Names have the power to influence outcomes. To set intentions in a way that transforms them into reality. To contribute to the destiny of something or someone in a material way.
We can see this in the history of naming children. Puritans often gave children what they called “grace” names – things like Charity, Hope, and Faith – to encourage their desire to work towards moral goodness. Traditional Hawaiian belief holds that names have the power to help or hurt their “owner” – leading to the common practice of coining a highly deliberate, symbolically rich name when a child was born. These are just a couple of countless examples where children were named in the hopes of making something great, something specific, happen for them.
Then there’s the business world. Here we still find a history demonstrative of approaching naming with intention and care. However, the driving force behind that intention and care appears to shift. Instead of selecting names reflective of what the owner hoped for the business, names were chosen through the lens of the wants, needs and behaviors of customers.
Just by the Three Cover’d Chairs & Walnut-Tree.
Take the history of British pubs. Centuries ago most of the British working class couldn’t read. Therefore, British pubs were often named with words that could easily be visualized – things like everyday objects or animals – to enable the use of pictorial signage which could be accurately understood by the illiterate.
Or the history of naming British shops. Prior to 1800, street maps were scarce. As such, people developed habits, such as counting the buildings from a prominent landmark, to try and find the shop they needed. This led to some stores opting for hyper-long names, inclusive of owner’s last name, building name, and helpful directions for locating the premises (things like “the east side of this”, or “next to that”).
An example shared by BBC looks something like:
John Brown at the Three Cover’d Chairs & Walnut-Tree, the East Side of St. Paul’s Church Yard, near the School, London.
A mouthful? Yes. A name that demonstrates an understanding of what people actually need? Also, yes.
Don’t mistake an available name for the right name.
Now we come to the marketplace of today. And it’s a lot more hectic. In fact, when it comes to naming commercial business or offerings, the inclination to approach things in a deliberate, human-centric way often gets overshadowed by other realities of today’s crazy, crowded, click-heavy landscape.
In a world where competition is high, attention spans are short, funding is limited, and speed to market has a “make it or break it” reputation, it’s easy to forego a thoughtful naming journey in favor of finding something that can simply be owned and implemented as quickly as possible. This leads many businesses to seek an “available name”, instead of “a great name”, “a productive name”, or most importantly “the right name”.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. The right name can be found, and owned, if the task of naming is again approached with that same sense of intention and care that has surrounded this endeavor for centuries. You just need to identify and let the right things drive your decision-making.
So, what are those things?
Your Target Audience:
First, and much like days gone by, there are the people who will be interacting with your brand, business, or product. Your name should be inspired by their wants, needs and behaviors. It should speak about how your offering will make their life better – by solving a problem, removing a practical or emotional pain point, enabling a pursuit, or introducing a new and enjoyable experience.
Your name should also be crafted with a sensitivity to their lived reality. When thinking about language – consider things like your target audience’s average literacy level. Their geopolitical and socioeconomic profile, and any linguistic associations that would create for them. Their patterns and stressors of their daily routine and how those might affect the place or headspace they will be in when they encounter your name. Said another way, the name you select is not for you. It’s for them. And it should be designed with everything about them in mind.
Your Value Propositions:
Next there is your offering and what makes it uniquely valuable to the people mentioned above. Part of serving your target audience is respecting their time and objectives enough to actively and honestly help them find what they seek. This means selecting a name that tells them something true and useful about what your offering delivers. That’s not to say a name can’t be metaphorical or abstract – some of the best ones are. But it does mean that whether a name is literal or symbolic, telegraphic or abstract, it should reflect a story related to what your offering can do for or give to them. This will aid in their decision-making process and ultimately help the right people find what you’ve made.
Your Business Trajectory:
Then you have your own commercial ambitions. How do you see your brand or business evolving over time? Do you expect to grow into adjacent areas and, if so, which ones? Do you envision increasing the channels through which your offering can be accessed? Do you hope to expand your target audience to include new cohorts? The answers to these questions will help prevent you from pigeon-holing yourself, and guide the selection of a name with the depth and flexibility to maintain relevance in all future business contexts.
Your Category:
Moreover, you have your category and its specific norms and dynamics. Are there common linguistic conventions? Should you adopt them to send the necessary signals to your target audience? Or avoid them to stand out from the competition? Are there any preconceived notions about your category and the kind of offerings found within in? What kind of name would help combat those existing perceptions? What kind of name would reinforce them? Thinking about your broader category will help ensure you select a name maximized for success within that particular context.
Your Practical Realities:
Lastly, there are the commercial truths inherent to your specific segment as well as the marketplace as a whole.
Things like the need for URLs, social media handles, email addresses and other digital elements related to a name. That’s not to say you need to achieve an “identical match” for your name across all these dimensions (in fact, it’s far better to be open to workarounds for these elements that will preserve your ability to use the best name possible). However, an awareness of the need to linguistically solve for all these different bits and pieces can help set you up for success when selecting a name.
Or your geographic scope. If your name needs to be understood and embraced in various global regions, considerations around pronunciation and cultural sensitivity become more pronounced.
Or trademarking. You may need it, you may not. However, it’s always prudent to have a good sense of the trademarked landscape surrounding your offering. This will help make sure the mindspace surrounding your name is ownable, and prevent you from stepping on competitive toes from both a legal and marketing perspective.
Start your naming adventure the right way.
While this may seem like a big task, the process of carefully thinking these things through up-front will increase efficiencies down the road. By creating a framework through which you can evaluate potential name candidates, this body of knowledge will allow you to quickly narrow down your list to a smaller pool of more appropriate options.
Additionally, these lenses are valuable beyond the realm of finding a name. Having a good understanding of your target audience, your value propositions, your business trajectory, your category and your practical realities is helpful and relevant for all area of commercial activity – including R&D, marketing, logistics, and finance.
So, invest the time up-front to get the clarity you need to approach naming for business with the appropriate level of care and intention it requires. Your outcomes will be exponentially better as a result. And you will end up with an outline that helps drive decision making across the board. A great way to kick-off your naming adventure!