How to come up with the name of a firm / company / brand?

At the very beginning, when you are just going to open a business, an urgent question is spinning in my head - "How to come up with a name for a company?" Now we will give an exhaustive answer to this question.

The name of the company is like clothes for a person: they are greeted by it, based on it, the first impression is formed among others. Nothing may be known about the company that is being encountered for the first time, about its owners, about the reputation of the company, but the name already speaks. What does the name of a particular organization say and how to come up with a company name that will inspire confidence and bring success, let's figure it out.

The importance of choosing the right name

The name alone does not make a firm successful or make it go bankrupt. Managing managers, directors and staff performance are the keys to business success or failure... Nevertheless, the founders of the companies want the names to be sonorous, beautiful and memorable.

The question of how to come up with the name of the company is asked by both experienced businessmen and aspiring entrepreneurs. After all, coming up with a company name is important from several points of view:

• for company registration- without a name, it is impossible to obtain documents for a company, and, therefore, to start an activity;
• for advertising and PR- without the exact name, it is not clear who and how to advertise, how to let people know what the business is "doing", what services it offers, what goods it sells;
• to create and host a website- online representation today is sometimes even more important than offline signage, especially since not all companies have a real office. The name of the company allows you to choose the correct domain, register it, create a showcase of goods online.

Choosing a beautiful company name, an entrepreneur also creates a future brand, especially if he counts on the future growth and consolidation of the business. Beautiful names of companies do not lie on the road, sometimes they appear spontaneously, but this is more the exception than the rule. Most often they are invented by the owners themselves or by name specialists.

The correct name of a company sometimes indicates the area of ​​activity of the enterprise, sometimes includes the name of the founder - especially if it is beautiful or famous - and sometimes it is created from scratch as the name of the brand of the future leader of the industry.

Steps and principles for choosing a company name

It is appropriate to choose a company name based on the following two main considerations:

• for whom the name should be clear;
• why choose a name.

For whom

The activities of the enterprise are oriented towards a specific audience: customers, partners, competitors. Who will be the people with whom the firm will work? For those in the field, the name should reflect their jargon. For clients, on the contrary, it should be clear to non-professionals. If you need to stand out in a highly competitive market, you need to create a loud and catchy brand name.

For what

Companies now operate virtually and in local offices. If the primary task of the brand is the name of the website, then you need to focus on the simplicity of the name, sonority, memorability, as well as characteristics for fast SEO promotion.

For offline activities, the name must be selected taking into account the city of location, office and local traditions.

If the company plans to operate exclusively in the Russian-speaking market, the name of the company can emphasize the peculiarities of the post-Soviet space and mentality. If a company is going to enter the world stage, an international name must take into account the difference in cultures, religions and languages ​​of potential customers.

Prohibited expressions and terms

Beautiful company names should not contain content that offends customers, as well as other brands or parts of them. The name of the company must obey the current legislation of the country in whose territory the company is open.

The name of an enterprise operating in the Russian Federation must be written in Russian, any additions of Latin letters or signs are excluded. Additional characters (ampersand, dog, hashtag) are prohibited. Adding a VIP prefix is ​​also against the law.

A special license is required to include the root "grew" in the name, the words "Russia", "Russian Federation", "Russian", "federal", as well as designations of cities ("St. Petersburg", "Moscow").

You can use the proper names of people associated with the business, rather than third parties or movie and TV stars.

Two ways to come up with a company name

There are two natural ways to create a new name for a future organization:

1. order a title from professionals;
2. come up with yourself.

A custom-made name is the task of the naming specialists. To order a title you need:

• clear terms of reference;
• criteria for a successful name;
• supporting syllables or words that you cannot do without.

A clear terms of reference should include the key parameters of the company name. For example, a specific word, root, spelling in a foreign language or transliteration. The maximum possible number of letters is often the request of the customer.

In self-naming, there are two approaches to how to come up with a brand name:

• brainstorm;
• logical enumeration method.

- any associations on a given topic - carried out by the founder of the company or by the board of directors. For a limited time, all the titles and thoughts that come to mind that could potentially become them are thrown. For some time, there is just a collection of ideas, without evaluation and criticism. After the completion of the associative stage, the best names are selected.

Brute force method includes systematic work on reviewing all positions in all categories:

• by association;
• by keyword;
• by a certain root;
• in the Latin or Greek part of the word.

Mechanically and sequentially they go through all possible variants of names in all interesting categories, after which they leave the winning words.

The most effective and productive will be a combination of brainstorming and logical enumeration methods. This "covers" all invented and logically marked groups of words and their parts.

Practical methods for coming up with a beautiful company name

Let's move on to specific steps and methodologies for identifying a suitable business name. Relevant methods for selecting and composing titles include:

1. phonosemantics;
2. generator of company names;
3. method of keywords;
4. psychological method for evaluating individual words;
5. orientation to ancient languages.

Let's analyze each naming method separately.

Phonosemantic name selection method

There is a science of phonosemantics, which deals with the study of the influence of sounds on the perception of them by a person. For example, the sound [a] is perceived by the hearer as something strong, full-fledged, stable, speaks of confidence and openness. The sound [o], on the contrary, is more closed, its drawn-out sound speaks of a certain tightness, being within the framework.

Phonosemantics analyzes the name by sound combinations and gives a report on 25 characteristics. The invented name of the company can be inserted for free into a special online analyzer program, and it will show which characteristics contain the letter combinations of the selected name or the whole word. Based on the analysis of this data, it can be understood whether this combination of sounds and their meanings is suitable for the selected industry.

Automatic company name generator

The company name generator is a modern tool for choosing the best name based on the data provided by the owner. The machine generates variants of names in a random way based on a keyword, a given length and / or anchor to a specific surname.

This method is very straightforward and does not require special skills, however, the names obtained in this way have some significant disadvantages:

• devoid of emotional color;
• successful ones may come across next to strange sounding ones;
• it is difficult to take care of the beauty of the name;
• it is almost guaranteed that there are no creative company names.

In any case, this method is available online for free, so getting examples yourself is not difficult.

Keyword reliance method

This method of choosing a name has become quite popular with the advent of business on the Internet. It is more important than ever that the name of the company should be easy for users to enter in the browser line.

Search engines also take into account the ranking of a site and make it higher the more it contains industry keywords. So, the name for a construction company often includes the word "construction", for a real estate office - "house", for a law firm - "law".

Psychology in choosing a name

In any field of activity, there are words that are perceived negatively. These are words that denote failure or failure for this particular area of ​​business. For example, for real estate and construction, "collapse", "fall" sound negatively. For legal practice - "prison", "criminal". For the computer - "virus", "ber".

There are such words in every area. Using the psychological method to create a company name implies adding as many words or combinations with positive associations as possible and excluding words that can give customers a negative message.

One common example of a negative word for Runet is the word “no”. There is a whole .net domain zone. In Russia, it has begun to be actively used in recent years, while in the United States and English-speaking countries this word has positive associations (literally it is a network, a group of like-minded people), then in Russian it is the most negative of all possible answers. It is worth remembering this when choosing the domain name of the site.

Name selection method based on ancient languages

All existing linguistic heritage comes from Latin and Ancient Greek. The abundance of words both in Russian and in many European languages ​​came from the named, now "dead", proto-languages. Withstanding the test of time, the roots and endings of words bring a sense of high style and loyalty to tradition, and you want to trust a business with a classic name.

Ancient Greek and Latin are classics that are always in vogue. List of popular Latin endings: -um, -ium, -ome, the most famous Greek: -ia, frequent roots: - log (os), -sphere, -phil.

How to name a company: examples by industry

Even in Soviet times, firms with typical names and a clear division by industry were innumerable. How many different "mashstroi" were there in the vastness of the USSR!

And today many oil and gas companies in Russia have the word "oil" as part of their name. And some, emphasizing the international scale of their activities, translate this "speaking" part into English - for example, Lukoil.

Such unification of at least part of the word is reasonable, since it attracts potential customers, pointing straightforwardly to the scope of the company. Here you can put forward such a "rationalization" proposal: if the tradition and stability of the company, as well as its size, require buyers to understand the scope of the company from the first sounds of the name, you can resort to this favorite technique of Soviet namers. However, if the organization is planned to be innovative, multidisciplinary, it is appropriate to move away from stereotypes and, perhaps, even create a neologism name.

Here are examples of the names of firms created according to the principles described above.

• by keywords:"GK Perezd" - a cargo transportation company, "Best real estate", "Domostroy" - purchase and sale of housing;
• by associations:"Etazhi", "Vysotka" - real estate companies;
• in latin root:"Paradigma", "Lex Life" - law firms;
• with latin ending: Domus Finance (real estate);
• based name modifications(a key word disguised as a real name): "Gazelkin", "Gruzovichkoff" (cargo transportation).

Terms of naming

Any work can be delayed, or, having shrunk a reasonable time, it can be done poorly. Normally, the process of creating a new company name from scratch should not take more than one to two weeks. This includes time for brainstorming sessions and discussions with colleagues. If you applied to a naming agency, there will be deadlines.

The whole process of choosing a name can be completed in a day if the decision-maker is alone. But it's better not to rush and take more time to check. It is necessary to analyze the name once again from a legal point of view, take into account the ease of spelling, the possibility of registration in the Russian Federation, and the specifics of the industry.

How to understand that the original name is selected

After finding a dozen “nominees” for a brand name, it is useful to check the options you like the most. Let potential customers choose the best.

Suggest that the best name be determined by an open vote. Soon enough, one title will become the leader among the select versions. The winner, verified by the target audience, clearly deserves to be recorded in the company registration documents.

The head of the company, like the founder of a startup, can always single-handedly propose and approve the name he likes, however, the survey method will allow choosing the brightest and most understandable name for the public. Even if the most beautiful names of firms are born in the minds of meticulous namers, the merit of the final selection belongs to the people.

Legal registration of the company name

Only after you have made the choice of a name, you can start checking for its availability for registration. From a legal point of view, nothing prohibits registering a company even under a name that is already in use, however with the restriction that the name should not be a brand, that is, a registered trademark. In the case of a similar or identical name, firms will have different OGRN.

How to register a company name? If, nevertheless, there is a desire to consolidate the brand name created in a creative impulse, you can apply for registration of the name as a trademark, on the same conditions, secure the right to the logo, slogan and other symbols. There is no patent for the name of the company in the Russian Federation.

Legal verification of a trademark can take up to one and a half years. Not everyone wants such a long "business preparation". Nothing prevents you from starting your own business by registering the company itself under the chosen name, and not a separate name. Therefore, the question of how to register a company name is worth asking only if you are creating a brand and have plans to sell franchises.

1. Determine the significant characteristics of the name, for whom it is, keywords / word roots.
2. Conduct a brainstorming session with a system of “logical enumeration” of options on your own, with colleagues or give it to namers with a clear technical assignment.
3. Give friends or partners a list of applicants to determine the best, or conduct a survey among customers and stakeholders.
4. The chosen name of the organization does not have to be registered as a trademark; it is enough to open an LLC or individual entrepreneur.

Whatever the entrepreneurial experience of the founder of the company, you should not be lazy and take the time to work out the name. A beautiful and original name adorns the business card, it stands out, it is proudly announced to relatives - not only the director, but also ordinary employees. It's nice to work for a company whose title is a work of art!