A name is often the first impression that a company gets to make, and it inevitably says much about the kind of company it is (or aspires to be). Strangely then, it’s all too common for it to be a low priority or the last element to be decided upon. Company heads want a name that will radiate strength and credibility – that will communicate with stakeholders and add value to their brand. Trouble is, often they don’t even know where to start…

1. Seek professional help.

Creative thinking and experience of the art of branding mean that design/marketing/advertising firms have transformed the business of naming from a fairly casual sideline service into a specialised field – one that is becoming more and more complex and demanding as words are quite literally being used up by the proliferation of new companies and dot com enterprises over the past 15 years or so. Techniques include analysis of such linguistic properties as “speechstream visibility” (will a consumer read the name properly?), “phonetic transparency” (is it spelled as it sounds?) and “multilingual functionality” (is it as intelligible in Dubai as in Durham?), as well as focus-group testing to rate how potential names convey qualities like “caring towards customers”. At Komodo we tend to take a more offbeat, personal approach, often abandoning this kind of ‘psuedoscience’ in favour of gut instinct and intuition. Given a naming project and following a detailed discussion with the client, we go on the hunt for evocative names – finding them anywhere from a history book to a street sign.

2. Whatever your competitors are doing, don’t do that.

One of our clients, a young, female ergonomics consultant, had chosen the name ‘Effective Ergonomics’ despite the fact that probably 90% of her competition used the word ergonomics in their business name. She felt like one of the trees in the forest and had recognised the need for differentiation when she came to us for advice.

3. Test your tolerance for going ‘out of the box’.

As usual, in our first presentation to our ergonomics client, we threw a whole host of possible names into the hat – testing for her reaction to the scarier and more unusual concepts. Everyone wants something unique – the next ‘Yahoo’ or ‘Google’, but the obstacle is always fear. We try to make clients see that their fears aren’t based on what happens to brands out in the world. Its like FCUK – a brave (some would say suicidal) move by founder Stephen Marks, but one which tapped into the psyche of their target market in a humorous, tongue in cheek way. When naming a business, context is key.

4. Don’t get carried away.

There’s sometimes a fine line between the sublime and the ridiculous. Google works because it means something (it’s the largest number – 10 to the 100th power). It has depth and appropriateness, as well as a fun, ingenious feel. It can be tempting to randomly associate words, that may sound good together, but which create a meaningless name that makes no emotional connection.

5. Don’t involve too many people.

It’s impossible to please all of the people all of the time, and often the price is ending up with a safe, meaningless name that offends no one but, equally, inspires no one. We find that company heads tend to go with gut instinct – they know the right name when they see it, even if they would never have thought of it themselves. When our ergonomics consultant first saw the name ‘Elbowroom’, she was drawn to it almost despite herself. She instinctively liked it but had fears about the quirkiness; the sheer difference of it compared to the business names of her contemporaries. We championed the idea because of exactly those points, and because the literal definition of the word is ‘room to move or work freely’. Still not convinced, she canvassed friends and family, who surprised her with their enthusiastic approval. And so, a new brand was born…