The idea of exactly what your business is going to usually come 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- Alliteration of an existing name
I initially wanted to call my business “Satisfied Wallet”. *However, after talking with a buddy, he mentioned that he thought of food when he hears the word “satisfied”. He said, “*What about an alliteration, like ‘Well Kept Wallet’?” I didn’t even know what an “alliteration” was, but that sounded much better than my initial idea.
Thanks to Deacon Hayes, Well Kept Wallet!
#2- Almost by accident
With the amount of coffee companies and suppliers in eCommerce we knew we had to be different, but being born and raised in Texas we wanted to showcase the pride we have for our state in some way. Going beyond that we wanted to keep the name to have a small-town vibe to it almost like an old western general store, and since you drink coffee primarily in the morning, Texas Sunrise Coffee Company was born.
Thanks to Cody Benson, Texas Sunrise Coffee Company!
#3- Reflection my interest and personality
When researching and brainstorming my business name, I decided early on that I wanted it to reflect my interest and personality. It was important to me that I felt excited to tell people about it and be able to offer a story instead of some generic name. For me, that led me to my childhood love of professional wrestling and the outlandish moves and characters.
Thanks to Orlando Rios, DropkickAds.com!
#4- Convey trust plus what we do
As an executive resume writing firm, we wanted a business name that would convey trust while still highlighting the essence of what our company does. Airline pilots are trusted figures who safely take their passengers from point A to point B. Our clients, too, place their trust in the Resume Pilots team to manage a critical component of their job search with the end goal of getting them where they want to be in their careers.
Thanks to Matt Glodz, Resume Pilots!
#5- Two ways
I came up with my business name by finding one unique trait that defines my business personality. I then combined it with a word that describes who my business is catered towards. This combo helped me create a catchy and unique name!
Thanks to Angolina Angelica, shop.thealphafemme.co!
#6- A ton of manual searches, and a few tools
I run a web app that generates business names, but I didn't have my algorithm ready in time to file my LLC. Because of this, I went through an exhaustive manual naming process. I wanted to include the word name since my niche is heavily dependent on SEO, and most of my highest-ranking competitors included the word in their URL. After this, I created a list of brand adjectives. Then, I used relatedwords.org to create a massive list of words associated with each adjective. Eventually, I plugged name and each related word into a site called Dot-O-Mator. Dot-O-Mator then combined the words to show me which names had available .com domains. I settled on NameBounce because I wanted to create a fun, high-energy brand, and I am super happy with it.
Thanks to Axel DeAngelis, NameBounce.com!
#7- Inspired by a notion
We held a workshop of stakeholders and explored names inspired by a variety of approaches (provenance, roots of our technology, etc). We're Everipe, a company that uses freeze dried fruits to make ready-to-blend smoothies. Freeze drying is an incredible technology that leaves fruits nutritionally as intact as when they were ripe. I walked around the house saying the word RIPE to myself for days. One evening my husband and I were sitting on the couch riffing on names inspired by the notion of ‘always ripe', ‘forever ripe', – we turned to each other simultaneously and both said Everipe …. that's it!!. I still had to host that workshop with all the other names but I strategically directed everyone to Everipe and we've had a ton of compliments on it since.
Thanks to Kerry Roberts, Everipe!
#8- Homage to my heritage
When I started my consulting business, I was fortunate enough to have a mentor who guided me, and the best advice she gave me was to name my company something about myself, but not my actual name. After much consideration, I landed on Two Rivers – I was born in Baghdad, Iraq, the city of the two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates. As soon as I landed on this name, I knew it's what I wanted my business to embody – an homage to my place of birth, my family and my ancestry in ancient Babylon and Mesopotamia. There is so much stigma about that part of the world, but the rich culture and people of that region is unparallel and I am proud of my heritage from the land of the Two Rivers.
Thanks to Reema Makani Boccia, TwoRiversPR!
#9- Considered three things
Coming up with a business name that encompasses everything you wish to represent in a short and catchy way can be a very time-consuming experience, can't it? I focused on what it is I do, I want to be approachable to the community and also I thought it important to express an idea of ‘moving with the times', being fresh, consistent with modern practices and the such. I believe Net Lawman has a kind of catch to it, rolling off the tongue with ‘real law in plain English' attracting many to the simplicity and strength. It came gradually until I realised that I was constantly coming back to Net Lawman and comparing with others.
Thanks to Andrew Taylor, Net Lawman!
#10- Name to tell a story
Had wanted a name for my practice that described what I am so passionate about. When I went independent about 7 years ago, I finally got the opportunity. I chose Income Solutions Wealth Management to tell a story. There is a looming retirement income crisis in this country. As people retire and get ready to retire, they are suddenly faced with the reality that their regular paycheck from their job will no longer be there. That’s where I come in. We solve their retirement income challenges!
Thanks to Lance A. Browning, Income Solutions Wealth Management!
#11- Considered scenarios of me appearing in interviews
The name of my company is Charming Love Ltd. I am originally from India but have been away from the country for almost 16 years. Over these years, I got a chance to live, study and work in UK, US, and Singapore. As a result of cross-cultural integration, I could no longer identify myself with the traits of the Young Indian lad who left India at the age of 21. This also meant that my Indian name no longer reflected me in the truest sense. I had been using my English name for past 10 years everywhere except on legal papers. After getting British Citizenship in 2017, I decided it was time for me to legalise my English name. Hence, Michael Charming was born in legal documents and replaced Kamal Sharma. I had my own company operating under the name of Kamal and Shashi Sharma Ltd. When my name changed, it also meant the company name would also need to be changed. Between 2017/18, I had started my relationship and sexuality coaching business. So, after a great deal of consideration, the company name was changed to Charming Love Ltd. Many factors contributed to getting this name finalised, but the most important of which was, the scenarios of me appearing in podcasts/radio interviews. The introduction would be something like, ‘Today, our guest is Michael Charming from Charming Love'.
Thanks to Michael Charming
#12- Two-fold process
The way my business name came to me was two fold. One, I love play on words and alliterations so I wanted to incorporate something catchy and that would roll of your tongue. Two, I didn't want my actual name in the business name (which is the route that some professional organizers take) but I thought it would be nice to have something related to it. One of (many) nicknames in college included the word sweet in it so once I put two and two together, Sort and Sweet was born!
Thanks to Mary Cornetta, Sort and Sweet Inc.!
#13- Symbolise what I did not want to become
For years as an investor, I struggled to find good realtors. They seldom answered their phones or even returned my phone calls. It seemed like they were always on vacation or had more important things to do. My associated would ask me about the latest realtor I was using, and I would complain, saying, They don't do anything. So when I became a realtor, I vowed never to be like that. I always wanted to make myself available to my clients and be active in doing my part of the transaction. That's why I named my business My Active Agent This way, I would never forget what not to become.
Thanks to Benjamin Ross, My Active Agent!
#14- Convey the concepts of familiarity, money and help
I started Walletero as an independent personal finance site offering free tools and resources. I wanted a name that was unique, memorable and relatable. But also, as important, I wanted it to convey the concepts of familiarity, money and help. That’s why the name has the word ‘wallet’ embedded in it. It’s the one tangible object – besides a mobile phone, that most people carry around and are familiar with. As for conveying the idea of help, I’d originally thought about using the word ‘hero’. In the end though, the domain name using both words was taken, so I happily went with Walletero.
Thanks to Jay Warra, Walletero!
#15- From watching the Simpsons
I sort of think of myself as the Lisa Simpson type; nerdy, smarty-pants, social justice warrior type that loves music. Fabulize Magazine serves as a community for other Lisa Simpson types like myself who enjoy pop culture from a woman of color point of view. The Fabulize Shop! sells blerds womanist trinkets like female superhero t-shirts and mugs.
Thanks to Erika Hardison, Fabulizemag.com!
#16- Convey a higher level than affinity
The word Affinity means a strong connection or relationship between people or things. Within retail, you always hear and read about brand loyalty, but the ultimate goal of brands is a level higher and more coveted than loyalty – brand affinity. When the connection you have with your customers becomes an emotional connection, it is called brand affinity. It’s when your customers adore you, can’t live without you, will wait in line for you. When I think of brand affinity, I think of brands like Apple, Starbucks, Jordan. That is why the word Affinity was chosen. I added Group because I plan to have many companies that spin off of this parent company (currently have 1 spin off and working on additional), and International because we strive to have a global impact on the retail industry.
Thanks to DeAnna McIntosh, The Affinity Group International and Retailing Evolved!
#17- Ran a small family contest
My business name is Cookilicious. It's a vegetarian and vegan recipe blog. I tried a fun experiment with my family members to come up with a name suggestion for my food blog. I ran a small contest within the family where I asked each one to suggest me 5 names for a food related blog. My husband and i participated in it as well. The person whose suggested name we would select would win a prize. Then we went through all the name suggestions and picked the name Cookilicious. This suggestion had come from my younger brother. He thought of this name on his way to work. His idea was that since my cooking is delicious, he clubbed them together to come up with Cookilicious. I did give him a prize and he has been credited for the name on my blog as well. It was a great way to involve my family in my special business venture.
Thanks to Priya Lakshminarayan, Cookilicious – Delicious Vegetarian & Vegan recipes!
#18- Based on SEO
At the time, I wanted to focus more on targeting new clients with branding projects and PR covers a lot of areas including social media, so the name was created purely for SEO purposes: Brand Branding PR LLC. I was mentored by the Prince's Trust a few years ago in London and attended various courses including SEO. If you create a business name that includes your services, it tells people exactly what you do and makes you more searchable online.
Thanks to Sophie Bowman, Brand Branding!
#19- From an expression
The term ohmy came to me when I was driving with my family to Niagra Falls Canada for a weekend getaway. As we were driving, one of my sisters was on social media and she must have seen something intriguing because I heard her say, ohhmyyyyy that's so cool. At that point, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I remember asking her why did you say ohmmyyy and she responded by saying, my friend bought this latte maker online and it can pretty much make any type of drink you can think of. I have heard of the expression ohhmmyyyy on tv, radio, and people saying it as expression. I remember I quickly checked to see if any of the domains would be available and to my surprise ohmy.ca was available but for a hefty price. I recall dwelling about it all weekend during the family getaway. I told my family about my idea of coming up with the coolest classifieds website and it will be called ohmy dot ca. Everyone loved the idea and that's how the business name came to me. That same Monday I purchased the domain and I am glad I did.
Thanks to Marcus Anwar, OhMy B.v!
#20- Applied logic similar to my dad's advice
When I got my first dog, my dad gave me a piece of advice. Stand on the road and loudly shout the name you are thinking of choosing over and over. If you feel stupid, pick another name. For your company, we applied similar logic. Am I happy to start conversations with, Hi. I'm Alison from Where Can I Live.. Does our name clearly align with our mission? Will our name help our clients and website visitors understand what it is we do? We workshopped a lot of names, polled friends, and searched the internet. In our case, we landed back on the very first name we had thought of. While we didn't stand in the road shouting our choice, we've had no regrets.
Thanks to Alison Johnson, Where Can I Live!
#21- Changed to a name that describes us
We made a name change a year ago. Our real estate company had grown from 1 to 40. The name of our team was Jeff Realty. I thought going forward it was to egocentric and Jeff is too singular. The most important thing to me was that our name be organically true. First I commissioned out 2 marketing people with the assignment of names. After looking at 50 or so names, nothing panned out other confusion. So I started thinking of what described us and Dolphins came to mind. Dolphins describe everything we do. We are a Florida based company, work together in a team atmosphere that is different than our competitors (pod), fun, and use advanced technology to communicate. Dolphin itself is too cutesy. Sonar sounded harsh. I dropped it until I went on a dolphin cruise with my wife. After watching young and old jockeying each other while smiling for best position on the boat, I relooked at it. Waking up a 2 a.m. I starting looking for other ways to describe dolphin communication. Dolphins use echolocation to find food (think locate homes or talk to each other using technology) and we are a fun group. We sell luxury so Fine Properties was added to it. And the Pod was born!
Thanks to Jeff Lichtenstein, Echo Fine Properties!
#22- After introducing artificial intelligence-based software
My company name is AiLaw, It is a technology company that brings legal firms the next-generation immigration software featuring an easy-to-use platform integrated with case management, form auto-filling, lawyer/client portals, and much more. As an attorney, I was committed to helping those residents and non-resident aliens seeking employment in the United States with the intricacies of immigration law. I started a law firm, but that was not an easy task and difficult to manage with human resources. So I introduce an artificial intelligence-based software “AiLaw” to perform different tasks with accuracy and on time. Due to the usage of artificial intelligence in my law firm, I decided to choose the name of my firm AiLaw.
Thanks to Shiyang Gong, AILaw.Inc.!
#23- Initials of my names
I like to keep it simple. I used the initials of my first, middle and last names. Then switched out the order so it has a better ring to it. Thus came JVT Media, I added the Media to make it sound all technological and whatnot. Or, I may or may not have just taken the idea from bigger entrepreneurs I look up to, but we don't have to talk about
that 😉
Thanks to Toni JV, JVT Media!
#24- Location + what the business is about
When choosing the business name, I was willing to come up with something simple and easy to remember which would also provoke certain associations in those who hear it. I definitely wanted the name to contain the word “sleep” — after all, that’s what this business is about. Some ideas I considered were using acronyms, foreign words, abbreviations. But eventually, one of my friends advised me to use a location-driven name. So, I ended up naming the business after the place where it was born — Kansas City, Kansas.
Thanks to Tim Sims, Kansas-Sleep!
#25- What we provide
I was brainstorming names with my co-founders CTO Jesse Forrest and CMO Matt Reilly. We came up with wee tots, short for toddlers, and then aligned on the name WeeCare. We wanted a name that communicated that we provide high-quality care for children and selected the name WeeCare. WeeCare provides all families access to safe, affordable, nurturing, education-based childcare.
Thanks to Jessica Chang, WeeCare!