Story99.com is a Branding & Storytelling Consultancy for B2B, Tech & Deeptech

Come up with a really long list of options (500 is a good number). Try all the variations as described below. Then pick one.

Explanatory Names

These are names that describe what the company literally offers: Exactly: Bank of America, GIIFT, British Airways, Pinterest (Pin+interest), ShaadiGrapher, Coca Cola Broadly: General Motors (doesn’t sell motors but motorcars), Goair, Spicejet (jet is quite literal), BharatAgri (agricultural product), Story99 Implied: Freshdesk (help-desk that’s fresh)

Metaphorical Names

• Nature metaphor:

  • Meteorological - Thryve.Earth, MamaEarth

  • Creatures - Sleepy Owl Coffee, Dove, Twitter

• Colour metaphor - Greenpeace, Indigo airlines

• Mineralogical metaphor - Samsonite

• Cosmological metaphor - Sun Microsystems

• Body part metaphor - B2Brain (brain)

• Nautical metaphor - Anchor dairy

• Mythological metaphor - Nike - Goddess of victory, Hercules

• Object metaphor - Apple, Bolt, Sugar, Pillow

Metonymical Names

A name that is closely associated with the product / company

• Causal

  • Ford motor company (named after Ford), Adani, Tata

• Spatial

  • Texas instruments, Deutsche Bank, State Bank of India

• Temporal

  • Quaker Oats - the guy dressed in a Quaker grab - a religious sub-sect that the company was associated with early on

Idea Based Names

This is when the name refers to an idea, but it’s not really obvious.

• Starbucks - the first mate in Moby Dick

• Turno - a corruption of Turn Zero (zero for zero carbon - in short O)

• XOXOday - a celebratory day for hugs and kisses

• BlueSpring - the coming of age phase for adolescents

Pivot Words

• Come up with words around each value proposition

• Come up with words similar to the intent of pivot word, sanskrit / Latin / Greek translations, nouns<>adjectives, synonyms etc.(eg: always, yes, hamesha)

• Create name-clouds / combo-words

• Try compounding, i.e. add a monosyllable to some of the words to create a unique name

• Try Mutation (eg: Deal → Deel)

  • Google is also a good example of invented names by mutation

  • Pepsi - Pepsi is the mutation of the word “dyspepsia”, which means indigestion; it was marketed as a cure for indigestion early on

Totally Invented - No Story

But they sound right - like Atlan (means nothing but sounds good)

Parameters on which to judge the names:

• Availability (website / other brands)

• Readability - easy?

• Pronounceability - easy? Easy to understand and spell when said verbally (including on phone)?

• Memorability

• Uniqueness: Stands out compared to other names in similar category?

• Sounds right? Overall vibe / emotion is what is desired?

• Some story to back up the name?

Also checkout

How to make -ve brand names work (and should you even try)?