“Choosing a Company Name: 5 Things You Need to Know.”

By Julia L. Rogers

What’s in a name? As it turns out, a lot. How to choose a company name that will resonate with customers — and help establish your brand.

Choosing a solid, compelling name for your company is one of the first — and probably one of the most challenging — tasks you’ll face as an entrepreneur. After all, a great deal of a company’s success can ride on its name. An imaginative name that speaks volumes about the value of your products and services can stick in the mind of everyone who hears it. On the other hand, an ill-chosen name can push your business into obscurity and cost time and money to rebrand down the road.

Looking for a head-turning company name that resonates with customers? Here are five things you need to know.

1. Identify what makes your company unique. Small-business owners need to pay attention to what other people in their industry are doing and find ways to differentiate themselves — and that starts with their company name. The most successful companies are able to highlight their uniqueness and solidly go in their own direction. When naming a company, you also need to have a clear mission statement. For example, when Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin began, they wanted to name their search engine “Googol” in reference to the vast amount of information it could search, since a “googol” is the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. They felt it perfectly reflected their mission to organize the infinite amount of information that could be found on the Internet. However, an investor misspelled the name “Google” on their first check, leading them to change their name, which of course now has become not only an iconic business name, but also a verb used to describe the process of finding anything on the Web.

2. Embrace creativity. Using imagery that creates a poignant mental picture is key to developing a great company name, according to Alexandra Watkins of Eat My Words, a San Francisco-based business-naming firm. Watkins says Eat My Words has a “SMILE and SCRATCH” test to gauge a name’s greatness. “A name should make you smile instead of scratch your head,” she says. Watkins emphasizes that company names are better when they aren’t overly business-oriented, and that stepping outside stuffy conference rooms is the only way to create names that will strike an emotional chord and make real connections with customers. “Take Verizon or Accenture,” Watkins says. “It’s hard to be fun with that. We’re so bombarded with words, advertising and TV that names really need to stand out by making emotional connections. People should smile or think to themselves, ‘That’s clever.’ The name and the brand should empower them.”

Creative misspellings aren’t always effective and can be confusing to potential customers and even bungle Internet search results. For example, the vitamin company “Alterna Vites” always gets its name changed to “alternatives” in a Google search. But according to Watkins, there are some exceptions. “Spanx is really fun and playful,” she says. “I love that name. It works.”

3. Do your homework. This means making sure a company name is legally available and doesn’t translate awkwardly into other languages or is in any way offensive. Check to see that no competitors have names that are too similar. In addition, research domain names to see whether the company name is available. A company will have far more success with marketing if all pieces match. In other words, ideally, the company name should match the domain name and e-mail address, so customers can easily find the company both online and offline. “You can check with your state online and see if your name is available,” suggests David Cingari, chef and owner of David’s Soundview Catering in Stamford, Conn. Since Cingari’s business is based in Connecticut, he went straight to the Connecticut Secretary of State website and was able to search for name availability. Other states offer similar resources with links to forms that also allow you to officially register your business.

4. Your name must work online, too. According to the Small Business Administration, entrepreneurs are best served by making their domain names as close as possible to their trade names. Companies like Amazon.com and Monster.com have found success through Internet branding and marketing. Domain names aren’t registered through state or local government and are available through online services like GoDaddy.com that offer name searches to ensure your ideal company name is available and affordable. A company name that translates well into a domain name will have certain characteristics: short, memorable, not easily confused with others, nearly impossible to misspell, related to the business name and mission statement and resonate with the target audience. “If you want to name your business something, and the domain name isn’t available, it doesn’t have to be the exact name,” Watkins says. “For example, a pool company called Watermark could be watermarkpools.com or diveintowatermark.com. The idea that you can’t have a name if you can’t have the domain is the number-one misconception. We really could be eatmywordsnaming.com. So much of bad naming is driven by domain names, but that shouldn’t be a huge concern. It should be more about branding.”

5. Consider legal requirements. The SBA also advises entrepreneurs to be careful about the legal requirements of their particular type of business before naming it. Choosing a business name goes beyond being creative and knowing your customers. You need to determine which type of business structure you’ll use — sole proprietorship, limited liability company (LLC), general partnership, C corporation or sub chapter S corporation — and figure out your limitations for naming. For example, in some states, unless filing another name as a trade name or pseudonym, a sole proprietor has to use his or her own name as the business name. You’ll also need to decide whether you’ll use the full name you choose for your business as the official trade name, or shorten it. If you want to go nationally or internationally with your company one day, you also need to research beyond your immediate area for other companies that might have the same or similar names, as some businesses only file their names locally.

It was a heated competition with other contenders including Retardex Toothpaste (need we say more), Morongo Casino (where ‘morons go’ to gamble?), and iSwipe (say it out loud). But after many sleepless nights, cupcake bribes and consulting with the show’s producers, the hands-down winner was Shwowp.

Shwoop (oops, Shwowp), is actually a cool service – it helps shwowppers get a grip on their online shwowpping history. (Something that we here at Eat My Words need to help manage our shoe shwowpping obsession.) We suspect this name was the result of a drunken Scrabble game.

TIP: Just because a domain name is available on GoDaddy for $9.95 does not mean that is what you should name your company.

Showop (oops, we did it again) is ridiculously hard to spell and pronounced differently by everyone we asked. Check out our Google search results when we tried to find it under “Shwoop”…
Did you mean: shoop
Did you mean: shop
Showing results for shooby doo wop
Showing results for shoo wop. Search instead for showowop
Showing results for shwowp. Search instead for showowp

Finally! After all that guesswork and brain wracking we were too exhausted to continue. This name not only makes our head spin, it severely violates the Eat My Words SMILE & SCRATCH name evaluation test:

SMILE - the 5 qualities of a powerful name
Simple – easy-to-understand – No
Meaningful – customers “get it” – No, they get a headache
Imagery – creates a mental picture – Not a good one
Legs – wordplay opportunities – No, total dead end
Emotional – entertains, engages, etc. – No, “enrages” is not an emotion you want to evoke, especially from Eat My Words

SCRATCH it off the list if it has any of these 7 deal-breakers
Spelling-challenged – Absolutely!
Copycat – similar to competitor’s names – Totally – ShamWow!
Random – disconnected from the brand – Uh…
Annoying – hidden meaning, forced – Forced like a train wreck
Tame – flat, uninspired, boring – We think so
Curse of Knowledge – only insiders get it – Does anybody get it?
Hard-to-pronounce – With spit-up in your mouth, yes

TIP: Every time you have to spell, pronounce or explain your name to someone, you are essentially apologizing for it, which weakens and devalues your brand.

As a gesture of goodwill, Shwowp will be awarded a pink and gold Head Scratcher of the Year trophy, from the nice people at Eat My Words. (We’re also happy to give them some free name consulting should they decide to shwowp for a new name.)

Special props go to Robin Wolaner our #1 Name Scout, for sending us this submission. Robin’s always on the hunt for Head Scratchers and is a frequent contributor to our Facebook fan page. She’s also responsible for submitting last year’s winner – Speecees – an unfortunately named baby clothing company.

TIP: your brand name should not rhyme with “feces.”

This year, Robin was awarded a Have a Nice Day bouquet of flowers (because her name always makes us smile) and a genuine Head Scratcher massager, which we just popped in the mail this morning. (Creepy guy not included.)

Please continue to send us bad names for our 2011 Head Scratcher contest. And if you’re naming a business and want to make sure your own brand name doesn’t appear here next year, go here to see if your name sucks.

It gets worse.
ISOARS created a digital coupon service with an even more cringe-worthy name:
I don’t know where to begin with Mo-Quepons. It violates the most important rules of naming. It’s hard to spell, pronounce, and downright annoying. And what’s with the hyphen? You mean to tell me that www.moquepons.com was taken?!

Please guys, you need to spend mo’ time evaluating names and less time thinking you hit the naming jackpot because the domain was available on GoDaddy for $9.95. That is not a good reason to choose a name. We suggest using the Eat My Words SMILE & SCRATCH Test (as seen in The Wall Street Journal), which is based on our philosophy that a name should make you smile, instead of scratch your head.
SMILE – the qualities of a powerful name:Simple – one easy-to-understand conceptMeaningful – your customers instantly “get it”Imagery – visually evocative – creates a mental pictureLegs – carries the brand, lends itself to wordplayEmotional – e.g. empowers, entertains, engages, enlightens
SCRATCH it off the list if it has any of these deal-breakers:Spelling-challenged – you have to tell people how to spell itCopycat – similar to competitor’s namesRandom – disconnected from the brandAnnoying – hidden meaning, forcedTame – flat, uninspired, boring, non-emotionalCurse of Knowledge – only insiders get itHard-to-pronounce – not obvious, relies on punctuation
—If you’d like to see some great names that past the test, check out the names created by Eat My Words – now these are a site for sore eyes! —Thanks to my NSA ProTrack buddy Jim Carrillo for tipping me off to theses two doozies…

How To Create Brand Names That Stick

Posted by Guest Author on Nov 5, 2008 at 4:06 pm

Today’s guest entry is written by Alexandra Watkins, CIO of Eat My Words . After writing advertising copy for 20+ years, including five years at Ogilvy and Mather -where she flogged everything from Microsoft to Mighty Dog- Alexandra got hooked on naming when Gap hired her to create cheeky names for their first line of body care products. Since then she’s generated thousands of names for snacks, software, sunscreen, social networking sites, sportswear, shoes, sugar scrubs, serums, and seafood -and that’s just the S’s!

Click here for full post.

All in the Name

Does your business moniker have people smiling or scratching their heads?
By Kevin Manahan
Entrepreneur’s StartUps – September 2008

After creating catchy names for everything from energy drinks to sportswear, Alexandra Watkins knows what goes into a good business name. In 2005, the former advertising copywriter founded Eat My Words, a boutique naming firm in San Francisco with 2008 sales projected in the six figures. The firm’s Smile & Scratch Test, available at eatmywords.com, evaluates names “based on our philosophy that a name should make you smile instead of scratch your head,” says Watkins. Here are some tips to ensure your name gets people grinning:

• Make an emotional connection. Eat My Words creates company names that entertain and engage the consumer, including Spoon Me for a frozen yogurt chain and Neato for a home cleaning robot. “If you have a name like Spoon Me, and you’re making that [emotional] connection, you’re instantly building an affinity for your brand, because people like it,” says Watkins, 44.
• Stand out. With Pinkberry’s success came a wave of name imitators. But jumping on the bandwagon is the wrong way to go. “People try to be copycats,” says Watkins, “but the only way you’re ever going to get noticed and stand out is if you do something unexpected and different.”
• Don’t ask others for ideas. Try to test your name against an objective set of criteria rather than asking for opinions. “People make the mistake of asking their friends and family what they think,” says Watkins. “That’s the worst possible thing you can do; it really waters down your name.”
• Keep it clear. Names like Flickr and Xobni might be unique, but they can be confusing and hard to pronounce for consumers. Names in different languages or that hide the meaning from the consumer should also be avoided.