How To Create A Company Or Product Name

Coming up with a name for a company or a product can be a bit challenging at times. On one hand it may be you have too many names to choose from. But I think the opposite is more often the case: not being able to come up with anything.

Ideas may pop up in our head days at a time, but because we’re not sitting down and trying to think of one, we draw a blank.

And, of course, there’s the problem of finding one you like, but discovering that it has already been registered as a name or domain name. I won’t focus on that here as that gets into legal matters, so I’m going to help you with the creation part of the process instead.

Make a list
Don’t get hung up on finding the perfect word when you first start out. Just contemplate words you like and jot them down. Is it a word that you’d like to include as part of the name? Or is it a word that evokes an image or emotion that you want to express? Consider other company/product names that you like as a benchmark.

Use a thesaurus
I know, it doesn’t sound “sexy”. Seriously though, this can be such an important step. When I came up with my online business name, StarFrost Media, I’d enter anything that would pop into my head and see if there was a better alternative and oftentimes, it would. I probably went off any a gazillion different directions, but that’s okay — my goal was to come up with some good brain food to help me narrow down to a decision. I don’t care what it is — on average, it’s a lot easier to make a decision on something that exists than it is to create something.

Use a name generator
Okay, you’ve racked your brain for ideas and you just don’t feel like you’re making progress. Maybe it’s time to use a name generator. There are all sorts of generators out there for names. Just like the thesaurus idea above, these can spark an idea you might not have considered otherwise. Again, it’s about exploration, finding what sounds and looks good. These may not find you the perfect name by themselves, but could definitely play a key role in getting you there. Here are a few sites to try: Random Business Name Generator, Web 2.0 Name Generator, SnapItNow.

Make a new spelling
This has to be done carefully because it could work against you right from the start, leaving visitors/consumers to move on without giving you a second thought. Being clever is fine, but in those critical moments when someone hear’s your company name, they can’t get hung up on “what does that mean?” Flickr, for example, by itself doesn’t conjure up a meaning, but when you visit their site it starts to make sense.

Make up a word or use one for a different purpose
Probably the hardest of them all, but it could really pay off. Some examples come to mind: Twitter (and all the derivatives we’ve seen), Google, Digg, etc. These meant something different back in the 20th century, but look at them now. Marketing plays a heavy hand in their success, so be prepared to promote hard.

What strategies work for you? Leave me a comment and share what it is you do to come up with names.