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Choosing a Name

Why

Without a name a business has no identity to the outside world nor even to its own members.  Naming is a basic human requirement - a precursor to the development of relationships.  Therefore both the business and its products need naming in order to distinguish them from the rest.  Its as simple as that.

Basic Requirements

A good place to start is to work out what you need the name to do. This will help you decide how much searching you need to do to find out if your potential name is going to be unique within the necessary space.

• Does this name need to work globally, just in the UK or in some other region?
• In what field of goods and services does it need to be unique?
• Does it need to be available as the name for my company.
• Does it need to be free or obtainable as a domain name.

Then there are more sophisticated elements of the brief. The messages you want to send need to be determined.  This is the field in which marketing and brand consultants excel.

How

Establishing what the name has to do is one step.  The next is to create a list of names that might do the job.

DIY or Using a Designer

If you want to present a professional image there is no substitute for seeking professional assistance.  Selecting someone to create the face of your firm is as important as choosing your other professional advisers.  Best not to click on the nearest GoogleAd offering cheap logos or answer a spam email. Look for recommendations from businesses you know whose branding impresses you and works for their customers too. If you like mine click here.  British Design Innovation has a website that allows you to look for local specialists.

Brainstorming

If you are a young business that is not ready for that level of investment, gather the team together with a notepad, a pencil, the liquor of your choice and inspire each other.

Descriptive or resonant

If your advertising campaign will run to millions there is really little point in taking advice from a trademark attorney as to what sign to choose as your name.  You can make almost any name distinctive.  But do remember that there is a line and you cannot stop your competitors using a legitimate descriptive term just by paying a small fee to register it as a trademark.

If there will be no big advertising campaign there is wisdom in using your name to sign the field in which you operate.  It used to be fashionable to add master to a descriptive element, but most useful combinations are in use.  A lot of small businesses have used R US variations. Geoffrey Inc owners of the TOYS R US brand dislike this practice but recent decisions in disputes with small claims r us and hotels r us have shown that they have difficulty showing customers form a link when the business is not in toys.  Best advice though is not to take any advantage of any other brand however distant.

Puns and Jokes

Clever names can pall after a while.  It is reported that Morrisons the supermarket chain has changed its advertsing agency recently so there is speculation they may change the 20 year old slogan more reasons to shop at Morrisons. Well I have only just got the joke (phonetic similarity).

Random and Invented words

Received wisdom is that the best trademark signs are invented words or words that have no relationship with the business.  Take your scrabble bag to the brainstorming session. Words that produce null results on an Internet search are useful.

Words and images

You need to be both seen and heard. Therefore, for most trademarks, there is a plain word form and a visual form.  Many businesses use a logo to identify them.   from the greatest to the least an oval shape seems to represent the ideal.  I don't know why but can Ford, Intel

Protection

Once you have a list you need to look at the risks of each.  Filemot can help you with checking trademark risks. Market research and other linguistic tools can be employed to ascertain whether the possible names generate the right responses or have inappropriate connotations in other languages.

For those who speak French there is a good collection of inappropriate marks here

Next, having established all the risks you can protect and use your new name. It is a valuable asset so you also need to keep watch and snap at anyone who wants to use the same one as few trademark registries refuse to protect new marks unless the owners of existing ones oppose.