How to Name your Baby?
So, you're naming or re-naming your baby (I mean company)? Well actually it's much the same process as organisations can be really important for owner. We understand that naming is really important for you as the founder, owner or decision maker and can some times take a lot of time to get right.
The good news is that there is no right or wrong as there are plenty of great organisations with poor names and not so great organisations with amazing names. Some times it takes a few minutes for the eureka moment and other times it's a few months...only to go back to an option from day 1 (this literally happens!).
So check out the list of questions below and some advice and get creative with the ideas. Here were some possible names for my little boy born in 2018! ;)
Some more tips...
Keep it short.
Bare in mind that people are constantly bombarded with all sorts of ads and products, so their attention spans can be quite limited. This means that the majority of your audience is less likely to be able (and willing) to remember things, so the shorter the URL (domain name) the better.
Back in the day, Paypal managed to bag www.x.com, and other well known online businesses, like Ebay, have adhered to the same logic. Bare in mind, though, that any domain under 3 characters will cost top dollar, so unless you have an unlimited budget, you have to get a bit more creative. Check out other domain name endings like .ly and .io.
Be different
When you first start searching for a name, and start listing some of your initial ideas, you’ll probably quickly realize that some other bright spark has gotten there first. This means you will need to get creative. A good way to find a unique way to name your company or product is to combine two words or make up a word of your own. For example PlatinumPlumbers, HarrietsHairdressers, WhiteRabbit etc.
Some good examples of this method of coming up with names include big companies like Google (a take on the the word googol, meaning a number with a hundred zeros), Mixcloud, (the)Facebook, MoneyGuru, etc. However, you should also try not to go overboard with combining words, as your name still needs to be catchy, relatively short and different enough to be remembered.
Get a .com
There are tons of other url endings besides .com, like “.uk” “.info” “.org” “.net”, and more recently, novelty and industry specific endings like “.shop”, “.photos”, “.club” etc. but truth be told, a vast majority of people who don’t remember the ending of the web address simply try “.com” first. Allowing them to get it right on the first try, by picking a domain with the standard .com ending reduces the chances of their interest dwindling or being misdirected.
What you’re looking to avoid is people trying the “.com” site, finding a competitor and using them instead of you. Worse still, they may think the website is that belonging to your company and find some parked website which turns them off.
If you can't get the .com just yet, make sure your Google Ads and SEO are top notch, so you appear at the top of relevant searches.
Add extra words
The reality of your situation might be that all those cute, short and catchy domain names are either taken or are way too expensive. Worry not, there is a way around this. If you’re stuck in this conundrum, your best bet is to add a word before or after your name, such as “get” “my” “this is” weare” “hq” . You’ll end up with a domain that looks something like: www.basecamphq.com, www.wearethehouse.com, www.teamtreehouse.com, www.getdropbox.com, or something similar that best fits the service or products you are providing.
If your customers think of it as a short sentence or phrase, your url will still be short, snappy and easy to remember. If you want to go the extra step and make it more enticing and engaging, you can use your domain name in the same way you would typically use a call to action, like www.getwaveboard.com.
Change up the word
If you’re feeling particularly courageous, you can create a unique and memorable name and domain by joining the likes of Reddit, Tumblr and Flickr, in transcribing the word in the way you would read it. This can include just omitting a vowel from the name, like Scribd, adding a cute suffix like Napster or Friendster, intentionally misspelling the word like Lyst, or combining your domain extension with the name to create a a hybrid like Visual.ly and Last.fm.
While this practice will probably give you free reign over domains, because the word you are using hasn’t been invented before you, it is starting to become the inside joke of the tech industry. It’s up to you to weight the pros and cons of tapping into a potentially overused trend.
Strong Brand Names
Here are just a few brands that have great names to stand out...
- The Boring Company - Elon Musks company for the hyperloop...anything but boring but they do make tunnels in the earth.
- Nike - greek goddess of victory
- Bulb - an energy company taking it back to basics - simple energy
- Google - misspelled “googol” - a very large number 1 with a hundred 0s.
- Lego - Play Well
- Sky - originally a satellite dish company.
- Virgin - new (and always eager) in business
- Twitter - originally Twittr, like chirping birds, we tweet all day
- Moo - printing company that most likely chose the name as it's short, easy to say and spell.