Spanx founder Sara Blakely knows that a great name can change everything. “The name ‘Spanx’ is probably what is my greatest asset right now within the company,” the entrepreneur shared at the 2018 Forbes Under 30 Summit.
The unique, catchy name—which Blakely conceived while sitting in traffic—helped turn the once-taboo topic of shapewear into a celebrity-approved conversation. Suddenly, women weren’t wearing compression-top pantyhose or girdles; they were wearing “Spanx,” which felt fun and powerful rather than outdated and constricting.
Ahead, learn how to craft a memorable brand name for your small business.
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How to create a brand name in 5 simple steps
A powerful brand name can build brand recognition, help you build customer connections, improve brand loyalty, and make sales. Here’s how to get there:
1. Define your brand values
Brand values underpin every aspect of brand identity—including your brand name. As you start identifying your brand values, keep an eye on any that differentiate you from your competitors, as they’ll help determine your unique value proposition.
Consider how premium chili crisp company Fly By Jing got its name. In an episode of Shopify Masters, founder Jing Gao explains she sourced “Fly” from the hole-in-the-wall establishments residents in her hometown call “fly restaurants.”
“They’re set to attract people like flies, no matter how hidden and kind of low-key they are. I loved that sort of aspect of Chengdu’s food culture. So energetic. The flavors are electrifying,” Gao says. “When I originally started Fly By Jing as an underground supper club in Shanghai, I wanted to invoke those feelings.”
The second part of the brand name, Jing, is Gao’s birth name, although she went by Jenny most of her life. “I named the company Fly By Jing in order to grasp at my roots and my identity, and throughout the journey of building the company, I’ve actually come to reclaim my name as well,” Gao says.
2. Brainstorm
Group brainstorming harnesses collaborative, creative thinking to generate ideas, though you can also brainstorm independently.
Get creative with your brainstorming process and reserve critiques for later. You want spontaneity with minimal inhibition, so team members feel comfortable proposing as many ideas as possible.
Sandro Roco, founder of flavored sparkling water company Sanzo, shares his naming process in an episode of Shopify Masters: “When I started the brand, I had maybe half a dozen to a dozen other names that I was workshopping,” he says. “Unfortunately, a lot of those were already trademarked or just for whatever reason didn’t feel exactly right.”
“So I went through an exercise of writing down all the letters of my first, middle, and last name—it’s Alessandro Lorenzo Rocco. And one of the combinations ended up being Sanzo.”
Here are a few tricks to jumpstart your brainstorming session:
- Play with words. Think of images your brand might evoke or sounds that might align with your brand—like the clicking “K” sound in Kodak that evokes a camera shutter. You can also use a made-up word or metaphor to convey brand essence. For example, Nike references the ancient Greek goddess of victory.
- Try a portmanteau. Names that combine two words can succinctly describe your brand’s purpose—think Facebook, PayPal, FedEx, Pinterest, and DoorDash.
- Use a name generator. Tools like Shopify’s business name generator suggest creative name ideas you can use as is or mine for inspiration.
3. Confirm availability
Once you’ve narrowed down some options, make sure other company owners haven’t come up with the same great idea.
- Search the web. A quick Google search may generate results for your chosen name. If it overlaps with another or is close enough to cause confusion, move on.
- Check for trademarks. Check the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) database to ensure your name isn’t trademarked and prevent registration or other legal complications.
- Do a domain name search. Your website’s domain name should include your company name. Search for available domain names (and possible alternatives) with Shopify’s domain name registration tool. You can also type domain names into the Google search bar or sites like Name.com to check availability.
- Check social media. Ensure your preferred account name isn’t already taken on Instagram, Facebook, and X. Check hashtags, too. If searching your preferred name unearths hashtags you don’t want to be associated with, consider a new one.
Sometimes, your brand name idea might be taken by companies you’ve never heard of, and you’ll need to start brainstorming other brand names.
“One lesson I think any entrepreneur who’s trying to create a brand will quickly learn is that it’s actually not super easy to get a name trademarked,” says Sandro. “You have to be very judicious about the brand name you pick, because if it’s already trademarked, then you really can’t or shouldn’t use it because eventually it’ll come back to bite you in the way of a lawsuit, a cease and desist, or something like that.”
4. Check across languages
Now that you’ve confirmed your name is available, research to ensure it works in every language your customers speak and every region they live. Look up alternate meanings or contract a linguistic screening company to ensure your name doesn’t have an unfortunate translation in another language.
Similarly, if your name carries a negative word association, you should rethink it. For example, when the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus a global health emergency, India’s Tata Motors renamed its new Zica car Tiago to avoid association with the disease.
5. Collect feedback
You’ve honed in on the perfect available name; now it’s time to see if other people are as excited about it as you are. Here are a few ways to collect feedback:
- Test the name with friends, family, and colleagues. Colleagues in the same industry may spot complications or overlaps you haven’t considered, while friends and family can provide valuable outsider opinions.
- Put together a focus group. Assemble a representative sample of your target audience into a focus group, introduce the group to your proposed name, and collect their responses.
- Conduct a survey. You can also test your name in surveys with anonymous members of your target market. You can conduct these types of surveys through a brand name testing platform.
What makes a good brand name?
“There are a lot of things that have to go the right way for a brand, and one of them is the brand name,” says Sandro. “It’s easy to say, ‘Is it something people like to say? Does it match the product that I’m selling?’—all these different little cues that just get folks to buy into what you’re doing.”
The reality, however, is that finding the perfect brand name can be tricky. You can make the work easier by realizing that strong brand names share common characteristics. There are successful outliers, but in general, great brand names have one more of the following traits:
Evocative
Choose a brand name that piques potential customers’ curiosity or elicits a positive emotion, like the meditation app Calm. There are exceptions, but in general, expressive and pleasing brand names help consumers form a positive association with your brand from the get-go.
Simple
A short brand name that’s easy to spell and pronounce is accessible to a wide audience—fitness company Gymshark is a good example.
So is LA-based streetwear brand Madhappy. The company actually started as a name, a feeling that co-founder Mason Spector texted to his friends. “Something about putting those two words together makes it feel like a whole new word and new meaning,” co-founder Peiman Raf says on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. He and Mason thought, “Let's put out some products around this vibe that we think makes sense for an LA-based brand that’s trying to be a little bit more inclusive than sort of the traditional streetwear that we grew up with.”
Catchy
Great brand names leverage appealing sounds, like repeated syllables or alliteration. Specific letters can make a difference, too. For example, sounds like “M” and “N” are inviting and friendly, while “G” and “T” are less approachable, says linguist David Crystal in A Little Book of Language.
When Sara Blakely was naming her new shapewear company, she noticed brand names with “K” sounds, like Coca-Cola and Kodak, were recognizable. She chose the name “Spanks” with that in mind, later changing it to “Spanx” because it was easier to trademark.
Descriptive
Brand names don’t have to describe your product or services, but the ones that do make it easy for customers to remember your offerings. For example, BlenderBottle tells customers exactly what the company’s signature product does (it’s a bottle that helps blend drinks).
How to come up with a brand name FAQ
How do I create my own brand name?
To create a brand name, define your brand values, identify your target audience, then brainstorm ideas. Try wordplay and name generators, too. Once you’ve created a list of potential brand names, confirm their availability, check their meanings across languages, and gather feedback.
How do you create a catchy brand name?
You can create a catchy brand name by keeping it short and utilizing linguistic tricks like alliteration and repeated syllables.
How do you pick up a brand name?
You can pick up a brand name by confirming that it hasn’t already been trademarked, which you can do by searching the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) database and then registering your name. You should also claim your brand name’s matching domain name and social media handles.