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How to come up with a Cool Name or Naming Guide

The name of a brand or product affects not only its recognition, but also the demand and trust of consumers. It’s the product name that sets a company apart from its competitors and makes it clear why you should choose it. So how do you come up with a cool name for the brand? Let’s find out together.

What is naming?

Neiming (from the English “name”) – the process of developing a name for the company, under which the brand or product is registered and placed on the market. The important requirements for the name are originality and simplicity, so that potential customers can easily remember the product. Read more by a link

Budding entrepreneurs often think that creating a brand name is a simple matter, as long as the product is good. But it’s not, alas. As evidence, we have collected several examples of unsuccessful naming from around the world.

For example, in all Latin American countries, sales of “Chevrolet Nova” didn’t go up because “no va” means “doesn’t go” in Spanish.

“Otsuka Bld” is a large Japanese manufacturer of medicines, some of which are even exported to Russia, but under a different name (I wonder why… 😉 ).

The store of second-hand goods for children “Kids Exchange” became an object of ridicule, first of all because of the logo, in which the long name of the brand was written in one word “Kidsexchange”. That’s where the confusion arose: whether it was “Kids exchange” or “Kid sex change” (literally “baby sex change”). 

Sometimes you can make it your own thing (for example, the name of the channel Yuri Dudya “VDud” or ice cream “Frostbite”), but there is a chance not to shoot and forced to rebrand. 

According to statistics shared by Feedvisor, 74% of consumers consider the brand name an important factor when choosing a product, and 59% cited the name as a very important factor. 

Naming Rules

The basic principles to consider when creating a name are:

Conciseness and soundness. The name should not only be clearly pronounceable, but also easy to write down, preferably even on a transcript. A good example is “Impulse”.

Stylistics. The name reflects the style, the essence of the product or service, as well as the field of activity. For example, the brand of children’s clothing “Karapuz” or “DochkiSynochki”. 

Uniqueness. The developed name should not be previously registered and used by any other firm. 

Absence of subtexts, especially negative. Well, of course, when the name of your company has many interpretations, but it is better to be with such to be more careful. Examples include the beauty salon “Tsarina” or the bank “Development.

Consistency of location and concept (if possible). For example, you could call the bar “Near the bridge” if it is really located near the bridge in the city, and a network of barbershops – “BORODA”. 

Naming itself is the process of developing a name for a company, product or service. It plays a critical role in the entire marketing strategy, because it is around the name of the product or service will be built all further advertising campaign. Therefore, the copywriter should not only come up with a loud name in itself, but also to explain how it can be used in the future to promote the brand.

Developing a name for a company, product, or service is not done simply out of the head. This process involves several stages, which will allow you to select a unique, sonorous and attractive brand name. In particular, there are the following stages, which are necessary for a specialist in creating a truly high-quality naming:

1. analytical work. In particular, the development of naming requires a thorough analysis of the market as a whole, the company or brand, as well as the target audience for which the brand, product or service is created;

2. Development of unique variants of the name. In this case, it is necessary to come up with several possible names, of which the most suitable name will be chosen in the future. Here is also the initial check for legal clarity (whether the brand does not violate the rights of the owners of trademarks registered earlier);

3. analysis and culling of options that are not suitable by some criteria (verbally unattractive, phonetically unsound, etc.);

4. Coordination of the best names with the client and the choice of one or more options;

5. Testing in focus groups;

6. The process is completed by obligatory verification of the name in the trademark database according to the corresponding classes of the International Classification of Goods and Services (ICCS).

Naming of the company, goods, services – it is quite a long process which demands a serious and professional approach to the work. Specialists can use different methods in the development of the name of the brand and further let’s discuss them in more detail.

How is the name of the company or product created?

The development of the name of an object can take place with the use of a variety of methods. Professional naming companies use each of them in their work and only in the end choose several most appropriate names. In particular, the name of a trademark or company can be developed using the following methods:

– Associative. In this case, the copywriter chooses the name that will be best associated with the object.

– Benchmarking. The name of the brand can be chosen with the fitting of the name of a similar product from a leading company in the market.

– Abbreviated. Often experts stop at using abbreviations that include letters, numbers (or all together), and a combination of the roots of several words.

– The use of neologisms. In this case, the copywriter’s task is to select neologisms that are associative with the product.

– Personally-preferential. Examples of such naming would be such names as “Myagkov”, “Bystrov”, “Blagov”, etc