Naming is one of the hardest and highest-stakes branding decisions. Here’s the framework for picking a name that works.
Why Naming Is So Hard
Great names are: memorable, pronounceable, meaningful, available (domain, trademark, social), timeless, and differentiated. Most names get 3–4 of those; very few get all 6. And naming decisions stick for decades. Don’t rush it. Don’t crowdsource it. Invest the time; the right name saves years of marketing effort.
Types of Names
Descriptive (‘General Motors,’ ‘Home Depot’): clear, hard to trademark. Suggestive (‘Amazon,’ ‘Oracle’): evocative but not literal. Abstract (‘Kodak,’ ‘Xerox’): highly distinctive, require marketing to become meaningful. Founder (‘Ford,’ ‘Disney’): personal, but can limit growth. Compound (‘Facebook,’ ‘PayPal’): clear meaning combined distinctively. Abbreviation (‘IBM,’ ‘KFC’): works when the full name is clunky. Pick the type that fits your business and ambition.
Naming Criteria Scoring
For each candidate name, score 1–5 on: (1) memorability (hear it once, remember it), (2) pronounceability (is there ambiguity? misreadings?), (3) meaning (does it hint at what you do?), (4) distinctiveness (not confusable with competitors), (5) domain/trademark availability, (6) international friendliness (offensive in other languages?). Discard any scoring below 3 on availability or international friendliness.
Domain Availability Strategy
A .com is still the gold standard in 2026. If exact .com is taken but affordable ($500–5,000), buy it. If unaffordable ($100K+), pick a different name — people will type .com and land at someone else. .io, .co, .ai are acceptable for tech/AI companies. Never launch with a domain that’s three words with hyphens; people forget and mistype. Availability is often the hard constraint that kills otherwise-great names.
Testing Names
Three tests: (1) the voicemail test — can someone hear the name once and spell it correctly? (2) The cross-cultural test — what does it mean in Spanish, French, German, Mandarin? (3) The Google test — does searching the name return unrelated, established companies? Test with real potential customers, not just your internal team. Teams fall in love with names customers find confusing.
Legal and Trademark Work
Before committing: trademark search in every country you’ll operate (start with USPTO and CIPO for North America). Hire a trademark lawyer — cheap insurance. Register the name in your country. Buy the .com, top social handles (@yourbrand on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok). Secure these before public launch. Brands that skip legal work often get forced rebrands a year in — far more expensive than the upfront work.
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