HOW TO
NAME YOUR
STARTUP
NAMING YOUR
BUSINESS IS ONE OF THE
MOST IMPORTANT BRANDING
DECISIONS YOU’LL MAKE.
W H Y
I S
I T
S O
I M P O R T A N T ?
Your name can make or break your Startup. You can either discover a golden, memorable, distinctive,
fun-to-say name, or you can slowly dissolve into the graveyard of uninspired brands. Consider one of
2015’s best named Startups (in our opinion), a mattress company named “Loom & Leaf.” I dare you to try
to forget that. It’s fun to say, it’s memorable, and it even has a tiny bit of industry description (which is a
fine balance to strike). This free resource includes information we’ve compiled over our years of branding
experience at Emery Creative, as well as a proprietary process we use when naming businesses and/
or products. Self-guided tools like this can be liberating, but they can also be overwhelming. Take this
process slow, and if you ever decide that you’d like some expert help—we’re always here to help!
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O V E R L O O K E D
N A M I N G
T O O L S
1. DISTINCTIVE
Unfortunately, you can’t name your new craft-brewery Budweiser. Or Sam Adams. Or even Coca-Cola Beer.
Same goes for every other trademarked name. Then how do you stand out in an already saturated market?
If it seems like all the good names (and URLs) are taken; don’t lose heart. Every other long-lasting brand
name was created from scratch. Facebook, perhaps the epitome of “house-hold name” in 2017, is only 13
years old. That means 14 years ago, no one on earth had ever heard of it.
A temptation that some entrepreneurs have is to choose a name that will allow them to “slip in unnoticed.”
Like launching an online shoe company called Zabbos. When naming your Startup, you need to
differentiate from your competitors. To what degree you stand out is up to you… But you must stand out.
Is it pushing the envelope in your space? I’d propose that being ten miles down the road from your current
industry might not be wise, unless you’ve got a platform or product to back it up. Google was an eccentric,
untested name for an internet company in 1996, but they’ve outlasted their critics and backed it up with
two decades of innovation. Do you guys want to fit in? Or do you want to be pioneers?
2. MEMORABLE
We’ve all been there… A victim of trying to remember a boring business name. “Steve’s Pets & Paws Fish
Store” or “Northern Essex County Real Estate Partners.” For fear of standing out (which you just learned
about) entrepreneurs choose to go strictly descriptive. “What do we do? We sell houses. Where do we
live? Northern Essex County. Done!”
Being memorable is everything. Politicians understand this. Why plaster lawn-signs around your town
with your name on them? Because when uninformed voters are in the voting booth, they’re going to
check-off the name they remember seeing.
I S Y O U R B U S I N E S S N A M E M E M O R A B L E ?
After these finishing this eBook, when you feel like you’ve got a few solid name ideas, read them
to a trusted colleague, one after another, then ask them to repeat back to you the ones they remember.
You might only have a few seconds to grab someone’s attention. Help them out by creating a
memorable name.
DESCRIBING THE CULTURE
YOU WANT YOUR BRAND
TO CREATE SHOULDN’T
BE DIFFICULT.
CC OO NN T I N U EE DD
3. PROSODY
This is an often overlooked aspect to naming. This element alone can ensure your name is distinctive and
memorable. Prosody is the patterns of rhythm and sound used in poetry. The art of excellent prosody
is when the meaning of the name is intricately bound to the feeling of saying the name.
For example, naming a security app Fort Knox works because of the historical association, but also because
it’s two syllables with short, sharp fricatives. It’s stern. Saying the name itself gives you the feeling the
brand wants you to have.
Consider Victoria’s Secret. Putting the seductive “secrecy” aside for a moment, the structure of the words
themselves beg to be said in a breathy, whispered way. Saying Victoria’s Secret in an angry voice sounds ridiculous. Lego sounds fun. Lexus sounds sophisticated. Firefox sounds fast.
Pay attention to prosody. Does the actual sound of your name support the feeling/meaning you want to
convey to your audience?
4. AUDIO/VISUAL RELATIONSHIP
When Amazon launched in 1995, Jeff Bezos had named it “Cadabra.” Like, the second half of “Abracadabra.”
People didn’t get it. They couldn’t spell it. It wasn’t clear when it was heard audibly. And it lasted all of 10
months before he changed it to Amazon. The final straw was when Bezos’ lawyer misheard him say the
name and wrote it down as “Cadaver.” If your business name was heard on a radio ad, would someone be able to Google it and find you? Is its’
spelling intuitive? Does it include words that have other spellings/meanings? (i.e. plane/plain) So much of your business will come from personal referrals, often in natural conversation. Unique spellings
like Tumblr or Dribbble work visually, but audibly they’re leading your audience to a fruitless Google search.
This is especially important when people are tempted to use family names in their business. By naming
ourselves Emery Creative, we run the risk of people familiar with Emory University misspelling our name.
That’s a relatively low-level risk we were willing to take. If your family name is Bourgeois, (pronounced
“Bouge-wahh”) you might be bumping into some brand confusion down the road. When you consolidate some final options for your name, say them out loud. Say them in different cultural
accents. Ask people if it’s clear what the name is (and maybe even ask them how they’d spell it from hearing
it the first time).
A C T I V I T Y :
M E T A P H O R
D I S C O V E R Y
Describing the culture you want your brand to create shouldn’t be difficult.
If it is, spend some time back in that dreaming phase before ever putting pen to paper on a name. Your
business name shouldn’t dictate the course of your brand’s personality, it should illuminate what’s already
there (or what you’re dreaming of for the future).
In this first step, we’re going to circle 5 adjectives you feel accurately describe your brand’s intended
personality. To help you out, on the following page we’ve included a list of prompting adjectives.
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agreeable
alert
alluring
ambitious
amused
boundless
brave
bright
calm
capable
charming
cheerful
coherent
comfortable
confident
cooperative
courageous
credible
cultured
dashing
dazzling
debonair
decisive
decorous
delightful
detailed
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determined
diligent
discreet
dynamic
eager
efficient
elated
eminent
enchanting
encouraging
endurable
energetic
entertaining
enthusiastic
excellent
excited
exclusive
exuberant
fabulous
fair
faithful
fantastic
fearless
fine
frank
friendly
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funny
generous
gentle
glorious
good
happy
harmonious
helpful
hilarious
honorable
impartial
industrious
instinctive
jolly
joyous
kind
kind-hearted
knowledgeable
level
likeable
lively
lovely
loving
lucky
mature
modern
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nice
obedient
painstaking
peaceful
perfect
plausible
pleasant
plucky
productive
protective
proud
punctual
quiet
receptive
reflective
relieved
resolute
responsible
rhetorical
righteous
romantic
selective
self-assured
sensitive
shrewd
silly
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sincere
skillful
smiling
splendid
steadfast
stimulating
successful
succinct
talented
thoughtful
thrifty
tough
trustworthy
unbiased
unusual
upbeat
vigorous
vivacious
warm
willing
wise
witty
wonderful
AFTER LANDING ON
5 ADJECTIVES, WE’LL MOVE
TO THE NEXT STEP
M A K I N G
M A K I N G
T H E
T H E
C O N N E C T I O N
C O N N E C T I O N
In this step, we’ll brainstorm 3 different nouns (people, places, things) that share this same description. For
example, if your adjective is “self-assured,” you might write down Hercules, tempered steel, and redwood
trees. Now you have three previously disconnected nouns (and names!) that resonate with the culture you’re
trying to create. Instead of naming your business “Self-Assured Hammers,” you might experiment with
Hercules Hammers (or other Greek gods), or simply calling it Redwood Tools.
Allow yourself to be creative and draw connections that are seemingly ridiculous. 20 years ago, naming your
business using strictly onomatopoeia was ridiculous, but here we are with Yahoo! If, in your exploration, you hit a dead-end, don’t give up. Turn back to the list of adjectives and try a different
one. Or bring a new person into the process. C O N C L U S I O N
Naming something is an art.
If Just ask any expecting parent. This activity is not magic,
but it is helpful. Very helpful. We hope this resource is a
blessing to you and your team.
Your Startup’s Best Friend™
If you have any questions about the branding process, or if
you’re interested in our 30-Day Branding Bootcamp, visit
http://emery-creative.com to schedule a call with one of our
Brand Strategists.
HAPPY
EXPLORING