name
Your business is your baby and, like a newborn baby, it needs a suitable name. Using a business name generator can help immensely, especially when it comes time to choose a domain; however, there are a few rules you should keep in mind.
Above all: naming something gives it power. Yes, this is usually said in regard to folklore, and the power a “True Name” can have over a (typically magical) individual. But, in a very real business sense, naming something gives you power over how others perceive it.
In other words, when you are choosing the perfect business name, you aren’t just choosing what it should be called in day-to-day life: you’re making a first impression and an active choice in regard to how your customers will ultimately view your company. Powerful stuff indeed!
So, before using a business name generator, company name generator, or a domain name generator, keep these 6 tips in mind:
1. Know Your Keywords
What word or words do you want associated with your business’ brand?
It’s important to not only define what you do (accounting, petsitting, marketing, etc.) but how you do it (quickly, affordably, concisely, etc.). Once you’ve armed yourself with defining nouns and adjectives, you can begin stringing them together to create keywords for your brand identity.
Branding experts suggest that you should look for synonyms (related words) for the phrases you came up with. For example, a Speedy Marketer could also be an Accelerated Advertiser or a Prompt Content Specialist. Going a little longer with phrasing, you could start with something like “best dog sitting service” and end up with phrases like “best pet sitting service” or “best dog boarding service.”
Keywords will vary between different types of businesses. It’s important to get specific keywords that will strike a note with your target audience.
2. Know Your Competitors’ Keywords
Unless your idea is so insanely unique that no one has ever heard of what you do, then you’re bound to have a few competitors in your field. What words are they using to drive business their way?
Knowing your competitors’ keywords is important for 2 reasons:
You can “borrow” some of their more generic phrasing to drive business to your own company and,
You can stay away from the words that defines their business in-depth.
You don’t want to borrow keywords from your competitor if its a word or phrase that is too specific to what makes their service unique. For example, if you’ve created a chocolate candy with a hard shell, you don’t want to use the phrase “melts in your mouth, not in your hand” or you’ll be lifting a well-known “keyword”/slogan from M&Ms. But could you say that, like M&Ms, your delicious chocolate nibbles are “button-shaped,” “low calorie,” or “fun to eat?” Absolutely!
Look up your competitors on Google’s search engine and see what words are being used to describe them, and what words they use to describe themselves. You can even search for “[business name] branding case study” or “[business name] naming case study” to delve more deeply into how your competitors came up with their business names to further inform how you can name yours.
If you want to explore further, take a look at related social media handles to see what random words you have in mind are already associated with.
3. All Ideas Are Good Ideas (For Now)
As the character Jack Donaghy once said on 30 Rock: “There are no bad ideas in brainstorming.”
Before you head to a business name generator, you’ll want to be fully-loaded with potential company name ideas. Even if you aren’t 100 percent “sold” on a particular keyword, use it anyway. It might return a better catchy name than you think!
When it comes to finding a great business name, the brainstorming phase is not the time to apply filters. If your thinking is overly-narrow from the get-go, you severely limit yourself. It’s a-okay to have a few favorite potential names in mind; however, if you cling to those ideas too fast and hard, you’ll keep yourself from being open to potentially better ideas down the road.
Bring in voices other than your own into the discussion as well. They can give you a list. of names that you never thought of. Even if you don’t end up using their ideas, an outsider’s perspective may create the spark you need to light your idea furnace.
4. Put Your Customers First
Your business might be your baby, but your baby was born to serve your customers. Keep them in mind during the naming process.
What are their needs and desires? What are their deepest fears? How will your product or service improve their daily lives?
Or, on a more basic level: is the name you’re considering for your business easy for your potential customers to remember? To say?
“The Manageable Masticator” might sound intelligent and awesome to your ears, but wouldn’t “The Easy Eater” be simpler for your customers?
A good business name will resonate with your target audience so keep this in mind when thinking of naming options.
5. Think Visually
Business naming isn’t just about the name; it’s about the visual. Not only will your name affect how your customers “see” you, but, from a branding perspective, you’ll want to choose a name that allows for easy visual representation.
You’re eventually going to want a logo to go with your name. For example, here at Nameboy, we have an intelligent-looking boy who looks like he knows a thing or two about names. Over at MonsterInsights (another brand we own), we have a monster who’s utilizing a magnifying glass to gain “insight” into website analytics.
Think about how good the logo design of your brand name would look on the social media. So make sure that you get a good logo maker and design a logo that speaks to your audience.
There’s a good reason why the title character of HP Lovecraft’s “The Colour Out of Space,” about a formless being whose colors do not exist in nature, hasn’t been turned into a business logo. It’s best to avoid business names that are too difficult to put a “face” to.
6. Use a Business Name Generator
Once you’ve got a fairly good handle on keywords and descriptive phrases, it’s time to plug those words into a business name generator.
Since 1999, Nameboy has been taking keywords and turning them into potential domain names for businesses like yours. It also checks the domain availability for you!
And, even if you’re not ready to build a website just yet, Nameboy can be utilized as a business name generator to get you started on the right foot. Nameboy checks the domain name availability using Bluehost, domain names available on Bluehost are also available on Godaddy domain name registrars.
Simply enter in 1 or 2 of your favorite descriptive keywords for your business into the name generator and click Submit. It’s that easy. Repeat until you find the business name of your dreams.
By using a brand name generator, you take the bulk of the hassle out of naming your business from scratch. Rather than straining your brain trying to think of the perfect combination of words, Nameboy’s generator can do it for you.
And, if you’re in the market for an active online presence via an official website, you can quickly find out whether or not your potential new business name is available as a domain name.
Now it’s your turn to try.
Nameboy’s free business name generator is perfect for startups and entrepreneurs. It uses complex algorithms and artificial intelligence to find you brandable and creative business name ideas.
It also checks if the name it’s suggesting has an available domain so that you won’t have to check domain availability yourself.
So if you’re looking for the right name for your small business, ecommerce online store, or simply looking for name suggestion for you new blog; you won’t have to look any further than Nameboy. Just enter any SEO keywords, dictionary words, prefixes and suffixes or even misspellings, Nameboy will work around it and give you best business name ideas.
We’d love to hear what kind of unique business name ideas you got. Let us know!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. How do I come up with a business name?
You can use our business name generator tool for creative name ideas. When naming your small business keep in mind of the following tips.
- Think about what you want your business name to convey.
- Brainstorm to identify name possibilities
- Keep it short, simple, and easy to remember
- Avoid names that are too literal or narrow
- Test your company name with others
- Avoid plain words
- Avoid obscure words
Once you have a list of names, you can vet them by going through the tips we have mentioned above.
2. How to pick a catchy business name?
To pick a catchy and brandable business name, make sure its:
– Short and simple
– Use acronyms
– Differentiate
– Be original
– Look for new inspirations
It’s a good idea to use free tools like our business name generator to help you find catchy name suggestions.
3. How does a Business Name Generator work?
Our Business Name Generator is built on AI technology. You simply need to enter a few keywords in the search bar. Then the tool takes your keyword input and runs a search with suffixes, prefixes, random words, synonyms, and more to find the perfect business names. You’ll find one-word names along with phrase suggestions. Added to that, it only displays names that have the domain name available for registration. So you can find a great brand name and register the domain right away.
4. Can I use a taken domain name with different extensions
If a domain name is already associated with a popular or branded company, it’s likely that the name is trademarked. Plus, customers will associate the name with this existing popular brand. So getting an XYZ domain when the .com is already popular may confuse customers and search engines.
However, if you’re catering to a niche or a local audience, then opting for domain extensions like .io, .uk, ,NY, and so on, it could work in your favor. Learn more here: What Is a Top Level Domain? (TLDs Explained + Popular Extensions)
5. What’s the best platform to build my website on?
We recommend using WordPress to build your site. It’s free to use and gives you complete freedom over your website’s design, customizations, and administration. There are readymade themes and page templates to get you started.
If you’re starting an online store, then you can use WooCommerce with WordPress. There are also other platforms like Shopify and SquareSpace – although their pricing plans make them quite expensive.
That’s our guide on how to pick a great brandable name for your company or business with tips on how to use an online business name generator.
We hope that you found this helpful in your name search. Up next, you’ll be interested in our latest guides and resources from our blog.