Definition
Naming is the strategic and creative discipline of choosing what a brand or product is called — encompassing positioning, linguistic generation, legal clearance, and final selection.
Names live longer than logos. A typical brand redesigns its visual identity every 7–10 years; the name persists for decades. That permanence justifies the rigour: a name has to be distinctive (legally and linguistically), available (trademark, domain, social), pronounceable in target markets, and resonant with the strategy.
Most naming projects fail in evaluation, not generation. Teams produce 200 candidates, fall in love with one, then discover the trademark is owned by a Brazilian dog-food company. The disciplined process kills the candidates that won't survive — and that pruning is most of the work.
Origin
Branding agencies like Lexicon (1982) and Interbrand (1974) formalised systematic naming through the 1980s. Names like Pentium (Lexicon), BlackBerry (Lexicon) and Swiffer (Lexicon) demonstrated the value of professional naming.
How it works
- Define naming strategy: descriptive, suggestive, abstract, founder, or coined.
- Generate 100–500 candidates (yes, that many).
- Filter by linguistic criteria: pronounceable, distinctive, memorable.
- Filter by legal: trademark search by class, in target jurisdictions.
- Filter by availability: domain, social handles, App Store presence.
- Test top 5–10 with target audience for resonance.
- Pick one, full clearance, register everything in parallel.
When to use it
Use when
- At company founding.
- When launching a meaningfully different product.
- After an acquisition that requires re-positioning.
- When the existing name has become a strategic liability.
Skip when
- On every product launch. Most products belong under the masterbrand.
- As a redesign distraction. Renaming a recognised brand is expensive and rarely worth it.
Key metrics
- Trademark availability (class-by-class).
- Domain availability (the .com matters in the US).
- Audience comprehension (do users get what the brand does?).
- Pronunciation accuracy in target markets.
Examples
- We generated 380 names, killed 365 on legal, tested 5, picked 1.
- The name they wanted was a trademark in the same class. The shortlist saved them from a $200K rebrand.
- Coined names (Pentium, Vimeo) are easier to trademark and harder for users to forget.
In practice at Makreate
Makreate's naming work runs as part of branding engagements for new products, new companies, or repositioning projects. A recent fintech client had a working name that was a trademark in another financial-services class. We ran a full naming sprint: 240 candidates, 6 finalists, 3 went to audience testing, 1 cleared trademark in 4 jurisdictions. The whole process took 5 weeks and cost less than a single round of legal disputes would have.
Branding →Common mistakes
- Falling in love with one candidate before legal clearance.
- Skipping pronunciation testing in target markets. Names that work in English fail in non-English markets.
- Buying a domain before the trademark is cleared.
- Renaming without strategy. The new name needs to do something the old one couldn't.
Frequently asked
How long does a naming project take?
4–8 weeks. Generation is fast; legal clearance and testing are most of the time. Rushed naming projects produce names that get litigated.
How important is the .com?
In the US, very. Buyers default to typing brand.com. Workarounds (.io, .co, .ai) are tolerated in tech but reduce conversion in mainstream markets.
Coined vs descriptive names?
Descriptive names are easier to understand but harder to trademark and harder to defend. Coined names take more marketing to teach but compound in value.