (Now how do you pronounce Nike? Or Loewe?)
Although it does help to avoid anything that would deliberately trip people up.
In 2021, the admittedly clunkily named Standard Life Aberdeen did a dramatic shedding of words, vowels and capital letters to rebrand as abrdn (pronounced aberdeen). It’s hard to spell and harder to say, which leads to the question—why?
One reason why is that, apparently, the URL aberdeen.com wasn’t available but abrdn.com was. Which brings us nicely to our final naming truth…
Naming truth #5: Many of the best names are taken
These days, if you’ve thought of a really great name, chances are someone else will have too—and trademarked it.
Most legitimate brands will have some degree of trademarking, and may also own one or more URLs and social handles associated with the name.
If a business has registered a name in a specific market and trademark category and you decide to use an identical or similar name in the same market and/or category, then they have grounds to pursue legal action over IP infringement.
Over the years we’ve had to throw out so many good names due to infringement concerns. However, it's just not worth the risk.
You can manually search the country TM databases in the markets you plan on operating in (although that’s time consuming) or use dedicated software to speed up the process.
Even if you don’t decide to TM your name (although we strongly recommend it) it really is worthwhile knowing you’re not encroaching on any TMs held by big global companies and/or your competitors. If you do decide to register your name, remember it takes approx three months for the filing to go through, so your name won’t be protected immediately.
In terms of URLs, most .coms are being squatted on. You can use websites like GoDaddy or hire a dedicated broker to negotiate a price, but it can quickly run into six figures or higher.
So you have a couple of choices:
Add another word in. If NAME.com is taken, then try adding a suffix or prefix.
Choosing a non .com ending (e.g. .io / .co. / .net / .xyz) can be a fun way to get creative, and there are other things you can do to boost your SEO.
It’s easy to get caught up on wanting to secure a .com as the most ‘official’ place for your brand to live. However it’s a lot of money for something that barely matters these days, as most people search by Google or via the app store. If you needed any further persuasion, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, uses abc.xyz
Trademark checking and URL searching can be a long-winded and frustrating process. Ultimately though, it’s worth doing. And it can force you to get creative, ending up with a stronger name in the long run.
Brainstorming a longlist
Now we get to the fun part. When coming up with a list of names, we find it’s best to start wide and throw every idea you have out there, whether good, bad, bonkers or clichéd. The following prompts can help encourage fresh ideas and lateral thinking.
Dig into the founding story
Tapping into your origin story can lead to an authentic name that people feel comfortable and excited to talk about—although beware getting too emotionally attached before trademark checks.
— Patagonia reflects founder Yvon Chouinard’s rock climbing background.
— Airbnb started with air mattresses in the founders’ apartment.
— Fenty Beauty was founded by Robyn Rihanna Fenty AKA megastar Rihanna.
Identify the brand’s role in the world
Why does the business exist? What are its goals and ambitions for its customers? Where does it want to get to? What future does it want to build?
— Dis-loyalty is a travel and food membership scheme from hotel group Ennismore that rewards you for never choosing the same experience twice.
— Vinted is a portmanteau of ‘vintage’ and ‘minted’, to communicate how you can make money selling your preloved items.
— The Ordinary sells high-grade beauty formulations at everyday prices.
Focus on a specific feature or attribute
Is there a benefit we could home in on? What’s the USP? What do customers love about it?
— Sweetgreen is a salad bar designed to connect communities to real, healthy fast food.
— Substack is a subscription-based newsletter aggregator.
— Impossible flips the script on meat-substitutes, positioning as impossibly identical to the real thing.
Communicate what it cares about
Put a sense of purpose right at the heart of everything by stating what matters to your business, and what it ultimately stands for. This is great for positioning as a values-driven brand.
— Credit Karma is committed to ‘financial progress for everyone’ starting with free credit ratings.
— Uber denotes an outstanding or supreme example of something; reflecting the company’s commitment to providing a better service experience.
— Hippeas (a pun on ‘hippies’) is a chickpea-based snack that’s good for you and the planet.
Tap into culture
When it comes to naming, we have the entirety of human knowledge at our disposal. What references can we pull? What symbolism can we draw on, which characters, places, concepts or ideas? (NB. stay mindful of cultural nuances and sensitivities).
— Nike is the name for the Greek goddess of victory.
— Miro is collaborative design software named after Joan Miró the Spanish abstract artist.
— Palantir is a data-collection software company named after the all-seeing crystal balls in Lord of the Rings.
Twist it
Think laterally, to add an element of the unexpected. The subversion of a cliché or established idea, an alternative spelling, bringing together juxtaposing ideas. Try to keep it witty, not cheesy.
— Outdoor Voices is a sportswear brand riffing on the phrase ‘use your indoor voice.’
— MailChimp is a silly but memorable image for a traditionally dry SaaS product.
— Bumble is the female-first dating app named after the Queen bee in the hive.
Reimagine the brief
Lean on out-of-category naming tropes to keep your shortlist feeling fresh. What would that brand be called if it were a restaurant, bar, band or fashion line?
— Lost Mary sells vapes, but it could be an indie band or dive bar.
— Dollar Shave Club turns a functional DTC product into a community.
— This Girl Can uses a bold statement for Sport England’s campaign to promote women’s fitness.
Capture a feeling
What’s the core emotion you want your brand to communicate, or to evoke in your customers and employees?
— Need is a cancer protection system. We wanted to conjure up a sense of something totally essential, but currently lacking from billions of people’s lives.
— Zoom video conferencing software captures the speed of connectivity.
— Lemonade puts a positive spin on insurance, from the phrase ‘when life gives you lemons.’
Find a metaphor
Explore other, less literal words or concepts that can represent the product or service in some way.
— Multiverse is an apprentice scheme company. Its name represents choosing your own future via limitless potential pathways.
— Third Space gyms pull on a sociocultural concept around communities needing a third space to gather outside of home and work.
— Hulu comes from a Mandarin proverb: it means gourd, symbolizing ‘holder of precious content.’
Consider structure
The way that a name is constructed can make a huge difference. Think about: verbs vs. nouns, the inclusion of ‘the’, a portmanteau of two words combined, or a descriptive phrase.
— & Other Stories uses a well-known phrase to highlight the storytelling behind their clothing collections, with the ampersand giving an unexpected twist.
— Citymapper has the addition of ‘per’ on the end to make the name feel active and friendly.
— Dunkin’ here the apostrophe reflects the casualness of natural speech, while the decision to drop ‘Donuts’ supports business growth.
We hope these tips help get the creative juices flowing. Our advice is not to get too precious about your initial list or overthink each individual name on it. There’ll be plenty of time for that when it comes to our next, and final, section: choosing a name.
Deciding on a name
You’ve done your brainstorm. Selected your favorites from the longlist. Run them through global trademark databases. Earmarked potential URLs and social handles.
You’re left with a shortlist of names that you’re happy with.
Now what?
Now comes the hardest part, making a decision around one single name. The name. Here’s our tried-and-tested method for getting things over the line.
Keep an open mind
Don’t make a decision too early. Becoming too attached to one or two names risks disappointment when the name goes to IP lawyers for full clearance checks. It also means you may overlook some less obvious gems lurking in the longer list. Innocent is arguably a name that heralded the shift to simple one word brand names as we know them. Yet the team’s first choices were Naked, Angel and Seedy, before they eventually landed on Innocent, which they had initially dismissed as ‘too aromatherapy.’
It can also help to go through your long-lists and outtakes. Multiverse never actually made it onto our shortlist, but we included our long-list at the end of the presentation deck and the client saw its potential.
Draw up clear criteria
One thing we can learn from the Innocent team is the importance of drawing up a list of clear criteria by which to judge any potential names.
The criteria don’t even have to be particularly objective: Innocent’s included things like ‘communicates the nature of the drink’ and ‘is not too fashionable’ but also ‘could be a club night.’
Here are some criteria that we often use:
— Communicates the brand strategy
— Differentiating in the space
— Doesn’t feel too ‘obvious’ / expected
— Easy to pronounce
Think about what’s important to you and your business, and weave this into the criteria. Then judge each name against it as dispassionately as possible—the results may surprise you.
Outsource to the professionals
You can tie yourself in knots worrying about things like trademark risk, cultural connotations and pronunciation issues. Take a load off your plate and outsource to businesses that can help with all that, to avoid any nasty surprises. For full legal checks and name registration you ideally need a specialist IP lawyer. And for help appraising cultural connotations and pronunciation you can engage a transcreation agency.
Stress test
Now it’s time to stress test those names. How do they look in different contexts?
Mock them up on lots of different touch points: a t-shirt, an email header, a billboard in Times Square, the cover of Wired. How does the name sound when you say it on the phone? If you cringe a little every time you hear it, then that’s probably not a good sign. Go back over the story, does it feel robust and credible, or like a masterclass in post-rationalisation? The latter might not be a lost cause, you might just need to spend a bit of time getting that story watertight. Or it might lead you to jump back into that long-list and see which other stories feel more appropriate for your business.
Finally, when you’re still deciding on a name, it’s best not to open the decision up to a committee. Instead, run it by a small team of trusted people. This is really key, because too many stakeholders equals too many opinions. At this point, we’re aiming for constructive feedback and consensus building.
Choose
Time to take the plunge. Once you’ve decided on a name, then get it over to your IP lawyers for their green light, then submit it for trademark registration in your relevant categories and markets, and start purchasing URLs and securing social handles.
If you’re still umming and ahhing between two names, then share them both with your lawyers for their professional opinion. You never know, it might come down to something as prosaic as TM availability—or whether you can secure a better URL for one or the other. Ultimately, it’s about making a call and running with it. You can make as many lists, draw up as many criteria and ask for as many opinions as you want, but often it all boils down to practicalities and a strong gut feeling.
Your name might not always be love at first sight. It could be more of a slow burn. And that’s totally fine. Just trust in it and start using it, everywhere you need to. That’s the best way to take a name from a word on a page to a living, breathing brand.
In summary
Brief
— Define clear parameters for success
— Gather all the information you need
Brainstorm
— Go wide, then narrow down
— Get creative, don’t play it safe
Check
— Consider TM and URL availabilities, and social and cultural connotations
— Outsource to the professionals, if possible
Choose
— Stress-test your shortlist
— Go for it!
Deep-dive with further reading
Thanks for making it this far! If you want to go deeper, we recommend checking out the following books and content:
— A Book About Innocent — the genesis of Innocent Smoothies, with some great tips on naming.
— Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch — explores how the internet is changing language.
— Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable — first published in 1870 and updated regularly, this reference guide explains the origins of many well-known phrases, stories and myths.
— https://guide.onym.co/ — a collection of useful naming resources: from articles and examples, to dictionaries and lexicons.
— https://fictionalbrandsarchive.com — a collection of fictional brands found in movies, TV shows, and video games.
Let us know what you think
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What’s your experience of naming?
What have we missed?
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We've put a lot of ourselves and our decade of experience naming companies into this issue, so we hope you liked what you read. Make sure to sign up to receive our next issue in your inbox.
See you in a few weeks for the next edition of OFF Brand. Let’s hope it’s named well.
