How to choose a new company name

My thinking in November 2010 was to choose a company name based on what you wanted to build. Before looking for words, I felt the product, audience and direction needed to be reasonably clear.

Choose a company name with room to grow

I compared names that explained the product with names that had no obvious meaning. A descriptive name could make the offering easier to understand from the start.

On the other hand, it could resemble lots of other names or become too narrow if the company later sold something else. I used my own thoughts about Spamfighter as one example. Also read Iværksætter til jeg dør about my experiences of building companies.

Short and easier to pass on

I often preferred a relatively short name that people could spell when they heard it. It needed to be something you could pass on without a lengthy explanation.

I’d found Amino through inspiration from the word amino acid. The underlying meaning was fun for me, even though users didn’t need to know it.

Inspiration and a picture in your head

I talked about searching encyclopaedias and working with words that could conjure up a picture. Examples such as a blue banana illustrated how a name could attract attention.

I also felt you should check the domain before deciding. My very relaxed statements about trademarks and registrars in the video are personal experiences from 2010, not a determination of the rights to a name.

The story shows how I thought about names back then. It doesn’t establish that a particular word creates a strong brand or that an available domain makes a name free to use.

Also read about choosing your target audience.

First the homework, then the name itself

I start by showing the latest T-shirt I’ve been sent. If you’d like your own T-shirt shown, you can send it to me for free. The address is in some earlier posts.

My earlier post about company names got quite a reaction. It was really mostly about the barriers that arise when you haven’t done your homework and aren’t quite sure what you’re building.

Now I’ll move on to the name itself. The assumption is that you know the product, audience and what you want. If you don’t, start with the previous video.

Superhosting explains something but can look like all the others

You can choose a descriptive name. If you’re creating a hosting service, you could call it Superhosting. Or you can choose a name with no obvious meaning, one of the nonsense names I use as a contrast in the video.

Jubii, Amino, Skype, Yahoo and Google don’t immediately tell you what the company does. Perhaps there’s a story about a mythological figure or something else behind a name, but that isn’t necessarily something the customer knows.

A descriptive name can make the beginning easier. If Superhosting sells hosting, people can quickly understand the offering. It’s also easier to come up with: I sell balloons and I’m super good, so Superballon. Or my balloons are better than the others, so VIP-ballon. The words already carry certain values.

The problem is that they can be hard to tell apart. Webhosting, Superhosting, Megahosting, Billighosting and VIP-hosting are my examples. Ten seconds later, you may have forgotten who’s who.

Then the work you put into the brand can be lost because the customer can’t remember the name afterwards. For example, I think UnoEuro is easier to remember than Superhosting. I’m not paid to mention them; it’s just my example.

Spamfighter and Tæppeland show the limitation

Spamfighter is a good example of a name I came up with myself and am not particularly proud of. What happens when we also want to sell antivirus? In the video, I say we’ll have to change the name because it’s too narrow.

I compare it to Tæppeland when they start selling wooden floors. Then an advertising agency can come up with a funny twist about also selling carpets or something like that. I can’t remember the wording. My point is that the name has already tied the company to a particular product.

I prefer names that don’t mean something completely obvious. That leaves room for the company to develop.

You need to be able to hear, remember and spell the name

So how do you come up with a name like that? Above all, it needs to stick in people’s heads. I think it’s important that people can spell it when they hear it.

When you tell someone to visit a particular website, a long, strange word with an explanation about a silent letter won’t do. It’s not good for a radio advert or word of mouth either.

So a relatively short name that’s easy to spell is often my choice.

Amino came from encyclopaedias and amino acid

I’m very proud of Amino. It comes from amino acid. It doesn’t matter whether the user knows that, and it has no bearing on whether the name works. But I enjoy having an underlying meaning for myself.

I started looking in medical encyclopaedias, encyclopaedias about warships and all sorts of other encyclopaedias. I was simply looking at names for inspiration.

I wanted a name beginning with A, near the start of the alphabet. Phone books may already have been making that idea less important in 2010, but it was one of my considerations.

Remember too that a name doesn’t necessarily sound good the first time you hear it. I expand on that in the previous video. At some point, you have to choose something and do something with it.

Blue Banana gives you both a picture and a taste

If you can bring something visual into the name, I think it gets interesting. Blue Banana is my example. A banana is yellow, so a blue banana makes something happen in your head. You have to think about it, and perhaps you’ll remember it more easily.

I can almost taste the banana at the same time. So the name speaks both to the picture in my head and to my taste buds.

Blue Pepper is another example. You could make a fun logo with a blue pepper too. Think about whether a name can evoke something visual or bring associations of taste or smell.

Think about your audience, of course. In the video, for example, I suggest a feminine name for girls and a masculine one for boys. But again, be careful about boxing yourself in. Who knows what the company will be doing in five to ten years?

I joke that it’s unfortunate to be called Tøseguf if you later start selling cigars. It’s a contrived example, but it shows the limitation.

Remember the domain before the advertising agency falls in love with the name

I’ve seen big companies find the perfect name with their advertising agency without checking whether the domain was available. I also tell the story of a domain I’d bought myself that a company later wanted as its name. That story ended with a large draught beer.

Other times, getting the domain can become expensive, or a big company ends up threatening a small independent business. Then you can have a PR mess instead of a good launch.

So my advice back then is to check the domain first. I mention .dk for an entirely Danish company and .com if you’re unsure. Lots of .com names are already taken, and I don’t like solving that with strange changes to the spelling.

My relaxed attitude to trademarks in 2010

I say in the video that I’ve never bothered checking trademark databases myself and haven’t had problems with it. I’m very relaxed about it and don’t want to spend money on it.

I admit at the same time that something could happen, of course. My approach back then is: If the domain is available, I’ll create a service under that name, and if it doesn’t work out, I’ll change the name.

That’s my personal experience and willingness to take risks, as I describe it in 2010. An available domain isn’t, in itself, a determination of the rights to the name.

Register it once you’ve decided

I also encourage people to register the domain as soon as they believe they’ll use it. I talk about examples I believe I know of where a registrar took a domain after someone searched for it without buying it.

I say there aren’t many Danish cases, but more American ones. That’s my account at the time, not evidence that a particular registrar does it.

I use GoDaddy myself at that point and think it works well and is reasonably cheap. As far as I know, there’s nothing fishy going on there.

Finally, I also suggest watching the owner’s videos as an example of personal branding, American style. I describe him as a fun character who rides a Harley and slaps blondes on the backside. It’s very American, but I find it entertaining and think it can provide inspiration.

If you have comments or think I’ve forgotten something, you’re welcome to write on my talkshow page. Then your experiences can help others too.

Outsource IT kindly donated a T-shirt