Five Lessons I've Learned in Brand Naming

I’ve named a few brands so far in my work, and I’ve learned the hard way that it’s a tricky old game. So much power rests on a single name, and so much responsibility in the selection. And more often than not, it’s extremely subjective and biased, not to mention fraught with pitfalls, which is why it can be so difficult to pick the winner from a selection.

There are a few things that I wish I knew when I started out, and by sharing them I hope to take most of the headache out of naming for others.

Five naming lessons

1. Names take on meaning, not the other way round.
   A name doesn’t always have to have a deep meaning. In fact, some of the most familiar names in the world are virtually meaningless: Sony, Tik-Tak, Spotify. Over time, they’ve become synonymous with the companies they stand for, and have developed a reputation that’s inseparable from the products themselves. Think about the brand, apple. It’s become so synonymous with the quality of its products these days that even the humble fruit it’s named after seems to have taken a back seat to the tech giant.

   Lesson: A name does not mean a brand. The brand is built after the name and needs a lot of hard graft to become a respected household name.

2. The story behind the name is more important than the name itself.

   Rather than focusing on the name itself and getting hung up in the sound or visual aspects, think about the story behind the name. You can’t pick a name and expect people to like it instantly; it has to have a strategy that informs the story you will tell about the name. This story will become an intrinsic part of the name in the future, for example Spotify: “spot” and “identify” both mean to see or find something, which makes perfect sense because many people use Spotify to discover new music and artists. A name can be totally made up or abstract but if it has a clear strategy and story behind it, then it’ll be a strong contender.

   Lesson: Craft a strong, powerful story about the brand name. Tell it persuasively.

3. Be selective with who you ask opinions from.

   This follows on from lesson #2. I made the mistake of asking anyone and everyone what they thought of my name, which only served to add even more confusion and derail the whole process. I get it, you’re excited to tell your family and friends your new name options. But trust me, stick to your naming process and keep a select number of people involved from start to finish, and don’t keep adding more people down the line, unless it’s just your dog. Because if you open up the process to people who haven’t been involved from the start, they’ll give their subjective, biased opinions without understanding the thinking that went into each name.

   As proven in human behavioural science, it’s human nature to create cognitive biases. This is especially true for anchoring bias, where we interpret newer information from the reference point of our anchor, instead of seeing it objectively, which can skew our judgment. Or the bandwagon effect, where people adopt certain behaviours or beliefs because many other people do the same. This is because when an idea or belief increases in popularity, we are more likely to adopt it, due to various subconscious influencers such as the desire to fit in or our brain’s attempt to take shortcuts rather than spend precious energy analysing something for itself.

   For example, if you tell a friend or family member that you’ve decided to call your new sustainable deodorant brand “Fussy” because you care strongly about the earth and people’s body’s, it’s highly likely that they will say something like, “Why would you want to name your brand Fussy, being too fussy isn’t a good thing, it’s annoying!” A.K.A, they will likely miss the point: that it’s about encouraging people to be more selective and conscious when buying a deodorant.

   Lesson: Our mind creates cognitive biases. Keep the list of people you involve in the naming process short and simple, and consistent from the start.

4. You might not initially love the name you choose.

   “I don’t love any of them”, “Can we see some more”, “None of these feel perfect”. I’ve heard it all before. Even after coming up with countless names, you’re still expecting “the one” to jump out at you dressed in a unicorn outfit covered with glitter and sparkles. The truth of the matter is that you probably won’t fall head over heels in love with your initial favourites initially; they might take some getting used to. It’s better to sleep on them for a while and let them mull over in your mind before discounting them.

   Lesson: Give each name some room to breathe, take the pressure off, and see which name really sticks after a few weeks of relaxed mulling over.

5. The winning name is often one of the first ones.

   All too often, some great names come out of the mix in the first round, but are put aside to explore other seemingly more “clever” avenues and routes. And a lot of the time, at least one of the final runners up will be a name that came up right at the start. It’s all down to first impressions and gut reactions, which often provide the missing puzzle piece. The names that initially jump out at you do sometimes have legs, so don’t dismiss them, keep every name you come up with well documented.

   Lesson: Keep every single name you come up with in close proximity until the final selection process, and don’t discount the simplest, most obvious ones, because sometimes the simplest name is the winner.