Do you need to come up with a name for your company or product? You have not yet taken on this task or you do not like any idea proposed before? Let’s understand together the main ways of creating a name. We are sure that after reading this article, you will not only learn something new and interesting, but you will definitely find your idea for naming! In addition, KOLORO has many experts in the field of naming and design development. We will definitely help you out!
The name of a company, brand or trademark is a very important part of the success of marketing your brand. The company name and brand name will affect how you are perceived by consumers, whether they remember you, whether the brand becomes recognizable.
Creating naming for a company or brand seems like an overwhelming task at first glance. There are countless brands and trademarks in the consumer markets, and a huge number of names, word combinations and acronyms involved. Therefore, it seems to brand managers that in order to stand out in the market among competitors it is necessary to come up with something incredible and fantastic. In fact, everything is much simpler, as they say: “Everything brilliant is simple!”. The simpler and clearer for the consumer will be your name, the better it will be perceived and more quickly remembered, this is evidenced by the experience of the world’s famous brands, let’s take at least the company Apple.
There are many easy ways to come up with a unique name for a brand. We’ve selected 12 of the most effective ways to come up with a company name and illustrated them with real-life brand examples .
Where did the word “Pepsi” come from and how the radio station Echo of Moscow is involved in the name VKontakte – read in the KOLORO blog.
1. Name after the name of the founder of the company
This is one of the most common ways of naming. The name is based on the first or last name of the founder of the company. There are many successful examples: Ford, McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble, KiraPlastinina, Gillette, etc. The main thing here is that the name should not be absurd in sound and should not repeat already existing brand names on the market. Although the designer Tom Ford was not hindered by the famous surname in promoting his own brand. He only added his own name to the name.
Henry Ford gave his car company his own name
2. Combining words
Using different words or parts of them, you can make completely new words and combinations that can perfectly fit the name of the brand. For example, the name of the world-famous sportswear brand Adidas was derived in this way. The founder of the company was named Adolf Dasler, in the circle of friends and acquaintances he was called Adi (Adi Das). Other examples: 4you, Pepsi, Lukoil, Bananas, Pampers.
When combining two words and creating a neologism, you often get strange, hard-to-pronounce names or words with undesirable connotations. Therefore, after developing naming variants, it is always necessary to analyze them for negative associations and connotations. During our work in KOLORO we have repeatedly encountered inappropriate and strange names. Once we couldn’t resist and wrote about funny names of medicines. Read it and pay attention! If you also need to develop a name for a medicine, pharmacy or a company that provides medical services – read our article.
Clothing and footwear collection for Adidas Originals by Rita Ora
3. alliteration (rhythm and rhyme)
It is much easier to remember a name if it has rhyme, sound, a certain rhythm or repetition of words. For example: Coca-Cola, M&M’s, Chupa-Chups, Shake’n’Bake etc. The name Motorola is also a combination of consonant words. According to one version, it is a derivative of “motor” – automobile and “ola” – sound. The word combination turned out to be simple and easy to pronounce, both in the West and in the East.
Moto Z Droid appearance and slogan with Moto Mods
4. allusion or innuendo
A way of generating a name by modifying a well-known concept, alluding to a literary or historical source, drawing parallels and analogies. For example, the name Lady X is derived from the well-known Mr. X, and the name of the musical group Brothers Grimm is the surname of fairy tale writers. Also in this category falls the name of the international chain of small markets 7-Eleven. From the first glance at the name, the customer knew that the store was open from 7 to 11. By the way, this was one of the reasons for the popularity of the market, because it was founded in 1927. At that time, such a store schedule was a rarity.
Signage and exterior design of the chain of small stores7-Eleven
We wrote about how to come up with a name for a store in our article Naming for a retail chain. We also published a material about the peculiarities of naming for a butcher‘s store. It is based on the case of KOLORO – the development of naming for a distinctive Ukrainian brand. If you are interested in naming services for a store – write to us and we will discuss all the details of your project.
5. Method of analogy
By selecting the right association, stereotype or template with which the company name or brand name will be associated, you can not only get high-quality naming, but also win on the quick recognition and memorability of the name. Inspiration can be sought in various historical or movie characters, among plant or animal names, names of planets, etc. For example, Red Bull, Puma, Jaguar, Veles, Onegin, Three Fat Men, The Matrix, etc. The name of Bounty chocolate comes from the name of the Bounty Islands archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, near New Zealand.
Bounty is a heavenly delight
6. Name-acronym or abbreviation
This method is especially good if there is no way to avoid long names. In such a case, it is best to use abbreviations and acronyms. In this way, the consumer’s connection to the brand is not broken. Good examples are: IKEA (Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd), BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke AG), GUM (Main Universal Store), MTS (Mobile Telephone Systems) or NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration).
Abbreviation names are often found for brands that operate in international markets. It can be difficult for Ukrainian manufacturers to develop a name for export. Our article will help to facilitate this stage.
NASA logo
7. Cut or truncation method
This method of obtaining a name by cutting syllables or individual parts out of them. A successful example of a name obtained in this way is CiscoSystems (a well-known manufacturer of networking equipment). The name is derived from the name of the city of San Francisco. The name Intel is also created in a similar way. The name of the IT-corporation is an abbreviation of the word combination Integral Electronics.
Intel logo and products
8. Metonymy
The eighth method is based on the use of methods in the company name from the particular to the general. For example Burger King is not just a burger, but the king of burgers. This method also works in reverse sequence – from the general to the particular (Empire Style or Planet Sushi). The name Starbucks is also created using metonymy. The favorite literary work of the founders of the chain was the novel “Moby Dick”. The hero of the novel Starbuck was very fond of coffee. Thus, the network of coffee shops got its name, which became famous throughout the world. The company logo, a mermaid, is also borrowed from this novel. In the former Soviet Union, a curiosity happened with the perception of the name. Some people seriously believe that the name is somehow connected with dollars and stars. The chain has not become less popular, on the contrary, it is an example of a trendy youth establishment.
Exterior and interior of the Starbucks chain
We wrote everything about choosing a name for a restaurant, bar or cafe in our material. There you will find a list of typical mistakes, tips on how to start choosing a name for a restaurant and plenty of examples. Our marketing expert also analyzes the names of popular Ukrainian establishments and their communicative message.
9. Sound imitation
The use of words in the brand name that can convey the desired properties of the product or its qualities. Examples are Schwepps – fizzy carbonated drink, Agusha – food for the youngest children, Twitter – social network (the name conveys the sound of birds chirping).
Schwepps is the name of the drink, which captures its essence
10. Use of oxymoron
A rarely used method of creating naming. It involves using a humorous or controversial phrase in the name, such as Little Adult, True Lies or “Birka” (fish for beer). Another example is Lowe Alpine. The brand makes hiking gear and uses an oxymoron in their name, Lowe Alpine means “Low Alps”. This is how they tell their consumers that with their products, climbing will be as easy as a walk in the park.
Lowe Alpine brand promotional photo
11. secret meaning or mystery name
A name may contain a secret meaning. Brand names can be incomprehensible to the consumer, until people start looking for the meaning of these words for the sake of interest. For example, few people know that NIVEA from Latin translates as “snow-white”, and the name of the company Daewoo from Korean translates as “big universe”. Such names, at the very least, intrigue and arouse interest.
Daewoo automobile industry
12. unrelated words (to the product)
It is not necessary that the name of the company is directly associated with its activities. After all, you can call the company any word unrelated to the core business. Sometimes even multiple brainstorming sessions fail and naming remains an unsolved task.
However, it is not necessary to spend a lot of time and effort to come up with a brand name. It is enough just to look around at what surrounds us, at the things around us: fruits, books, writing utensils, natural phenomena. All of these can trigger the creation of an ingeniously simple but perfect name. For example, the company Adobe was named after the river that flowed behind the founder’s house. And the name of the Japanese company Fujifilm is based on the name of the mountain (and volcano at the same time) Fuji (Fujiyama).
Fujifilm products with which the Fujifilm brand is associated
No matter how perfect the name of a brand, trademark or company may be, it can easily be spoiled by the quality of service, image or product quality. Therefore, it is important to monitor compliance with quality standards and respond quickly to crises.
The most important thing is to have your title:
- simple;
- easy to pronounce;
- as clear as possible for the consumer;
- memorable.
To better understand the topic, you can download our naming guide “12 Ways to Compose a Profitable Name“, which will reveal more about all aspects of naming and help you name your product or TM correctly.
We wrote more about how to name a company in our article. Also in the KOLORO blog there is a material about the peculiarities of developing a trademark for food products. And on the basis of this material we wrote an article “12 ways to come up with a profitable name”, where we laid out all the requirements for a selling name. The article contains a lot of factual and statistical information.
KOLORO has extensive experience in product naming, brand design, information gathering (desk research). We will help you to come up with an original company name, brand name or trademark, develop the design of packaging and product labeling, as well as register your trademark, find partners both in the Ukrainian and foreign markets, produce circulation of packaging and other.
You can check out our services and portfolio on this website. You can read more about how we develop a name for brands and what stages the process involves here.
