The idea of exactly what your business is going to be usually comes first. Secondly, most often, is giving a title to your idea. What exactly is going to be the name of your business? Some people turn to their childhood for inspiration or a beloved family pet. It could be a made up word you dream of one night and feel it has the right ring to it. Even still there are some people who study foreign words for the perfect meaning behind their chosen business. Whatever the inspiration or relation may be, the naming of your business is one of the most important parts of becoming a CEO. Having a brand behind a strong title can make all the difference in the world.
#1- My favorite number is 3
My company name is 3 Leaf Tea. The name is from when tea leaves get picked there's often one two or three leaves and a bud. My favorite number is 3 so that and shortened, 3LT is my favorite number plus my initials.
Thanks to Luciana Torous, 3 Leaf Tea!
#2- Worked closely with our most active community members
We worked extremely closely with our most active community members to name Commaful. The site had been live and we had hundreds of users at that point, so we posted a story on the site asking for name suggestions. People flooded the comments with ideas. We had a few criteria for the name. We wanted it to be memorable and have some form of meaning. It was difficult but after a few days of thinking through names, checking through available domain names, we settled on the name Commaful. A name that our community helped choose and really reflects the people who use the site today!
Thanks to Sydney Liu, Commaful!
#3- Inspired by the popular video game ‘The Sims’
We were greatly inspired by the popular video game ‘The Sims’. The show inspired us to create a product that would help an individual learn something quickly and in small bites. We started with a platform that could help create snackable content modules and users would go through these modules by playing small games, finishing challenges and levelling up. The journey would be similar to a rocket's journey which is constantly upgrading orbits while exploring unchartered territory and the fuel for this is the hypothetical element called Rocketium. The name was supposed to signify aspiration and positivity using the image of space. This idea of snackable content format pivoted to a video product in June 2016. Luckily for us, the not-so-specific name stayed constant while our business pivoted.
Thanks to Anurag Dwivedi, Rocketium!
#4- From a mud run event
When mud runs were becoming fads, I tried launching my own mud run series. We called it CerebRun. It is a terrible name, probably because you don't know how to pronounce it. But our mud run included puzzles. So the thought was that this eventwould not only be physical, but also mental. And since there's a part of the brain called the *cerebrum, I thought take out the rum part, and change it to run, to come up with the name CerebRun. And although i thought it was clever and creative, it was difficult to pronounce. We put on 3 events, and no one new how to pronounce the event. So ultimately, it was a bad name.
Thanks to Jeff Neal, Hot Thermometer!
#5- Reflecting on our services, personable nature of employees and some humor
We're plumbers and the business is called Plunger – the idea was to name the business something that reflects the personable nature of our plumbers, and something that immediately lets people know the service that we provide. We also like the humorous element of the name, an element that we've carried over to the imagery that we use on our website and marketing materials (a cartoon plunger is our mascot!), which also reflects our fun personality.
Thanks to Max Robinson , Plunger!
#6- To portray importance of the artistic side of interior design when working on a project
I came up with the name Artful Conceptions because I wanted to portray how important the artistic side of interior design is when working on a project. Conceptions comes from the fact that it requires ideas and thoughts to create amazing designs. Together Artful Conceptions lets our clients and future clients know that we will approach all projects with an artist's mind to create spaces that are unique and well thought out.
Thanks to Sara Chiarilli, Artful Conceptions!
#7- Demonstrate the work of my business
Since founding my business in 1981 as a typing and editing service, I've operated under many names/websites. Currently, as a profitability consultant for green and social entrepreneurship businesses, I show businesses how they can go beyond mere sustainability (keeping things the same) to regenerativity (making things better). I work with them to develop and market profitable products and services that turn hunger and poverty into sufficiency, war into peace, and catastrophic climate change into planetary balance. For this work, I operate under the name Going Beyond Sustainability. When I was focusing more on just the green part, I used Green And Profitable.
Thanks to Shel Horowitz, Green And Profitable!
#8- Through a naming exercise
How we came up with the name of our startup (BeeWits) is quite interesting. You see, when we did perform the naming exercise (as you do), we had a few criteria.
– We wanted the name to have a nice ring to it.
– We wanted an available .com domain.
– (Optionally) it had to imply the usage of the tool.
– We were ok with a fun, nonsensical name
– If it could be related to our niche (web design and digital marketing)
so much the better.
We brainstormed and fired off many name suggestions. After about a couple of hours or so, plenty of names and a deadlock situation had ensued. No name had emerged as a favorite, but then one of us piped up … What about BeeWits? – It's an anagram of the word website, I found it in the first couple of minutes but just wanted to see what we would come up with before I threw it out there. And yes it does have a .com available! And that was that – BeeWits was born!
Thanks to David Attard, BeeWits!
#9- Tailoring our services to the need of clients to make sure “it works”
I had a long list of names for my business when I set out and none of them seemed quite right. I really had to strip everything back and ask myself why people should use our services. The simple answer to this question is because what we do works for our clients; we tailor our services to meet their individual needs and to ensure “it works”. After having this internal conversation, It Works seemed like the only choice for a name.
Thanks to Steve Pritchard, It Works!
#9- Representation of the core strategy of our business
I tried to pick something that would represent the core strategy of our business, which is to outfox other traders in order to return a profit every month. And since I really love animals, the name Foxy Trades was registered as the name of our prop trading firm.
Thanks to Paul Koger, Foxy Trades!
#10- Customer targeting and positioning strategy
My naming process actually started with my customer targeting and positioning strategy. I knew I wanted to target other small business owners and help them take their marketing business to the next level and ramp up their game, so to speak. My services are primarily educational, such as online courses, coaching and articles to help educate them on marketing topics. Once I knew that, I set out to come up with a name that had built-in meaning. One of the areas I explored was words that meant or evoked the image of a teacher or wise sage. Another area I explored were words that meant or evoked a sense of forward momentum. In order to make the name unique (and something I could file and own as a trademark), I then explored combination words as well and eventually landed on the name, Gurulocity. Guru is a word for teacher, and -locity is a reference to the word velocity. In the end it worked out very well. People seem to get it and it allows me to tell a story for my audience. It was also unique enough to be awarded a trademark by the USPTO.
Thanks to Kevin Namaky, Gurulocity!
#11- Quite simple
I buy and sell records worth thousands of dollars. I bought Forevervinyl.com back in 1995 and went online. I have 80,000 records so Forever Vinyl.
Thanks to Scott Neuman, Recordweb Communications!
#12- Homage to my dad
The name “Carli” is in homage to my dad who passed away a few years before I started my business. It was what he affectionately called me. I was really close to my dad. Being the only girl I was a bonafide ‘daddy's girl'. We shared a love of music and, as a business man himself he would always talk about carving out your own path. He and my mom encouraged all of us to excel academically cause he knew we had a lot to offer the world. He died unexpectedly in December 2010. He left a legacy for my brothers and I to always leave a mark in this world. The name of my business was in homage to him because I know he's looking down on me and I know he's proud of the woman I am today. Out of his death, my passion and desire for doing good in the world was reignited because through the tears and heartache I realized that I wanted to leave a legacy for my daughter, just like my dad left me.
Thanks to Carla Williams Johnson, Carli Communications!
#13- From a life-changing moment
We should aspire to lift others up, whether that’s in a personal setting, a business atmosphere, or within our own struggles. At Elevate My Brand, we allow others to get elevated and reach their highest goals! At 26 years old, I experienced a pivotal moment that changed the trajectory of my life tremendously. My dad was diagnosed with cancer, and my life went from contracts to taking over my dad’s company in a matter of seconds. This shift was terrifying, but it changed my outlook on how to lead and be a leader in my next career path. That’s where I got Elevate My Brand. We all have a voice, so it’s up to us to make words matter. A company needs to learn how to lift themselves, their clients and their employees up, while incorporating digital strategy tactics that will excel in ways that no company or individual thought was possible.
Thanks to Laurel Mintz, Elevate My Brand!
#14- Uniqueness and embodiment with my company's vision
When researching companies within my industry, I noticed a trend of several of the same terms being used within in a lot of different company's names. Very few of them really stood out to me. I came up with Ample Opportunity, Inc. as I was thinking of business names that were unique and would not only set us apart from other companies that were similar, but also somehow embody my company's vision, which is to provide our employees and clients with opportunities to grow and exceed their goals. I was able to fulfill both desires with the name that I chose.
Thanks to Cory Collins, Ample Opportunity!
#15- Represent our ability to empower business LEADERS to build their companies into powerhouses
Leadarati combines the words LEADER (cream of the crop) and LITERATI (highly educated). This name represents our ability to empower business LEADERS to build their companies into powerhouses. And like the LITERATI, professionals we work with are educated on how to market their business in order to increase revenue opportunities.
Thanks to Anita O'Malley, Leadarati!
#16- Selected from two other two alternatives
The overall business was originally called Broadmargins, after a quote by Henry Thoreau – I love a broad margin to my life. We saw launching our own business as a way to work together, have fun and surround ourselves with smart, kind makers who wanted to have some impact on the world. LoveKnitting was our first of hopefully many, broad ventures – we liked its simplicity and the huge passion we saw amongst the crafting communities. After LoveCrochet followed we decided that we should really focus on crafts and change our company name to reflect that. After toying with the possibility of calling ourselves LoveMaking and LoveMakers we decided that LoveCrafts was perhaps less likely to cause confusion.
Thanks to Nigel Whiteoak, LoveCrafts!
#17- We do what the name says on the tin
I came up with the name Find Me a Gift because we do what it says on the tin. From personal experience, I used to hate the routine that accompanied present-buying: trudging out to the high street on a Saturday afternoon, often in miserable weather, and spending a few hours looking at items that weren't quite right, before frantically buying something as the shops started to close. I knew other people must feel the same way too! I wanted Find Me a Gift to be an easy, straight-forward way of buying thoughtful, unique items for friends and family, without the hassle of the high street. I also believe that anything can be given as a gift, so I didn't feel like we were restricting ourselves to a particular market or product with our name- we want to dream big and have limitless opportunities!
Thanks to Adam Gore, Find Me a Gift!
#18- To be recognized in the category and sector
Settling on a business name – Market Expertise – was for me the single most time consuming decision. I'm a wordsmith so I wanted the name to be clever as well as descriptive. I also wanted to future proof my business – to position it for growth, and ultimately sale, so giving it my name was out of the question. So why Market Expertise? Well, we're a B2B marketing agency that specializes in services and intangible products. In other words, we market expertise. Market expertise is what we do. As marketers, we have breadth and depth of experience and a proven track record of success. Market expertise is what we have. For your business to grow, you need to be recognized in both your category and sectors. Market expertise (and Market Expertise) is what you need.
Thanks to Jacqueline Burns, Market Expertise!
#19- Something that was fun and sounded interactive
Namewise for my business, I wanted something that was fun and sounded interactive, which I thought On Location Tours is. The original company name was Scene on TV (going back to 1999), and I expanded into movies, and the name was also confusing to people (Scene instead of Seen).
Thanks to Georgette Blau, On Location Tours!
#20- To let clients know the origin of company and easily understand what I was offering
I started a consulting firm called Global Marketing Resources, LLC in 2000 as source for additional income while I was a corporate executive. The company provided marketing services like strategy, advertisement, research to businesses. When I decided to quit the corporate world and build my company in 2004, I saw very few companies focused on helping SMB with digital marketing services. I decided to focus on providing complete digital marketing services like web strategy, website development and full suite of digital marketing. I wanted to start this new service with my existing clients, so decided to call my business GMR Web Team (GMR stands for Global Marketing Resources) so that my clients would know the origin of company and easily understand what I was offering. 13 years later, GMR Web Team is the face of my business while Global Marketing Resources is just a legal entity that owns GMR Web Team.
Thanks to Ajay Prasad, GMR Web Team!
#21-From the services I was providing
Michael R. Ford
When I started Pro Back Office, I had a few pro athletes as my clients that I provided back office services to that included accounting, branding, etc. We were providing *back office* *professional *accounting services to *Pro-*athletes and *Pro*fessional associations, hence the name, Pro Back Office.
Thanks to Michael R. Ford, Pro Back Office!
#22- People making fun out of my name
I run the one woman show of Ryndustries, a writing and art business that produces “creative everything.” This includes writing, art, books, Reiki, illustrations, tattoos, photos, radio, videos and you name it. Fitting all those different offerings into a company name simply wouldn’t cut it. Even attempting to do so would produce a name that was too long, too annoying, and unlikely to fit on the standard business card. Since my name is Ryn and people were always having fun with it, I figured I’d have my own fun with a play on “industries.” Thus Ryndustires was born.
Thanks to Ryn Gargulinski, Ryndustries!
#23- Help clients understand the nature of the personal and professional journey they are about to undertake
Several years ago, my partner and I were busting our tails for 18 hours a day, but we weren't really running our home services business. The business was running us. So we decided to transform ourselves from technicians who ran a company intoentrepreneurs. Over the next decade, our sales went from about $1 million per year to more than $30 million. I founded ServiceKey in 2013 to mentor other service industry professionals using the lessons of my experience, but after two years decided to change the company's name to CEO Warrior. This name better reflects my coaching system's target audience and the fact that we'll teach business owners and CEOs to be warriors. We motivate and coach entrepreneurs to be warriors for their businesses, for their families and for their communities. We provide tested and proven methods to defeat the roadblocks that prevent small to mid-sized businesses from achieving their ultimate success. The CEO Warrior system uses a unique approach to training, inspired by my martial arts training, to create mental focus, strategic thinking, resiliency, respect and warrior spirit to take business owners to the next level. The name CEO Warrior helps clients understand the nature of the personal and professional journey they are about to undertake.
Thanks to Mike Agugliaro, CEO Warrior!
#24- From my investing experience
I started saving and investing young, and have been fortunate with a strategic, low cost approach. I discovered that there is a lack of thorough financial education and knowledge among even the most educated individuals. While many people want to learn about finance and investing, current forms of financial education (especially for young people) can be hard to digest. I wanted to share my investing knowledge in a way that was easier to digest and comprehend than a traditional textbook or class. Therefore I took my fortunate investing experience and turned it into a financial advice site for people of all levels of experience called The Fortunate Investor.
Thanks to Michael Banks, Fortunate Investor!
#25- Came up with a tagline to demonstrate what we do
I am in the business of guiding people to clarify, set and achieve their goals–through personal and professional development workshops, seminars and workshops. Working with my business partner and with my PR consultant, I first came up with the tag line, Motivate To Activate Your True Potential(tm). And that tag line provided the foundation for my company's name–The MotivAct Group.For me–and for my clients, as I have heard–MotivAct represents a sense of positive movement. And that is exactly what we do at MotivAct–we provide people with the tools to propel themselves forward into an expansive, powerful and possible future for themselves.
Thanks to Tom Ingrassia, The MotivAct Group!
#26- Out of fun
Before we had a name we new what we wanted to do. There is always a visionary in each successful company, and in our case it is my sister. Once day while brainstorming she said, Kyle! Everything one of our products and ideas ‘Fuses' tangible and intangible learning. We are an EdTech startup that makes interactive toys that you can code – we like to say hack. For fun we changed the ‘s' to a ‘z' and that stuck. We registered as Fuze Interactive. To shorten things up for marketing we then created a DBA allowing us to go by FuzePlay! And, FuzePlay.io is where you can find us!
Thanks to Kyle Muir, Fuze Interactive!
#27- Unusual way
Dialpad, the #1 pure-cloud communications solutions for business, got its name in an unusual way. As founder Craig Walker remarked, sometimes a great name just can go unused. Here’s a bit of history. Back in 2005 under Walker, Dialpad Communications, Inc., an international voice over IP company, was sold to Yahoo! for an undisclosed amount of tens of millions of dollars. Yahoo! created a telecom product to compete with Skype, Yahoo! Voice, and never used the “Dialpad” brand again. The name, however, remained their property. Fast forward to 2012, when Walker started another communications company, Switch.co, a play on the telecom infrastructure word that describes how calls are managed, which had launched the product UberConference and was working on more enterprise voice products. Not liking the “.co” URL or name, Walker approached Yahoo! in 2015 to sell the name Dialpad back to him…which they did. Once acquired, Walker SWITCHed SWITCH.CO's name to Dialpad.
Thanks to Craig Walker, Dialpad!
#28- Personal meaning
My business name – One Epiphany LLC – has a personal meaning behind it. I wanted a business name that meant something personally to me that wasn’t just a generic name like Acme Inc. or My Name LLC. I also wanted a name that would resonate with my customers. A name that made sense and clicked instantly. For me, One Epiphany was it. On a personal level here is what my business name means. One represents the position I was in when I joined my sorority, a public service organization.. Epiphany represents the name of the group of ladies who entered into a lifetime commitment along with me. So in essence, my business name is a pseudo-name of sorts. One Epiphany is Nerissa Marbury, the first lady of E.P.I.P..H.A.N.E.E. 17. On a professional or client facing level the name to my project management and digital marketing business has a different definition. One Epiphany is a different way of letting a client or prospect know that no matter how tough the business or marketing challenge might be, it takes only one good idea to get the wheels turning and juices flowing. It takes only One Epiphany to get over an obstacle and turn a challenge into a success.
Thanks to Nerissa Marbury, One Epiphany!
How did you come up with your business name? Tell us in the comments below