One of the most perfect brand names of all time started out as a spelling error.
You’ve probably heard of it: Google. As legend goes, co-founder Larry Page was searching through available domain names with the idea of “googol” in mind. (One googol equals an unfathomably large number, hinting at how many pages the company would one day index.)
Somehow, googol got misspelled into Google. But it was a fun, quirky misspelling — ala “The Beatles” — and within years, “Google” became a ubiquitous brand name. Practically a verb.
If good brand names are simple, catchy, and capable of capturing the imagination, they can do wonders for your brand, too.
But what makes a “perfect” brand name? Is there some sort of poetic formula to crack? Let’s break it down in this comprehensive brand name guide.
Disclaimer: All trademark rights belong to their respective owners. Third-party trademarks are used here for demonstrative and educational purposes only, use does not represent affiliation or endorsement.
What makes a brand name “great”?
A great brand name is simple, future-proof, easy to search, culturally sensitive, and aligns with your strategies. In short, a great brand name is a universal, catchy identifier that amplifies your message because it’s so darn effective.
Brand names like Google or Fabletics are so effective that they tend to invent new words while conveying what they sell. Google is a riff on “googol,” the obscenely large number. This hints at how comprehensive the search engine is. Fabletics combines “fabulous” and “athletics,” simultaneously inventing a new word while dipping its toes in specific niches.
That leaves a simple question: how to find a brand name for your company? But good brand names are more of an art than a science. It’s worth taking the time to get the art right: 50% of consumers are more likely to buy from a company whose logo they easily recognize.Top tip: find out how to make a great business logo here.
Become recognizable, and people are more likely to buy from you. That just leaves one thing: how do you become recognizable?
Brand naming strategy — dos and don'ts
The best way to start brainstorming the perfect brand name is to reflect what good brand names do — and what poor brand names don’t. The more you learn about these strategies, the more it might click when you brainstorm your own brand names and stumble on one that feels truly special.
Best practices of effective brand names
Yes, there are lots of reasons a brand name seems to “click,” and it’s not always easy to put your finger on it. But as you browse some of the most successful brand names around, you’ll start to notice that they share a few things in common.
Let’s look at the dos and don’ts to give you a better map of the “perfect brand” territory and help you understand how to find a brand name.
Do: Keep it simple
Einstein once said “everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” Ditto for learning how to find a brand name.
Make your brand name simple by distilling what you do into a single, repeatable word. You want the right mix of simple-enough-to-remember and distinct-enough-to-understand. Some examples:
- Nike is only four letters long, but it’s also a reference to the Greek goddess of victory. It’s short enough to be memorable, yet includes one simple, big idea: victory.
- Tesla is only five letters, yet references one of the preeminent scientists of the past few centuries. The implication is simple: this is supposed to be a visionary brand on the cutting edge.
- Tide is a simple idea, yet evokes the cleanliness that an enormous amount of water brings.
Simple is memorable. Don’t overcomplicate your brand name. And if you want to find more examples and instructions for making your brand name simple, find out how a tagline can help your branding.
Do: Make it future-proof
To future-proof a brand, choose something universal enough to stand the test of time. You don’t want to reference current technologies or trends that may go out of style.
“Blockbuster” is an example here. It’s a reference to movie successes where lines to the theater would be so long, they went around the block: a Blockbuster. But as Netflix (“Internet” + “flicks”) took over and made streaming movies at home possible, the brand name “Blockbuster” started to seem out of date.
Here are some examples of future-proof brand names that have stood the test of time:
- Zoom: We all associate Zoom with videoconferencing, but the name is universal enough to apply to other communication tools — or anything that speeds up our lives.
- Meta: Whether you’re a fan of Facebook’s rebrand or not, “Meta” is a much more universal word that can last beyond its focus on the metaverse.
Do: Make it searchable
To be “searchable,” a brand name has to be distinct from others. This is why “Bookstore,” while descriptive and memorable, is probably not a great brand name for your “bookstore.” It will clash with too many competitors. Make your brand name searchable by giving it a unique distinction that will help you show up in search engines. Examples:
- Amazon: Jeff Bezos chose “Amazon” because he wanted a company that started with A (for an advantage in alphabetical-order listings) and one that hinted at its future as a gargantuan-sized “everything store.” The giant Amazon rainforest is also an appropriate future-proof name that lasted beyond Amazon’s initial focus in bookselling.
- Spotify: When you hear “Spotify,” you know that it streams music and podcasts — but you don’t confuse it with iTunes, either.
- Slack: Other brand names for work and personal communication (i.e., “Basecamp”) tend to hint at productivity and action. Slack makes itself distinct with a catchy, playful name that leans the opposite way.
Want a tip for making it easy to remember? Check out our instructions on getting your brand name to pass the 10-second “radio test”:
Do: Make it trademarkable
If you can’t trademark your brand name, it’s going to be a nightmare to “own” it. That’s why brand names typically succeed if they successfully invent a new word. New words are probably not trademarked, giving you foolproof ownership over the trademark — and the word you just coined.
- Xerox: Inspired by a Greek word, Xerox added an “x” and, in the process, created a new word that was associated with cutting-edge technology for a time.
- Verizon: Veritas + horizon. It’s instantly a new and memorable word, which has the side benefit of becoming searcahable.
- Zappos: A play on the Spanish word “zapatos,” but also its own word. This helps avoid the idea that it caters only to Spanish-speaking customers while giving Zappos a unique name.
Do: Make it culturally sensitive
There are lots of great words out there from lots of great cultures. But you don’t want to lift a word directly from another culture and step on any toes. You want to vet your brand name with other cultures to make sure it’s sensitive enough to work, even if your brand becomes popular and earns lots of attention.
- Chobani. Deriving from the word “Shepherd” in Turkish, Chobani yogurt establishes a unique presence without shying away from its cultural influences.
- FIJI. Fiji Water could seem culturally insensitive if they weren’t so focused on properly representing the islands that give their water its name.
Common pitfalls of brand names
As you search for the perfect brand name for your company, it’s just as helpful to know what to avoid. Facebook, for example, started out as “The Facebook,” and it wasn’t until later on its development that they decided it was much cleaner and more hip if they simply went with “Facebook.”
Fortunately, you can look at hundreds of years of brand name history to learn which mistakes to avoid before you make them. Here are some don’ts to keep in mind:
Don’t: Make it too literal
Sure, your brand name should be descriptive. But being too literal about what you do or what you sell can also run into other problems, like losing the future-proofing that makes a brand name sustainable.
For example, let’s stick with the idea of video rentals. They’re not as popular in the era of streaming. So if you had a brand name like “The Video Rental King,” this overly literal brand name might not suit you well when you want to offer other products or pivot your brand.
If your logo is too literal, too, it can limit your ability to scale and expand. Try picking a logo that’s universal enough to let your company grow. Create your logo with our logo maker to start sparking some ideas.
Don’t: Focus on current trends
Some businesses prosper because they capture a trend in a bottle. But much like swords, if your business lives by the trend, it can just as easily die by the trend. If you had built a business based on LaserDiscs — including a brand name that reflected this trend — then you might run into trouble when the world of technology moves on.
So while you need a distinctive brand name, you don’t have to make it exclusive to a current trend. “Amazon” still works as a brand name because it wasn’t focused on its initial bookselling business. Leave yourself some room to grow with the technology.
Don’t: Use something inconsistent with your brand identity
A catchy name is worth a lot. But going for something catchy at the expense of brand identity will probably start to work against you.
For example, Kozmo was a fun brand name. It was short, memorable, and catchy. There’s just one problem: can you explain what Kozmo did? It was an online company promising free one-hour deliveries of all sorts of basic goods, from books to food. But do you sense that speed or comprehensiveness from the brand name “Kozmo”?
Don’t: Focus on personal preference only
Let’s return to the example of Amazon. Did you know that one original idea for the site’s name was “Make It So”? It made sense in describing an “Everything Store” that might deliver goods to people across the planet one day, but it leaned too heavily into Bezos’s personal preference as a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation. As such, the brand name likely wouldn’t have resonated as strongly as their ultimate pick for the website’s name.
How to come up with a brand name in 5 easy steps
We know. It’s a lot to work through. Lots of things to do, lots of missteps to avoid. So to help you come up with the perfect brand name, let’s split the process up into baby steps:
1. Envision your brand growth for the next five years
A good brand name leaves room for scaling your business. A bad brand name limits you to one niche or one offering. So before you start coming up with your brand name, don’t just imagine something that sounds catchy as it relates to current trends.
Think like Google: coin a new word that people may one day use.
Take “Apple.” Apple doesn’t meet the criteria that it describes what the company does. But in terms of its overall brand approach, Apple does reflect the back-to-basics approach of its technology. It creates simple, practical, often handheld devices for people to use.
The brand name is big enough to encompass all sorts of technological innovations, no matter what’s coming down the pike.
2. Define your brand’s values
It’s all too easy to come up with a catchy name. Wazoo. FlipFlap. JumpingJack. The problem is that these brand names, while memorable, have no bearing on what you do as a company. And since they’re not tied to your brand’s values, your customers may not necessarily trust them.
Let’s look at some successful brand names that are tied into their values, even if they don’t immediately make you think of “values.”
- YouTube helped democratize the publishing of videos online. You + Tube. It’s the “You” in YouTube that’s helped the name last, because while the name is catchy, it also hints at the overall point of the service: giving you a voice.
- LinkedIn shares the same assonance (repeating vowel sounds) that make YouTube catchy. But we all know the value of LinkedIn is tied to its name: it’s a way to connect, to link in with the professional world, to network with potential clients.
- Slack might sound like an anti-value name, but the idea is simple: the more productive you are with your work, the more time you have to “slack” off. It’s a single noun without any repeating vowel sounds, but it’s catchy because it taps into our desire to be more efficient.
3. Redefine your target market
A good brand name taps into the pain points of your target market and positions you as the solution. Don’t know the answer to a question? A quick “Google” will fix it. Sick of overly complicated technology? Go to the “Apple” store, picking up a device as simple as you might pick an apple off a tree.
There are a few other ways you can tap into your target market’s core aspirations:
- Consider demographics. If your brand primarily appeals to baby boomers, then naming your brand like a modern-day tech startup probably won’t resonate. You might do better with memorable names that “coin” new words, or combining familiar words. For example, “Spotify” might be a trendy brand name, but it combines familiar words like “Spot” and “identify” to sound vaguely familiar and memorable even to people new to using apps like Spotify.
- Check out the competition. Are there any competitors with successful brand names in your field? What do those brand names have in common? You might not be able to replicate every brand name, but if you can drill down to the core of what makes a brand name successful, you’ll probably find some ideas for future use.
- Test your brand names first. Maybe you buy up a few ads and see which brand name gets the most clicks. Maybe you simply run your brand name by some friends and family. Whatever your testing method is, try not to pick one until you’ve gathered some data on how people might respond to it.
- Get it as simple as you can. Once you have a brand name, ask yourself if you can distill it down to its essence. It’s possible to get too simple — so simple that your name is no longer descriptive — but you’d be better off erring on the side of simplicity than complexity. A simple name like “Apple,” after all, has allowed the PC company to scale into something well beyond building at-home computers.
4. Brainstorm ideas
The brainstorm is where the rubber meets the road. Now that you have some principles in mind, you have to sit down with an empty piece of paper, a pen, and start jotting down ideas.
The key? Don’t limit yourself. Now is not the time for editing. Now is the time for creativity, to hope lightning strikes, to let the ideas flow through you as you jot them down with minimal interruption between your brain and your pen. You can always edit later.
You should also follow your inklings. For example, the brand name “Sony” comes from the Latin root “sonus.” So if you catch a flash of inspiration wondering something similar — such as a Latin or Greek word for something — maybe follow those inspirations. You may be surprised at what pops up.
5. Research
Ideally, your brainstorming session has given you a few ideas to work through. You can go through some of the “dos” and “don’ts” above to give yourself a checklist of which of your ideas meet the criteria.
Now start your research, starting with some critical double-checking:
- Run a Domain name search on GoDaddy to check for domain name availability.
- Check the database of the U.S. Trademark office to see if the name is free.
From there, you might start testing variants of the brand name. Or you may even snap up a few similarly-titled domains if you’re still not sure which brand name will end up being yours — you can always forward them to the brand name you end up choosing.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to generate a brand name?
Go to GoDaddy’s Business Name Generator. When you do use GoDaddy's Business name generator tool to get ideas, it can either be a fun spark to get your imagination going — or you can generate a fully-formed business name that’s ready to start. Jot down the ones you like best and include them as part of your brainstorming session. It’s up to you whether you want to use these as a jumping-off point or as a final brand name.
Can you name a brand after yourself?
Generally, a brand name that includes your name is a brand where you need to associate your brand with high trust and accountability. That’s why this practice is so popular with consulting and legal services. And remember: your legal business name doesn’t have to be identical to your brand name, either. So yes, you can name a brand after yourself — but it helps to know your marketplace to know whether this is appropriate. That’s where a competitor research process can help.
How to check if a brand name is taken?
A quick domain search is a great way to start, but you can always check with the U.S. Trademark office as well. Start with a quick Internet search! If the brand name is taken explicitly, there’s not much you can do — but if none of your searches turn up any results, you’ll likely find that there’s an opportunity there. And if you’re coining a new word as part of your brand, then you probably won’t have any troubles.
How do I make sure no one takes my brand name?
The best way is to register your brand name as a trademark and secure the domain name you want. Consult the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and their basic guidelines here — they have online trademark tools you can start exploring right away.
They’ll also advise you on whether you need to hire a lawyer or whether you can submit a simple trademark application to kick off the process.
Keep in mind that if you’re building a unique brand name, there’s a good chance that no one else is going to take your company name while you get set up. But it is easier to step in and register a domain.
Since this is the easiest part in the process of protecting your brand name, we recommend getting set up with a domain name right away. It’s simple to handle, affordable to reserve, and you can use this domain to start establishing an online presence and building your history with search engines.
