Whether it’s plastered on a box or a billboard, your brand name is a first impression meant to grab attention, pique curiosity, and set expectations. When you know how to name your brand, you can set your venture up for lasting success.
A good brand name is crucial for brand recognition. The right name paired with the right visual style helps you stand out in both digital and physical environments. Conversely, a bad name that’s hard to remember, search for, and pronounce, or that offends customers, can make it much harder to get your brand off the ground.
Learn about the process for naming your brand, along with tips and practical advice from successful ecommerce brands.
Characteristics of good brand names
It’s tempting to run name candidates through an exhaustive checklist in search of the ideal combination of syllables, meaning, and cool factor, but naming your brand is often more of a free-flowing exercise. A brand name may have promise if:
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It’s memorable. A memorable brand name can be short and symbolic (Nike, named for the Greek goddess of victory), or so aligned with the product that the connection is obvious (Dave’s Hot Chicken). Sometimes, the word is memorable simply because of the feeling it evokes. A short, simple name tends to be easier for fans and potential customers to remember than a long one.
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It taps into the spirit of your brand. Great brand names reflect brand personality, whether you’re communicating a sense of humor or a sense of luxury. Consider how you want your customers to feel when they engage with your brand—not just what they’ll buy.
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It’s available. The best brand names are available and not competing for market share or name recognition with similar brands. To check if a name is taken (and to avoid legal action down the road), check trademark databases, domain registrars, social media platforms, and state records.
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You like it. Steve Jobs reportedly settled on Apple because he liked apples. In choosing something so esoteric and unexpected for an electronics company, he allowed fans to imprint their own meanings and interpretations onto the brand. Sometimes, the name that pops into your head is the right one.
Types of brand names
Most brand names fall into one of the following categories:
Descriptive
Descriptive brand names, as their name suggests, describe a brand’s offering with illustrative, concise wording. Everyday essentials brand Zero Waste Store, for example, began as Earthy Shop until its marketing-savvy cofounder, Sarah Cieslinski, noticed a recurring trend during her SEO research. “I saw a lot of people looking for zero-waste products. Then I found out that the domain name ’zero waste store’ was not being used, even though it was searched for 10 or 15,000 times a month,” Sarah says on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. “We were only a few months in, and I thought: there’s a really strong play here—why don’t we rebrand?”
The brand went from fulfilling a few hundred orders a month to more than a million dollars in sales within the first year of making the switch. Descriptive brand names help tap into existing queries and help customers find you faster.
Evocative
Evocative brand names aim to spark feelings, like recognition or happiness. The apparel company Rabbit Running tapped the unique feeling of being a part of a large race. “In big races and competitions, a ’rabbit’ is the pace setter,” says Rabbit Running co-founder Monica DeVreese on Shopify Masters. “They’re the ones that sacrifice their race so that others can achieve their goals and dreams. Once their work is done, they hop off the track or the road and go about their day.” It’s a feeling that seasoned runners would immediately recognize and see as a legitimate representation of their sport.
Words can also be used to elicit a certain mood you want customers to associate with your brand or product. The name “Ghia” was inspired by the Italian car designer Giacinto Ghia, who created lightweight, elegant bodies for iconic brands like Alfa Romeo and Fiat. Founder Melanie Masarin liked the name because it sounded the way she hoped her non-alcoholic aperitif brand would feel: fun, positive, and approachable.
“The drinking culture in Europe is very celebratory. I find that [in North America], there’s sometimes this concept of drinking your sorrows away or drinking because you need it. And that’s something that we absolutely didn’t want to integrate with the brand,” Melanie says on Shopify Masters. Instead, the team tested names against a few key benchmarks. “Can you say the word Ghia in a lot of different languages? Is it a happy word? Is this something that’s very positive?”
Invented
Invented brand names stand out in a crowded marketplace by creating a memorable sound out of made-up words (think Kleenex, or Pinterest). Ideally, those words echo a concept (clean noses, pinning things of interest) and then become a word in their own right. But that doesn’t always have to be the case.
Dumpling brand MìLà, for example, combines the Chinese characters “mi” (honey/sweet) and “la” (spice) to both describe their product offerings and represent the duality of the founders’ Chinese-American identity.
Lexical
Lexical brand names use wordplay to catch a customer’s attention via techniques like alliteration, puns, and playful misspellings. Bluebird Tea Co. turned into Bird & Blend Tea Co. after facing a trademark dispute against a larger company. They got there after asking their loyal fan base to send in words they associated with the brand.
“The things that kept coming back were words around community, the blending of tea, the blending of people, the bringing together of fun flavors, the bringing together of experiences and communities and people to share a cup of tea together,” says cofounder Krisi Smith. “We ended up with the bird and blend as a nod to bluebird and the community and the tea.”
Acronymic
Acronymic brand names turn longer names into acronyms using the first letter of each word, making it catchier and easier to remember. IBM (International Business Machines Corporation), AT&T (American Telephone and Telegraph Company), and IKEA (Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd) are a few well-known acronymic brand names.
Geographical
Geographical brand names connect consumers to the spirit of a particular location or use well-known locations to make a metaphorical connection. Soda company De La Calle (“of the street”) taps into Mexican street vendor culture to sell tepache, the fermented beverage inside the can. Olive oil brand Graza is named for Grazalema, a Spanish village that founder Andrew Benin visited on an olive oil tour—and an homage to the Spanish Picual olives featured in the brand’s products.
Name-based
Founder brand names are those that champion the individual behind the company. Ford and JP Morgan are well-known examples of this style, but it’s not just automotive companies and banks that can benefit.
Beekeeper Tique Chandler of Chandler Honey decided to use her name to stress the personal connection behind every jar of her product. “I wanted it to feel personal to me, because it helps me maintain a really high standard for the product itself, for customer service,” she says on an episode of Shopify Masters. “I love that I still answer all of the comments personally on my social media. I remember who my customers are. I think it’s really important that [me] and Chandler Honey are pretty much the same thing; I’m trying to hold on to that for as long as possible.”
How to name your brand, step by step
- Clarify your brand values and personality
- Research your target audience
- Start brainstorming
- Check availability and claim a domain
- Soft launch and get feedback
Follow these steps in the brand naming process to organize your efforts so the right name emerges:
1. Clarify your brand values and personality
The best brand names are those that mean something to you and that reflect the brand you’re working to build. Understanding your brand personality gives you a sense of how you want your brand to be perceived, and how you’ll appeal to your customers in key moments—like right before they decide to choose your brand off a shelf, for example, or when they decide to click on an ad.
Do you believe in humor as the great driver of decision-making? Are you on a mission to make a sizable impact for sustainability? Make a mood board or word chart, or start writing ideas on a whiteboard. Surround yourself with everything you believe about your brand, and then narrow it down to the top two or three descriptors that crystallize what your brand is all about. This clarity will help you quickly weed out names that don’t hit the mark.
2. Research your target audience
Target audience analysis is a key piece of any branding and marketing strategy, since it illuminates what will resonate most with the people most likely to buy from you—and tell their friends.
It can feel challenging to identify this group before your brand even launches, but it’s an especially useful exercise at this stage. Create buyer personas to paint a picture of who your customers will be, what their interests are, and the other brands they love. You’re looking for a vibe more than hard data here. It’s a space you can play in during the conceptual phase. A younger audience, for example, may gravitate toward more esoteric names, while an older one might favor more concrete communication.
3. Start brainstorming
Once you have a strong sense of your brand and customers, it’s time to build out a list of possible names. AI tools like a business name generator can help get creative juices flowing, but you can also play a few rounds of word association with some of the brand values you identified. Break them out into columns and jot down whatever comes to mind.
Sanzo founder Sandro Roco workshopped a dozen names before turning to his own name (Alessandro Lorenzo Roco) for inspiration. “I think I’m only now starting to realize the broader importance of doing so. In many ways, Sanzo itself is a manifestation of my own personal journey as an Asian-American,” he says on an episode of Shopify Masters. Using his own name felt like a way of contributing to and embracing a larger cultural conversation around identity.
4. Check availability and claim a domain
The best brand names don’t compete for market share or name recognition with other brands. To check if a name is taken (and to avoid legal action down the road), check trademark databases, domain registrars, social media platforms, and state records to be sure.
Once you’ve confirmed your preferred name is available, claim it. You can trademark your brand name through the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). You also receive common law protection simply by claiming and using a name that isn’t previously trademarked. You can do this via your website host. Shopify allows small business owners to purchase custom domains directly through the platform, with automatic SSL certificates and email forwarding for easy launch.
5. Soft launch and get feedback
Create a logo, color palette, and other brand assets by hiring a graphic designer or using a logo maker in combination with other graphic design tools. Get feedback on your brand name and accompanying assets by conducting surveys, social listening, and/or focus groups. Elements of your name, whether the primary name or your tagline, may need to evolve to provide clarity and achieve the response you’re looking for.
Beverage brand De La Calle, as an example, initially launched with the word “tepache” displayed prominently on its branding materials. “For the first three years, we thought that ’tepache’ alone was a big enough idea, that we could educate consumers about a fermented drink from Mexico that tastes delicious and comes from a rich history,” founder Alex Matthews says on Shopify Masters. “After being in the market, I realized that tepache alone is not enough, and we needed another descriptor to become a bit clearer about what it really is.”
The brand added the words “modern Mexican soda” to help consumers categorize the drink. The addition also helped them tap into the nostalgic appeal of Mexican sodas like Jarritos and Mexican Coke for the brand’s key audiences, paving the way for greater market penetration and consumer acceptance. “It’s so interesting, because it is just a switch from a few words, from ‘tepache’ to ‘Mexican soda,’ but it feels like it’s the seed for a redirection and it’s a greater simplification and clarification for the consumer,” Alex says.
How to name your brand FAQ
How do I pick a brand name?
Picking a brand name is part instinct and part design. To generate catchy names, think of a word that captures the spirit of your company, use a brand name generator to jumpstart your brainstorming, or take cues from existing brand names you love.
What are the seven types of brand names?
The seven types of brand names are: descriptive, evocative, invented, lexical, acronymic, geographical, and founder-name-based.
What brand names attract attention?
Any brand name will attract attention given the right marketing, but in general, short, two-syllable names can be more memorable. A survey by atQuo found that “the average name of a successful SaaS [software-as-a-service] company contains approximately 2.48 syllables.”
