In my survey of namers from last November, I asked folks when it felt like they were namers. Their answers ranged from “right away” to “I still don’t.” Here were some big themes, along with some of my favorite quotes from their responses.
When you see your names in the market
“When I started seeing things I named in friend's homes.”
Depending on how you enter the world of naming, this part can take awhile. When I worked at Martha Stewart, things I named would usually hit the shelves the next season. But when I ran a naming projects at Interbrand, a lot of big technology projects I spent months on never even saw the light of day.
It’s validating to see names you made out in the world, but if it hasn’t happened yet, don’t despair. This isn’t the only thing that makes you a namer.
When names you’ve come up with get some traction—even behind the scenes
“[I felt like a namer when] some of my names finally made it into a client presentation. That took me almost half a year, as I had to compete with eight senior namers in my unit. A few months later, when I was able to go to the supermarket and buy a Wrigley chewing gum that I named, I knew I never wanted to do anything else again.”
When you’re starting out, a lot of the names you come up with won’t make it very far. They’ll be the same ones everyone else comes up with first too, meaning they’re unlikely to pass trademark checks, or they’re likely to have linguistic issues other folks know to avoid. So when you come up with something and it makes it all the way to a naming presentation, that’s a really big deal!
When you find your rhythm with it
“I've been naming for about 8 years, but I started really feeling like one ~4 years ago after I noticed it was taking me less time to do the things that used to take me forever.”
“I knew I was a namer around the 50th project.”
“[When I had] my first independent, direct client, because I had to do the kickoff, write a brief, all that due diligence.”
“Lol maybe when I found myself spending free time deep in some USPTO documentation (it's really impressive btw haha surprising production value in some of their videos ^_^). Which I guess is to say when it felt like I was able to speak to the broader process, having sought knowledge and experience from folks who considered themselves namers. Like I could speak their language.”
It takes time to build muscles for all the tasks that support naming. Once you’ve done them enough times that they don’t freak you out—and maybe even feel good—you might start to feel like calling yourself a namer.
When someone else calls you a namer
“After a three month of working partly as a receptionist and partly as a creative namer I was offered a full time job as a junior naming consultant. That's when I felt I was a namer because my whole day was spinning around naming tasks.”
Ah, external validation. Nothing like it. If you’re given the job title of namer, who are you to argue? And even if it’s not your job title yet, when someone says, “We need a namer for this project,” and you can help them with what they need help with, you might be a namer…
When you decide you’re a namer
External validation aside, it’s really up to you. If you’re coming up with names for things, you can call yourself a namer. That’s what you’re doing: you’re naming.
And it doesn’t have to be your only job title. If it’s something you’re doing and it’s something you like calling yourself, please, don’t wait for someone else to give you permission. You’re a namer.
Or maybe you’ll never call yourself one…
Maybe you love the work, but don’t want to call yourself a namer—that’s ok too. Some people I consider pretty seasoned namers don’t call themselves that. WAIT, what do they call themselves? That’s our cliffhanger for next week.
Happy naming!
Caitlin
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