Choosing a Name (and Making Sure You Can Keep It)

Part C: Prepare the Business to Launch

Choosing a name is not going to make or break your business. One of the richest men in the world owns companies whose names have nothing to do with what they do today. So relax a little. At the same time, put some real thought into it, because the name becomes part of your branding, and unlike the logo or the website, it is very hard to change later.

What is in a name? The common starting point is to describe what you do. “Johnson Roofing and Siding” works fine for a roofing and siding company. But how many large chains carry a name like “Mike’s Plumbing and Heating”? Part of what makes a name memorable is the branding you build around it, and part is the name itself being something people recall when they think of what you do.

What makes a name work

You can brand a name to mean almost anything. The question is what will be effective in your industry. Would you call a donut shop “The Pig Lair”? It is amusing, but it will not give people the warm feeling they get from dunking a donut in their coffee, and imagine trying to build a logo and identity around it. Do not think of Nike as a coincidence either. Look up where that name comes from and what a sports brand has in common with Greek history.

When we named RedKnight, the name was actually crossed off the list in our first brainstorming session. A couple of days later we met again, and RedKnight was the first name everyone at the table remembered. That told us something. So we started playing with it. Why is the knight unique? It is the chess piece that takes longest to learn to use well. It is the only piece that does not need empty spaces around it because it jumps over others. It is a recognized symbol of strategy, which is what marketing is. Red was chosen because it grabs attention and is easy to remember. And the slogan came easily: “your jump on the market.”

As you generate names, test each one against a few questions. What does it sound like when said out loud? How easy is it to remember a day later? Can you think of a slogan with it? What makes it unique? What will people associate with it?

Where ideas come from

Do not sit staring at a blank page. Use a Latin dictionary, a thesaurus, a list of Greek and Roman gods, the internet, and a friend. Words from other languages, other times and other cultures may be the ideal name for your business, and they tend to be more distinctive than anything descriptive. Give the process time. Meet, list, walk away, meet again, and notice which names people remember without looking at the list.

Making sure you can keep it

Here is the part I would put in bold: make sure it is not trademarked. Nothing hurts more than a year of signs, trucks, cards and a website, followed by a letter from an attorney telling you to stop using your own name. So before you fall in love with anything, research it.

Start with a plain internet search for the name and the name plus your industry. Then search your state’s business registry to see whether the entity name is taken. Then search the federal trademark database. Then check whether the domain you want is available, along with the handles on the platforms your customers use. If everything is clear, register the business name with your state and buy the domain the same day. Registering with your state only stops another business from filing the same entity name. It does not give you the name. That takes a trademark, and use in your area counts too. If you are building something you intend to grow beyond one town, talk to a trademark attorney about filing, which we cover in the lesson on picking professionals.

The research step also protects your customers from confusion. If there is already a plumber two towns over with nearly your name, every bad review they get lands on you, and every referral you earn might land on them.

This week

List ten name candidates using at least two of the idea sources above. Say each one out loud to three people and ask them to repeat the list back tomorrow, and keep the ones they remember. Run the survivors through a web search, your state business registry, the federal trademark search and a domain check. Register the winner with your state and buy the domain and social handles the same day.

Generating and testing names takes a few hours spread over two weeks, because the memory test needs a night in between. The searches are free. State registration is usually a modest filing fee, a domain is a small yearly cost, and a trademark filing runs from a few hundred dollars for the government fee to more with an attorney. Skipping the search is the only expensive option.