Impossibly Hard to Decide on a Brand Name

[Nat]

I've been set on a niche for about a month now. However, I still haven't been able to think of a good Brand Name to go with. How do yall come up with brand names?

Everything I've liked has been 'taken.'

 

[learningcurve]

I'll start with three to five names that I like. Then I will write a list of variants that appeal to me. Then I stick them into a bulk domain checker. I usually go through about thirty to forty names before I settle on one. It's not overly effecient, but I always seem to come up with a name I like. For particular niches I may also run terms through a site called termexplorer.

Not sure if that helps you in any way.

 

[John P.]

Read this article if you want : http://startupbros.com/how-to-pick-the-perfect-name-for-your-business-or-startup/

Some good tips in there to find and test your business names.

 

[Goldorak]

Think yahoo, google, Apple, wikipedia, bing, geico, ect....the name doesn't even reflect their niche then you'd think those are all stupid names but they're all became huge brand. Don't think too much (a month is way too long) as long as you have a good product/niche that ppl search for I wouldn't over complicate this process.

 

[CCarter]

A month... jesus christ..

Facebook was running on TheFacebook.com until it bought Facebook.com for $200,000 in August 2005, 18 months after launch. You can always rebrand to a better name, but you can't get that month back of procrastination and wasted time...

Nothing is perfect the first time around, that's what version 2.0 is for!

 

[built]

A month... jesus christ..

Facebook was running on TheFacebook.com until it bought Facebook.com for $200,000 in August 2005, 18 months after launch. You can always rebrand to a better name, but you can't get that month back of procrastination and wasted time...

Nothing is perfect the first time around, that's what version 2.0 is for!

Came in to say this, you can always rebrand later. I think the most important thing is throwing up a site and getting traffic to it asap. I'm starting to notice many business's lack speed, so this will give you an advantage early on

 

[Ryuzaki]

Having named thousands of things over the decades, I've come to the conclusion that unless you drastically just screw up with irrelevancies, contradictions, hard to spell, too long, etc.... it doesn't really matter.

Every name and label is awkward at first. It's only after time, once the name has gained a history behind it, does it even take on a branded meaning. You don't just "poof" invent a brand. You create a brand. "Create" implying a process of effort and energy that takes place over time.

Just about any old name can become great given the opportunity to establish a great history behind it.

BUT: Don't pick something you'll never be able to rank for as a brand. Imagine trying to make your brand name "Computer Desk". That's a set of searches you'll never magically dominate as a brand. If you were "CompuDesk" that's a different story.

 

[RomesFall]

Having named thousands of things over the decades, I've come to the conclusion that unless you drastically just screw up with irrelevancies, contradictions, hard to spell, too long, etc.... it doesn't really matter.

Every name and label is awkward at first. It's only after time, once the name has gained a history behind it, does it even take on a branded meaning. You don't just "poof" invent a brand. You create a brand. "Create" implying a process of effort and energy that takes place over time.

Just about any old name can become great given the opportunity to establish a great history behind it.

BUT: Don't pick something you'll never be able to rank for as a brand. Imagine trying to make your brand name "Computer Desk". That's a set of searches you'll never magically dominate as a brand. If you were "CompuDesk" that's a different story.

This reminds me of Haagen-Dazs...

Mattus invented the "Danish-sounding" "Häagen-Dazs" as a tribute to Denmark's exemplary treatment of its Jews during the Second World War,[4] and included an outline map of Denmark on early labels. The name is not Danish, which has neither an umlaut nor a digraphzs, nor did the name have any meaning in any language before its creation.
​

Which just proves that more or less any name can be branded. Take Coca-Cola - who could have predicted that would have been a brand known world over?

They could have picked anything, even something as ridiculous sounding as Froopsy-Woopsy, sounds ridiculous (so does coca cola when you think about it), but they could have just as easily have picked that name and still be as huge as they are today.

 

[mind_dust]

Sometimes, after a single malt or two, I feel the sudden surge of unbridled creativity, and I hop aboard the domain buying binge train. Once I have exhausted my brainstorm, and acquiring anything that has 'the ring' to it, I place it in the domaining pool until I summon the ambitions to launch a full scale effort. In my domain locker resides lots of brandable .coms for whenever the mood strikes. I mention this only to inspire you, not to make an attempt to sell any.

It may not come to everyone, but when the moon is thin and my wallet is full, the synchronicity takes me to a land of creative lucidity.

 

[emp]

A lot of premium brand names are only good in retrospect, AFTER they hit success.

You really think friends and family where really excited when those two geeks named their small garage company "Apple"?
"Google" was a hell as weird name when it came up.

As for domains, a good technique can be keyword + something cool.

Recipes?

Recipe +
focus
hub
book
crowd
...
etc...

This is an easy way for good, but not necessarily great domain names.

A brand comes alive after a lot of marketing

Apple, Zattoo, Hulu, flickr, yahoo, vimeo, etc...

A good rule of thumb here is: Ya have to be able to tell someone the name while you and he are drunk.

::emp::