This month, I'm teaching The Essentials of Naming, a class where I cover (at a high level) everything that's essential to running a naming project successfully. And that includes starting every project with a sense of what will make a name a success.
Side note: March’s class focus is the Strategy of Naming—learn how to build a naming strategy and then use it to guide the whole process, start to finish (and beyond?). Join me in class!
Anyone who's been naming for a long time has probably labored over their definition of a "good" or "successful" name.
Easy to read, write, spell, and pronounce.
Memorable.
Evocative.
Catchy.
Appealing.
Most are right, or right enough to keep brands out of ~deep trouble~. But after many years of laboring over my own definition, I feel best about the following three criteria:
#1 Does the job it was designed to do
This has evolved the most since I began naming. Yes, for most naming projects, the job of the name is to be memorable, evocative, catchy, fun to say, etc. But for some projects? It's the opposite.
I've done projects for brands where the goal was EXTREME clarity, resulting in a name that was dry, but communicated critical information in a clinical research setting.
I've done projects where the goal was to create an "under the radar" name for ~kinda secret~ projects that didn't want their trademark registration to give much away.
If I'd held too tightly to definitions of what a good name looks like, I would have forced clients into a name they genuinely didn’t want. I would not have been a good partner to those clients.
The main task at the start of a naming project is to understand the name's job—what should it help the brand or business do? And then design a strategy that will help it do that job very, very well.
#2 Respects its audience(s)
This where best practices like being easy to read, write, spell, and pronounce come in.
But I think a more complete thought is "Easy to read, write, spell, and pronounce FOR THOSE WHO NEED TO READ, WRITE, SPELL, AND PRONOUNCE IT.” It forces important question early in the process:
Who is this really for?
What will they care about most?
How do they talk?
What will make them feel respected by this name?
Should it be in their language?
What's a no-go for them?
An audience of clinical researchers and an audience of 18-35-year old snack lovers are going to have very different needs from most names. If a name doesn't respect the languages, cultures, and priorities of its audiences, it won't go far.
#3 Is free of MAJOR risk or baggage
This means that it’s gone through all the filtering that a responsible brand should conduct on any name it wants to consider using (yes, even if it doesn’t plan on trademarking a name).
You might think a name is "great," but if it's going to infringe on an existing trademark, offend people through a meaning you're not aware of yet, remind your target audiences of something your biggest competitor would offer, or even create confusion when someone is just trying to get directions to your store on Google Maps, it's really not that great.
All names will carry some degree of risk. But if you can eliminate options that could threaten the business’s ability to operate and have successful relationships with its customers, your names are far more likely to withstand the test of time. And that means having a pretty well-rounded view of a name’s risk profile before recommending it to a client, or moving forward with it yourself.
Learn more about this, and the entire naming process, at an upcoming Naming for Everyone class!
Happy naming!
Caitlin
Want more naming resources?
Take an upcoming Naming for Everyone class
Download free booklets from the Truth in Branding series on naming and trademarks