📝 How to come up with a brand name — DIY edition!

Developing an effective brand name can feel like an exercise in insanity. It’s a lot of time and effort and potentially, money, to invest into a word that is maybe 6 letters long. But don’t think of it as rolling a boulder up a hill; in fact, it’s the opposite when executed well. It’s a snowball that gains speed and size as the company and brand grow.

Jeff Bezos was originally going to name Amazon, Cadabra. Like Abracadabra. But then a lawyer mispronounced it Cadaver, and the panic set in. He knew he wanted something big and exotic because what he was endeavoring to do was, well, big and exotic. “The Amazon River is like four times the size of the next-biggest river, it blows all the other rivers out of the water,” he once quipped. He was originally intending to build the world’s biggest bookstore, and then he built the world’s biggest everything store, and the name gave the company permission to go there.

So yes, the right brand name unlocks serious opportunities. Here are the 5 steps you can do today!

Develop hundreds, if not thousands, of names

Most will be unusable. More ideas inspire more ideas. You want to cover a lot of creative ground, it will help you sort out what feels right and what doesn’t feel right. Plus, you’re going to get hammered by legal (more on that later).

Work backwards from your story

Write your story, long-form. What’s your mission? What’s your reason for being? What do you want your customers to say about you? What does success look like in 10 years? Your name will be the title of that story. Run your names through the lens of your story.

Don’t discount the “bar call” factory

Is it natural to say? Does it feel fitting? Does it feel like something you would proudly wear on a shirt? Does it feel like something you could say at the top of a pitch? An “old fashioned” feels so right when you’re bellying up to the bar.

Don’t source too many opinions from people not actually building the brand

So many people will have so many unhelpful opinions. The moment someone says, “I don’t like it,” without much to follow,  be on high alert.

Legal is one of the best creative filters

There are so many brand names that are claimed. Use a really good trademark attorney to do a preliminary screen on your names. Depending on the category, you can expect upwards of an 80% fall-out rate on your names (see point 1).

Good luck naming your baby, errrr, brand. And DM if you ever want more naming advice!