Alex's Notes

Nike takes its name from the Greek goddess of victory, but who pictures a goddess when they buy running shoes? I doubt that one in a hundred customers give a thought to the meaning behind the name. Would Nike have done so well under any name?

I don’t think picking a ‘great’ name is so important; the real meaning of your name will be crafted by your branding efforts. But there are a few show-stoppers to avoid, especially if your company will live mostly online. In order of importance, some naming considerations to mull over:

1. Brandable. Before building a brand, you need to know you can own it. Without a trademark you have little claim to the brand you build, but in my experience this is often overlooked by web entrepreneurs. Because it is a bit costly (roughly $1500 USD for a US or Canadian application, depending who you see, and much cheaper if you brave it yourself) you could delay the application until you actually launch. What cannot be delayed is doing a thoughral trademark search in the jurisdictions you plan to do business. Make sure your name is different enough (not ‘confusingly similar’) with other trademarks in your proposed class(es). Start your US search here,  your Canadian search here, and your UK search here. Remember that common words aren’t easily trademarkable (the process would be harder, and enforcing your trademark rights would be difficult).

2. Available. You need that domain! You can see what’s available and some of what’s for sale here at godaddy. Your name should also be available in the mind of your customers, so you might want to avoid certain common words which already have a strong meaning.  Existing names may have negative associations by some population segments, cultures, or languages. If foreign-language traffic will be crucial, consider running the name past native speakers.

3.  Short and Simple. For dealing with search engines and typing URLs, its very important people can spell your name. Avoid tricky spellings (silent letters, words foreign to your market, misspellings). The reason domains with just a single hyphen are worth much less than their non-hyphenated siblings is because they’re harder to explain (”that’s ‘youtube’ with a minus sign, between the you, and the tube”). Sites like del.icio.us and Flickr.com have done well despite this, but I think it’s a mistake. Google is a misspelling, but at least it’s an intuitive, phonetic spelling of a word nobody knew anyway. Of the top 25 brands in 2008, the average name length is just over 7 letters.

4. Descriptive — or not. I think this depends heavily on your market and growth plans. If you plan to exist in a niche market, a descriptive name can get your message across quickly, and be memorable. So a search engine for cars could be called carsearch.com, and potential visitors would instantly know if it’s what they’re looking for. Search engines can also give priority to descriptive URLs that contain the search terms, but I wouldn’t weight that too heavily. A danger with descriptive names (aside from sounding cheesy, sometimes) is being pigeon-holed — forever locked to your original product/service. Carsearch.com might have a hard time even extending to motorcycle search. In contrast, abstract names are the raw marble you can chisel your brand image from. A name like Yahoo! could fit nearly any business (except maybe medicine, psychology, law, etc.) and extend its brand a long way. The problem with abstract names is they are born without meaning, so you must work hard to build it. They work best where you’ll have plenty of opportunity for brand reinforcement, like with ads and event sponsorships. Of the top 25 brands, only 4 names describe their product, service, or industry. Instead of using an existing little-known name (maybe derived from Greek mythology, or city names, etc.), consider inventing a new word, which will return no competing results in a search engine. Try this web 2.0 name generator if you’re not feeling creative.

5. Emotional. This is about how the name makes you feel when read or heard. Some words are clearly emotionally-charged (red, safe, smiling, etc.), but I think most ‘neutral’ words also have a subtle feel to them. Combine words to craft your emotional message, or at a minimum avoid negative words.