Issue #7: 7 Tips for Naming Your Next Brand or Side Project
If 2023 is the year you go big on your next project, it’s time to find that perfect-fit name.
I was lucky when I first started this newsletter. I already knew what I wanted to call it—Mind Brew was a project name I’ve had stuck in my mind for years. So when it came time to build a newsletter all about the thoughts swirling in my brain, naming it was one of the easier challenges to tackle.
But, I know that’s not typically the case in creative spaces. Naming is tough. So much of our time and energy is spent on the vision and build-out of our business or project ideas. Christening our creative babies with a name feels so final and…formidable, even.
On top of finding a name we like, we must navigate other aspects of naming: will the name grow with the brand? Is it linguistically sound? Is it legally viable?
While naming can be a beast of its own, it takes patience to find the right name out there. But trust it’s out there (I promise).
A big focus for my team in 2022 was on expanding our naming services. And with a few wins these last few months, I’m sharing our best learnings and tips for a smooth naming process. This post was originally published on my agency site here—check it out for more brand-building tips.
Start with your brand strategy.
Your business’s name is an important brand element—a name is one of (if not the) longest-lasting part of your brand presence, outliving the inevitable strategic and design evolutions to come.
This is why it is critical for your brand name to be rooted in brand strategy. Before you jump into name generation and website domain shopping, take some time to define the strategic territory your brand will occupy. Get clear on your brand mission, values, personality, and overarching “why.” Map out what the next 1, 3, and 5 years look like for your growth, and write out the core differentiators and value props you intend to bring to market.
I get it—it might feel weird to go through these exercises without a brand name. Drop in a placeholder name for now, and get your strategy on paper. This is important for the next step.Identify your success criteria.
Write out some north star goals of what you’d like your name to accomplish, across meaning and differentiation. Look back at your brand strategy and identify some key ideas and themes that the name might be able to embody—these will provide fantastic jumping-off points for name generation!
Take a look at competitor and peer companies and their own naming conventions—what played-out tropes can you avoid and how can your name differentiate?
Draft this all into a naming brief that paints a picture of what a successful brand name accomplishes. Include: a 1-2 sentence description of what’s being named, who the audience of your name is, ideas the name should convey, ideas to avoid, name personality and tone, and any other notes you want to keep in mind when assessing the final name options.Name generation is all about quantity over quality.
Here’s a secret about naming: don’t rely on your brain and blank page. Naming isn’t about coming up with something out of thin air, or waiting until inspiration miraculously strikes. It’s actually more like finding a needle in a haystack.
In short: you need to believe your name is out there already — and now your job is to go on a journey to find it.
With your naming brief drafted, it’s time to start coming up with name ideas. The more the merrier, and somewhere along the way you still stumble upon “the one” (you might just not know it at first glance).
Pick something from your naming brief as a starting point, and start riffing. Write out all ideas that come up: the good, the bad, the weird. Explore synonyms, related words, and word combinations. Use Google, dictionaries, and books. Expose yourself to a diversity of words. If you’re open to a made-up name (”coined”), start splicing and blending.Get out and take breaks.
In the beginning, especially if this is your first time, put a time cap and take breaks. For my team, we aim for each person on the naming crew to come up with ~100 name ideas per day, which typically measures out to about 1.5-2 hours of naming work each day.
Breaks are a core part of the process here. When you’re in naming mode, everything you see, hear, and say gets absorbed and processed through the lens of naming. So get out, take walks, go on field trips. You never know what new exploration pathways unfold.It’s normal to hate every name you come up with.
Naming is rarely love at first sight. And often, the names you immediately love are heartbreakingly taken or otherwise unviable to move forward. These are the emotional hazards of such work.
But there will be a happy ending in the end. Trust. After a few days of name generation, pull ~10-20 names that could work. You may not be totally convinced, but it’s important to elevate the viable options and give them a chance.Consider how your name ideas fit and inform the greater brand system.
As you shortlist a few potentially viable names from the hundreds that you’ve generated, try them on for size. Imagine—and mock out—how your name might appear on your website homepage or on product packaging.
Consider the brand architecture of your business — are there any subsidiary products or services you’re going to need to name? How might the brand name inform the structures and feelings of those names?Keep perspective.
Yes, your name is important! At the same time, one name can’t say it all (and it’s going to be a hot mess if you try). Remember, your brand name will almost always be used in context with other brand elements that can help tell the bigger story. Lean into one or two messages you want your name to embody, and leave the rest to the greater brand system.
Good luck 🙂
The things I just can’t get out of my mind right now
I LOVE this alternative to adult coloring books for mindfulness and relaxation | counting the days to Shadow and Bone season 2 release | using nori in every meal I’ve been making lately | As I still relish in the warmth and renewal of spending last weekend with friends, Caroline Cala Donofrio’s essay on adult friendships and collaboration provided a beautiful read for this morning
A prompt, exercise, or ritual to inspire action
There’s a time and place for the big debriefs on the year—I love Susannah Conway’s annual Unravel Your Year workbooks and hope to carve out some time in the next couple weeks to dig in and reflect. But if holiday overwhelm is getting to you (it definitely is for me), here’s a quick grounding exercise to say goodbye (and thank you) to 2022.
Pull out your favorite journal and pen. Take 10 minutes to write out:
3 things that transformed you in 2022
3 things that you are letting go as we end the year
3 things you are excited to start in 2023
Happy Holidays 🎄❄️