Naming a business is as we have seen in the previous post, the fundamental part to build a strong and coherent brand. Therefore, the step before choosing a name must be the identification of a brand concept.
After asking you the three basic questions: Who? What? And how? It’s time to continue the process of finding the business name for your company.
1. Creative Phase.
Naming is working on a blank page, on something that doesn’t exist yet because it doesn’t have a name… Start researching, reading poetry, playing with the names that come up.
To investigate the origin of the name, from where it comes, analyzing its semantics or meaning and understanding its syntax, is necessary to build a solid foundation on which the reason for that name and not another will be justified.
Working with words requires us to be in contact with them permanently during the creative process. Therefore, in addition to reading, it is highly recommended to write them and play with them, varying them and combining them.
Verbs, for example, work perfectly if we want to identify an action with our brand or generate an idea of movement or dynamism. Just as adjectives are very suitable to point out special qualities that help differentiate our brand with the rest.
A name with “hook” is often evocative. It can evoke a feeling or even an action. And by evocation you get emotion. An emotionally charged name that makes us familiar and close. In this way it is more easily retained in memory.
”«Memory to recognize things is better than memory to remember them. That is why we choose what is familiar or close to us before what is not.»
Universal Principles of Design. V.V.A.A. Ed. Blume.
2. Analytical Phase.
Many times they are obvious, but we forget that we must take them into account. The technique is to give a score to each name selected in each of these three features. So that we find the strengths that each of the names has and this exercise helps us stay with one of the list.
Simple.
The name has to be short and easy to remember. The name the shorter the better, therefore if it is a single word better than with two. If you have to include two words, you can try using suffix combinations.
For the name Prodinámica , created for a Podiatry company, we use the prefix “Pro” before the word “dinámica” (dynamic) to highlight the values that the brand has and position it in the innovation sector in this branch of medicine.
Sonorous.
Names that start and end the same have an advantage and are very easy to retain in memory.
Their peculiar typographical morphology makes them easier to remember, due to their simplicity. Examples: Kodak, Ono, My gym, Eye, Kayak, Somos, Racecar, Rossor…
If we are lucky enough to find a palindrome , which is what this type of words or phrases is called, we will be sure of its success in terms of its typographical sonority, because visually a name with this morphology, will generate a very interesting graphics.
The phonetics of a name matter, a name with a suggestive musicality and easy to pronounce will be easy to remember and pleasant to listen to.
Different.
The name that is finally chosen will have to reflect the soul of the company or project. It also has to be distinguished from existing names to make a difference.
An original name is not so much an invented word or words, but the fact of how words are used.
The combination of words that can arise after a session of “Brainstorming”, will certainly help us draw the ideas that were halfway or generate names that we would never have thought otherwise. Do not forget to check if the invented names are names with negative connotations in other languages.
In this sense I would like to give as an example the name of a Granada publishing house called Allanamiento de Mirada . The name is not exactly short, but the play of words makes it interesting and draws our attention powerfully.
3. Testing Phase
We are already in the last phase, now we have a short list with interesting names. Before we get excited about them, we will have to check that the finalist names are not registered on the website of the Oficina Española de Patentes y Marcas. (Spanish Patent and Trademark Office.) Also and thinking about digital marketing, we will check if the domain is available and profiles of social networks, too, if you need them.
Finally, it is a very good idea to test the names of the definitive list with the people we have around us and who could be part of our target audience: neighbors, family members, suppliers or potential customers in the geographical area where the company or project intends to be created.
The impression that the name causes when it is heard for the first time, will help us to see how it is accepted and perceived, as well as to reveal to us those weak points must be reinforced.
The identity of our company is already germinating, now only need to toast the growth of our project.
