Belmont University

What's in a Name?

Some new entrepreneurs give the name of their new business almost no thought. Others agonize over the best name to capture the true essence of their business. I always tended to fall into the latter category. With one new start up we brainstormed and debated for weeks over the best name for our new program. But then, it often takes my family days to even come up with the a name for a new dog.

The Wall Street Journal offers several factors to think about when picking a name.

There's so much riding on a company's name. It has to stand out, and be easy to remember and look up. And the pitfalls are many.... [A] bad name can fail to engage customers, or become outdated as the company grows and adds products and services.

Some of their tips:

- Be unique

- Don't be obscure

- Don't be mundane

- Make sure it hasn't been used and is open as a domain name

- And test it out on objective outsiders


Posted by Jeff Cornwall on March 17, 2008 01:28 PM |

Comments

This can be such a stopper for entrepreneurs. That is one big advantage for franchisees - they don't have to come up with a name, then regret their decision every time someone makes an even potentially negative comment about it. Even for franchisees, though, as dumb as it may sound, I would recommend making sure the name of the franchise is one they like and respect. If your instinct is to cringe when you hear the name of your new business, and you didn't get to choose it because the franchise "gave" it to you, that is not healthy.

Birdied by: Kurt Ehlert | March 18, 2008 08:26 AM

I agree the name should be easy to remember and not too long.
I laugh when I see ads on cars that are eg:
www.abc/getinnow/123/enter.ddd

Now who is going to remember that !

Birdied by: Samantha | March 20, 2008 05:21 PM

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