AlphaBeth's Naming and Branding Blog

Naming Lessons from the 19th Century

2010-02-03T08:45:00.001-08:00

A while back I went to a creative professionals trade show and and picked up a variety of vendor samples.

Today, with virtual products and services, "hands on" marketing samples are getting harder to come by, but one printer's booth caught my eye immediately. His booth was filled with striking white, black, and red Monadnock Paper Mill sample bags.

I was intrigued by the name. First, it breaks a few conventional naming rules. At first glance (unless your familiar with the New Hampshire landmark) the name is rather a mouth full and not exactly easy to spell or type quickly. But it's fun to sound it out--Lots of vowels and hard consonants. I like how it starts with a "softer" M but ends with a harder "nock" sound.

You also have the sense (or at least I did) that it's likely an historic place name from the East Coast, perhaps Native American in origin. According to the Monadnock website, the company origins go back to the early 1800s. It just feels like it comes with a lively history or brand story.

Originally named the Bennington Paper Mills--your standard 1800s industrial brand name-became known as Monadnock, named for the one the region's most celebrated landmarks, Mount Monadnock--from the Algonquin dialect meaning "high point" or "one that stands alone." And in fact, the brand identity includes a red Native American figure standing on a small rise.

Now, we don't all have the luxury of a 100+ year history attached to our brands, but when we are naming there's no harm in asking the question what if we did? What name would honor our heritage? What landmarks could we associate with? What brand name would last 100 years as Monadnock has and why?

If you need help with a rebranding project or a new name, I'd love to talk with you about it just drop us a note at namelancer@hotmail.com.

Questions to Ask Before Changing Your Brand Name

2010-02-01T07:40:00.000-08:00

As a naming consultant, I'm often asked how much will it cost to change my business name? That's certainly a valid question. But there are usually some some qualifying questions I need to ask before I can make that assessment.

And I don't want to scare anyone away either, but the fact is the answer is sometimes, probably more than you think or want to spend.

For example, I've read that when FedEx dropped the Kinkos name to become FedEx Office they spent almost, wait for it...$900 million dollars. It's an expenditure I'm assuming they gave some thought to beforehand.

Clearly, some business name changes can be expensive and time consuming. In practice, I've found that the initial consulting stage is just the tip of the naming project iceberg. I highly recommend before you contact a consultant regarding a potential name change, you should be able to answer all the "journalistic" basics: The How, What, Why, When, and Where regarding your brand naming project.

Lets' take a look at WHY and WHERE today. WHY are you changing your name?

Perhaps most important of all be sure you know WHY exactly you want to change the name. I'm not trying to talk myself out of any business but quite honestly there may be another way you can solve that branding issue.

For example, if you have a brand name that seems cumbersome or outdated, perhaps you can give it a boost with a fresh logo, new typeface, or what I call a "name facelift" such as when Federal Express became FedEx. Yes, that's a name and logo change but it's also the path of least resistance, which may be less costly. It may be the type of change you can gradually roll out for example. In this example, we were all calling it FedEx already as the branding giants at Landor pointed out.

When you think through WHY you want to change the name be sure to through the impact your change will have on your customers and prospects--usually there are some positives and negatives. This brings me to another name change tip that I can't emphasize enough.

When you change your name you want to tell the world a positive, upbeat story about your name (not that you you were about to be sued by your cousin for trademark infringement). Be sure your communications staff, PR team, etc. is all on the same united front about the name change.

WHERE will you need to change the name?

Perhaps the largest impact on cost for a name change is WHERE. In other words, think carefully about all the places the name will need to be changed and estimate a cost for those. If you've been a good marketer, you may have hundreds if not thousands of marketing touchpoints that will need to be updated.

Invariably, when I've asked clients to make a list of this brand name inventory they are typically surprised by how many "assets" have a the brand name attached to them somehow. And the little things do add up.

I hope that helps if you are considering a name change, before I go I just have to share a name that made me smile over the weekend. One of my neighbors has remodeling dumpster in his driveway labeled in beautiful font: Garbagio. It was a good reminder that naming, while a serious business, can still be fun.

Beer Name Not so Sunny

2010-01-06T14:46:00.000-08:00

I have a general cautionary rule about naming ideas that I tell my clients, if it sounds too obvious or too good to be true, proceed with caution. With the Internet and social media connections it's going to be harder than ever to use well known names and if you do be sure to do your homework.

Along those lines, I'm noticing in today's ultra competitive business environment that companies are becoming more aggressive about about protecting their brand names.

Case in point. Here's an article from the Phoenix Business Journal about a local brewery that probably thought "Sun Devil" was the perfect name for one of their new dark red ales, but alas, ASU said no go. So now the San Tan Brewing Co. is having a beer naming contest instead if you'd like to participate it runs through Feb. 28, 2010.

When A Good Name Goes Bad

2010-01-05T14:37:00.000-08:00

It happens everyday in the naming business. There you are with your perfectly good brand name. You've had it a while and it's a name you like quite a bit for some very good reasons. Then BAM out of the blue a GIANT brand decides they like the name too. What do you do?

You have some tough branding naming decisions to make. Do you keep your brand name and ride along on what's likely to be a big budget wave? Of course, you might get towed under the ground swell or lost in the shadows. (Of course, you may also have adequate legal grounds for cease and desist, but this fight may get expensive and complicated.)

I was reading the other day that just this scenario happened to marketing agency (formerly) called Bing. Sound familiar? Here's their renaming story. Need help with your renaming project? Please drop us a line at Namelancer@hotmail.com. We name to please!

Open Season on Available Dot Coms?

2009-12-17T09:17:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays! As a namer, I've found over the past six months that the challenging economy has brought us an unexpected "gift." It seems that the ever elusive great dot com or URL domain name is getting a bit easier register--or at least more affordable to purchase.

I've read that more and more companies are letting go of names they've camped on for years. In fact just a few weeks ago I purchased a dot com name (it's the name of one of my other freelance businesses) that I've been waiting for for over 12 years!

There are hundreds of sites you can check domains, I usually use good ole www.register.com. Or if you are looking to craft a new name here's another fun domain creator/dot com checker I found called Wordoid.

I've worked with dozens of companies over the years who have said, here's the real name we want, but someone already registered it. Even if the owner turned you down before, there's no harm in making another offer, especially if they are not using the name.

Along those lines, be sure you add naming goals to your overall 2010 marketing plan. Will you be launching a new product, line extension, or website? Naming can be a very long process especially when you tack on "pick and protect it" legal step a the end. More than 12 months is not that unusal, so start planning now. Last minute naming is rarely a good thing.

For help with your next naming project, please drop me note at Namelancer@hotmail.com.

P.S. A dot com name makes a fun and unique holiday gift for a friend or colleague.

The Mean Green Naming Machine

2009-11-08T12:23:00.000-08:00

As a namer, one rule I tend to be adamant about when it comes to helping name a particular type of product is that somehow the benefit of the product is communicated to the consumer. While this sounds easy, the trick comes in when you want to communicate the product or service strength without being too heavy handed or descriptive.

Take the continued popularity and growth of green or eco-friendly products. By their very nature (no pun intended) these trendy products call for a particular type of name that strongly reinforces he brand’s benefits, organic qualities, simplicity, “greenness,” etc.

But it's not always that easy in practice, for one thing the "organic" marketplace is already becoming crowded, so be sure to elicit some professional naming help if you are developing a green brand.Here’s an Fast Company post about The Top Ten Worst Green Brands. And some some of these are quite bad. I have this thing about the misplace use of "baby" in brand names so Babyganics? Just say no. (But, I have to say, I’m not entirely in agreement with them about the new Nissan Leaf. Personally, I like Leaf better than Prius.)

Looking for affordable naming help for your organic brand or green product? For more information about our $99 naming packages, visit us at Namelancer.

Are You Inuit to Win It?

2009-11-07T19:50:00.000-08:00

If only I were Canadian--I could name a whale! (Namers love naming contests, as you might imagine.)

Well, if you are lucky enough to be Canadian, you have a chance enter a name the baby beluga whale contest at the Vancouver Aquarium.

They are suggesting a name honoring the Inuit language. As a namer I love linguistics and Inuit is a fascinating language (or group of languages). I worked with Inuit words several years ago when I worked on an Alaskan food product naming project. As a namer, I love all the letter Qs and Ks and Ys.

For example, Qannik, is snowflake and Kanguyak is daisy, according to one Inuit online dictionary. So the next time you are looking for a name with some unusual linguistic flair check out some Inuit words. And as always, if you need help with your naming project please drop us a line at Namelancer.

(Cute whale photo courtesty of Flickr.)

Naming by the Book

2009-11-06T10:48:00.000-08:00

I recently answered a branding question on LinkedIn about the best books on naming and I thought I'd repost that list here. Obviously, as a naming consultant I'm going to recommend that "you don't try this at home" but I also think that a good branding client is well-informed about best practices. And I understand there are many branding folks out there interested in naming.

So here are a few books that I own (and have read obviously) about naming specifically that you may find helpful--Note some are newer and possibly more relevant than others. (All found on Amazon.) Naming practices, just like other branding initiatives, can become dated quickly.

The Naming of the Beast by Neil Taylor
WordCraft by Alex Frankel
The Making of a Name by Rivkin
Names that Sell by Barrett
Crafting the Perfect Name by Burroughs
Also Before the Brand by Perry (a short, easy to read branding book) has a decent chapter overview about naming

If you need further help with naming or having any naming questions (I've been doing this for over 12 years now!) please drop me a line at Namelancer.

Uncle Sam's Tips for Naming

2009-11-05T09:07:00.000-08:00

Who knew the government could be so helpful when it comes to naming?

The other day I came across a basic, no nonsense (which I guess makes sense for the government) article about How to Name Your Business on Business.gov. The article include information about business registration by state as well.

I know. I know. Business registration or legal part of naming is not necessarily the glamorous, sexy part of creating names, but it's necessary. And if you're careful about checking the viability of your name candidates upfront you will save a lot of time and money in the end.

If you are on a corporate name selection committee or team, be sure the participants clearly understand that several (or many) names may need to be submitted before one clears legal. Try not to vote for one winner. Think Letterman. It's better to vote for a say a Top Ten List.

I know it's hard not to play name favorites at this point, but I've had many clients very disappointed when their first or second name choice is not available.

The way I look at this is that a good brand name is one you can own and protect outright. Don't feel bad that your "legally-clean" name may not be your first choice. The goal with all naming is to find that perfect name that will help you differentiate your brand, not be a "me too" name.

If you need help with your naming project, please visit Namelancer.

Having Fun with Random Name Generators

2009-11-04T14:15:00.000-08:00

You can finds lots of different free random name generators online. In general, these tools are just for fun, and it would be unlikely to find a great match for your project. And obviously, many are "sponsored" by domain registration site.

However, you can use random name generators as stepping stone for different ideas and brainstorming. Here's one I came across this week Make Words.

Of the 12 available dot com website domain names that generate on the home page, many are tricky to spell and/or pronounce. My favorite? Nostrato. (Though my linguistic instincts tell me to check that out in Italian before using it.) MakeWords also features a bulk name search feature which can save time checking a longer brainstorm list for dot com availability as well.

Another cool random domain generator is Radomainter (not that easy to say, but I get it). Type a noun, for example (or you can use a random word), into the tool and immediately get a long list of available dot com domain names that include that word.

Since I love Las Vegas and the ocean, let's try "whale" and see what we get for available dot com names...

CityWhale
LoveWhale
EasyWhale
WhaleTop

Not sure what I'd use some of these for, but I do like the visual of CityWhale...Anyway, next time you need some quick ideas check out a random name generator. And when you're ready for a professional, website name please drop us a line at namelancer@hotmail.com or visit our website: Namelancer. We name to please!

Back in the Naming Saddle

2009-11-02T15:11:00.000-08:00

Whew, it was a bit quiet in this summer and I took a brief hiatus from naming to work on some other projects. This week I'm happy to say that I'm working on a real estate development naming and brand identity project, which is perhaps my favorite type of naming project.

Over the summer, I continued to participate (for practice if nothing else) in a variety of crowd sourcing naming websites like NameThis. Some seemed better than others. Unfortunately, one of my favorites, NameThis has gone on "a break."

While not perfect, NameThis gave clients with limited budgets the chance to get a variety of ideas in a short time frame. In the end, I'm happy to report that I won quite a few projects on NameThis and am proud of my work there.

(Note I'm not affiliated with NameThis in anyway and am not pleased to see though that a number of participants are claiming they were never paid. I never like to see this in the creative consulting community.)

That being said, affordable namers like myself are still out there and willing to do great work, so drop me a line at Namelancer@hotmail.com if you need help with a naming project.

The Eyes Have it: Naming a Fashion Brand

2009-05-02T17:12:00.001-07:00

Am pleased to report that I had another name finalist on this week. This time for a “new brand of trendy eyewear.” From this particular “assignment,” I wanted to discuss the name brief and how I, as a namer, might interpret it. I think it’s a very good example of a short, but effective brief for a couple of reasons.

Here’s what the client asked for:

We need a name for our new brand of prescription eyewear targeted at young, trendy consumers. We want a fashion label-type name, not something literal dealing with vision or glasses. Our glasses will help people feel cool, unique and confident by providing boldly designed, fashion-forward frames with quality lenses.

Words we might use to describe our product: revolutionary, chic, bold, fresh, classic/retro, and socially conscious.

Note that the many strong adjectives used to describe the product. A good exercise would be to describe your product without relying on a photo. This not only points me (your namer) in the right direction, but also helps me weed out the not so great names before I present them.

Be sure to tell your namer what type of name, if any, you DO NOT want. For example, here they state they do NOT want a descriptive or literal name. That’s immediately helpful to us namers. We know to avoid name types like “Visionworks” or “Opticon” for this particular project.

Be clear about your target market. Here the client identified their likely target market as young and trendy so I know the name can be a playful and unique, as well.

Finally, whenever I name a fashion product, I’ll typically look to French and Italian for inspiration. Romance languages are often synonymous with leading designer brands like Chanel, YSL, Hermes, Gucci, Versace, etc.

Based on the client’s direction, here are some of my name ideas for the new line of eyewear:

Blinx/Blynx

Chassis (Alluding to frames/framework)

Cheaters (Jazz age slang for glasses)

Ciglio (Italian for eyelash)

Exspectations

Hot Pear ((as in pair of glasses)

Lunetta ((from French for eye glasses)

Lux Spex

SquareMoon

Sweet Peeps

Twinkles

The choice? Lunetta--Perhaps not as “hip/funky” as some of the others but I think it fits the chic, fashionista-friendly bill the client wanted.

So remember namers and clients, a naming or creative brief does not have to be dozens of pages long, it just has be an accurate description of your product, your audience, and type of name you don’t want. To get the most out of your creative team, often less is more. Let them do their thing, you can always rein them in later.

My First Third Place Naming Finish!

2009-04-29T17:42:00.000-07:00

Before I talk about naming technical products and services, I wanted to give a quick update on my foray into the brainstorming dark alleys that are crowdsourcing. The good news is that my goal to be “finalist” one of the name assignments on a crowdsource naming site within the week has been met.

The bad news is that I only came in third, but tech names can be some of the most challenging brand names to create so I’m happy with some positive results here. (Plus I’m—wait for it--$22 richer for my efforts.) And I can verify to any namers out there that there actually does appear to be a "deposit" in my account.

The naming assignment? “Looking for a name for a SaaS service for subscription management. The service would be aimed at companies that need to manage recurring billing via credit card and ACH but do not want to manage all of this in house. The product will follow the 37signals model of keeping it simple and useful so the name should as well.”

Based on that input, here were my name concepts with brief notes (which the site allows you to add). Let see if you can spot the winner, OK, OK, third place finisher:

Billusion (Billing + Illusion-- implying behind the scenes and easy)

Billiken (Another name for mascot or good luck charm.)

Billygoat

Submariner

Feesability (Play on monthly fees and implies ease of use)

ThrillBill

PowerBill

Chextra Chextra

Invoxa

The winner? Feesability. (First place was Billoby.) When naming tech services or products, as you can see by many of these names, I always like to tread on the lighter side, unless your audience is very conservative. Even when your target audience is the tech elite, I think it’s wise to think ahead about what will appeal to the general public.

You might just have the next killer app. I feel strongly that web and tech services are much easier to promote if you brand name implies that no matter how complex the machinations, your product or service was created to make someone's life easier and more enjoyable. Along those lines, remember that word of mouth marketing often plays a big part in attracting early adapters to your tech brand. That's why we embrace name like Blogger, Google, Twitter, etc.

Crowdsource Naming: The Future of Naming?

2009-04-25T18:36:00.000-07:00

The more I look around the web, the more it appears that crowdsource naming (and brainstorming) is definitely a hot creative trend. On that note, here’s another crowdsource naming site I came across this week: Naming Force. Haven’t had much of chance to test it yet, but I did respond to a few projects to see what happens.

Much like the other crowd naming sites, they pay a relatively small amount from $25 to $200 per project depending on the name. That being said, you’ll be the first to know if I ever actually receive payment from one of these sites.

I have to admit NamingForce seems to have hundreds of naming projects, but it’s rather hard to tell what’s really current or how old some of these projects are. After I “joined the force” as namer, I was “invited” to participate in the naming for a video production company.

Obviously, I’m not advocating no, or very little, pay for creative consultants online. But some creative freelancers might find these small projects to be a good (and rather enjoyable) way to keep their skills fresh for when larger projects come your way. Right now these sites are getting buzz and I think many folks (like myself) are curious to try them. It will be interesting to see if crowdsourcing "small fee" sites are sustainable models for creative projects without some enhancements, such as greater pay, more quality control, etc.

And if you're a client looking for affordable names? Well, I’d recommend some caution as I've said before. As a naming professional, I see these sites as “raw idea” list generators. If you try one of these sites and discover the perfect name, that's great. But most likely, you will need the list narrowed and evaluated by branding, naming, or trademark expert for business validity, legal issues, etc.

Groovy New Domain Name Search Tool

2009-04-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

Am always searching for available dot coms and came across this helpful tool today. I love how it let's you edit the name on the fly. RED means NO and BLUE means YES.

According to Domize, they say that it's not 100% accurate at this time so I would recommend a final search on a major site like Register or Network Solutions, but still a worthwhile tool. Enjoy an let me know if you need help with your search!

Domize - the fastest domain name search ever!

No Risk Near Free Naming Sites: 2 Good 2 Be True?

2009-04-21T10:10:00.000-07:00

For about the past year, I’ve noticed an online trend that, to be honest, I’m torn about. You may have seen a number of sites that offer “no risk” or “very cheap” (say $99) Naming Services such as Name This or Picky Domains.

For any of us who do hourly freelance work for clients, these prices are ridiculously low—for both the client and the creative provider. But as a professional brander, I feel I should be aware of the competitive marketplace for creative services, especially with this economic environment. There’s no denying these “down and dirty” naming sites are getting more popular. But as a naming project client do you get what you pay for?

It’s hard to say really. If you look at a current example of a submitted naming project on Name Thi s for example, for hand-knotted upscale rugs, there are some valid names on the list (and I’ll admit suggestions are mine as way of testing this site). As a consultant, these sites are a mix of good, bad, and ugly naming.

The good? I have to admit it appears that you’ll get hundreds of ideas within 48 hours—a relatively quick turn time for naming. In the rug naming project on Name This, for example, there are already 300+ suggested name ideas with another day to go for suggestions.

The bad? The quality level of the submissions, in my opinion, varies greatly. We can’t really blame that though entirely on the contributors. The information given about a business is usually very brief and there’s no or little interaction with the “naming community.” As a result, some of the names are often cliché, unlikely available, too generic, vague, amateurish, etc. .

For me, the name ideas generated from these sites are really what I would consider to be “viral brainstorm” thoughts than they are viable, targeted business names. But, if that’s what you’re looking for then this might be useful.

The ugly? If you genuinely have a need for your new product or business and you use theses sites, now what do you do? You have a long list of names. You don’t know who did them or why. And how do you make a choice? What if the name you like best (or was voted as the best as some sites now do) is not available? Remember, particularly clever or “catchy” (whatever that means) names have been thought of long ago. So be careful of popularity contests with names online.

In the end, I’m not endorsing or condoning these sites. They are for you to make your own decisions given your goals and budget. But keep in mind there are other options, such as an affordable, independent naming consultant. A real, not virtual, person who will not only listen to you, provide you with names, but also help you through the naming process, from start to finish.

Here's a short article from Inc. about Name This.

Your Blog Name is Also a Brand Name

2009-04-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

Deciding on a new name for your Blog or social networking site? First, pick a name and stick with it. Unlike a dot com name, there are now dozens, if not hundreds of site where you may want to use your blog, IM (Internet Marketing), or social marketing brand name. Yes, these are brands--whether for business or pleasure, so choose them carefully and thoughtfully.

Here's some tips from Kutenda's blog that also point you to a helpful website where you can check to be sure your name is available (as I did with mine). Consider your social media name as part of your brand family. More and more, I'm seeing this name on business cards and websites.

Researching the availability of your blog name name now (just like you would your dot com website name) will likely save you time and money later on if you find out beforehand that you are not the only "Dallas Diva Chef" or "Yoga Yoda" out there blogging.

If you are just starting out - or, if at this point, you’re just focused on one platform - choose a name you can stick with, if still possible. Fortunately, to do that, you don’t have to go to every social media tool site. Visit Check Username instead. All you need to do is type in your desired username, and it automatically checks availability across a whole host of social platforms.

Need help naming your blog? Drop me a line at namelancer@hotmail.com and let's chat.

Today’s Brainstorm Umbrella: The Free Dictionary

2009-04-15T16:27:00.000-07:00

Over the years I’ve developed an organic, complex, yet organized process for developing an extensive list of name candidates. I look for inspiration in as many places as I can find-- mythology, poetry, atlases, articles, foreign languages, history, etc. Thanks to the Internet those resources are always growing and becoming more dynamic.

The Free Dictionary calls itself the “world’s most comprehensive dictionary.” The site, which is really more of an online reference library specializing in words, includes a dictionary, a detailed thesaurus, idioms, acronyms, a translator, and more.

It’s one of the best free thesauri and naming tools I’ve found online. Let’s take a look The Free Dictionary in action. Suppose you need to brainstorm a new gourmet wine shop. Type in the word “wine” and you’ll discover dozens, if not hundreds of word and name ideas related to wine, including wine references from classic literature.

Naming Fact: Did you know that each year the U.S. Trademark Office receives over 1 million applications for names for new businesses, products, and services? Need help with your name? Please contact me at namelancer@hotmail.com.

What’s Your Favorite New Brand Name?

2009-04-14T10:24:00.000-07:00

This Brandweek Naming Poll is from 2007, but I thought it was an interesting look at some more recent brand names and how industry insiders ranked the names.Some of the most appealing new names according to the poll:

Spykes (an flavored malt beverage pulled from the market)
Hawaii’s go! airlines
Nike’s Tailwind footwear
Calvin Klein IN2U fragrance
Enjuvia (a menopause drug)

From a naming trend perspective, it’s interesting to note that this list includes a wide variety of brand name forms and types including:

An English word spelling variation name
An action verb name
A symbolic compound “real word” name
An OMG (though perhaps now LOL trendy?) texting/IM inspired name
A coined Latin root name

One of the weaker brand names? Ultraviolet Man Summer Pop fragrance, which I have to admit is not only haphazardly wordy, but sounds an awful lot like a British 80’s band or at least their one hit single and not so much a desirable men’s cologne.

Ou est Eu?: French Town Wants a New Name

2009-04-09T19:31:00.000-07:00

My friend and web maestro, Zee, was nice enough to suggest an intriguing post topic today: How does Search Engine Optimization and Organic Search influence brand names and/or name trends today?

As way of introduction to this topic (which due to it’s complexity and intrigue I’ll continue to address in future posts), I wanted to first stress the importance of taking the time to search the Internet thoroughly for your top name candidates.

Who are the usual suspects? Who rises to the top and, more importantly, why? The Internet is not your local Yellow Pages, it’s a global bazaar teaming with brands, and you are a part of it.

Even if the other names on a search results page are non-competitive, a thousand miles away, or mostly G-rated (another common Internet naming issue), you need to ask yourself: Are you ready to compete with heavy SEO spenders? How will you deal with names that are already ranking high organically? Will my customers be confused?

Case in point. Just a few months ago, the Telegraph published an article about a French town struggling with just these issues. In fact, the mayor believes tourism is down as much as one third due to confusion and Internet competition. The petite Normandy village of Eu, is competing for valuable tourism online with a wide variety of competitors, including their apparent SEO arch nemesis, the European Union.

The article continues: “Marie-Françoise Gaouyer, the local mayor, now has two options - to pay internet giants like Yahoo and Google thousands to put the town at the top of all "Eu" searches, or change the town's name.”

But like many French enclaves, the picturesque ville is centuries old and the new name (which will likely be a longer variation of Eu) would need to put up to a vote. The ensuing legal approval could take years.

Finally, Internet search rankings are one of the few reasons that depending on your budget and marketing goals, you may want to consider a descriptive name for your company or service. Normally, I’m not a fan. But, we should be aware that the coolest of coined names will likely be more invisible to search engines without significant targeted messaging and spending behind them.

P.S. Thanks again Zee for the idea—more to come in the future about SEO and naming!

5 Tips for a Successful Brand Name Change

2009-04-08T21:29:00.000-07:00

Often I’m asked to help with a re-naming project, where for a variety of business reasons an existing brand name needs to be changed, updated, or completely put out to pasture. These projects can be extremely exciting because they are the naming equivalent of an extreme brand makeover for namers.

However, I've learned over the years that re-branding requires more proactive and political sensitivity than we might need if we were naming a new service line, product, or website. It's human nature in the office. Not everyone warmly embraces change when it comes to branding. I’ve witnessed actual tears shed (and not happy ones) at the unveiling of new logos (thankfully not mine).

In her excellent branding book Designing Brand Identity, the author Alina Wheeler gives us some pointers specifically around a name change (or re-branding):

1. Understand and accept that their will be resistance. And sometimes from unlikely places, such as board members, sales, or the press.

2. Ensure all stakeholders (internal and external) know the reason behind the name change.

3. More specifically, clearly communicate how the name change will positively impact your firm’s public image, awareness, loyalty, recruitment, employee morale, customer relations, and key partnerships.

4. Create an air of excitement and anticipation around the new name. Be sure to keep everyone updated so the project doesn’t lose steam.

5. Remember to plan ahead and carefully budget for the impact of the new name on all your marketing collateral so the change is as seamless and complete as possible.

Need help with a new name launch? Feel free to drop me a line. I’d also love to hear from anyone who has some additonal tips for successful name launches to share. Thanks! Beth

Jam Laboratories or Featured Site of the Day: www.WordCount.org

2009-04-08T11:39:00.000-07:00

I think the best Internet reference and branding websites are the ones that are informative, insightful, and "easy on the eyes" design-wise.

Word Count is such a site. It’s an attractive award-winning, reference website dedicated to “the way we use language.” The interactive site allows you to type in a random word, such as “jam” and see how frequently we use that word.

According to Word Count , the word “jam” is the 6,850th most used English word.

That’s interesting, but a bit more useful for us branders is the discovery that relative usage of the word “jam” lies between “conversation” and “laboratories.” With a database of over 86,000 words, there are endless non sequitur combinations of word strings and sequences. Some examples (which might make for some fine band names):

Accent rabbit nightmare
Creatures chocolate panic
Rubber essay rings

Really, it’s hard to stop. Here’s additional information about the site (note from a usage standpoint appears to use a British database):

“ Word Count data currently comes from the British National Corpus®, a 100 million word collection of samples of written and spoken language from a wide range of sources, designed to represent an accurate cross-section of current English usage. WordCount includes all words that occur at least twice in the BNC®. In the future, WordCount will be modified to track word usage within any desired text, website, and eventually the entire Internet.”

Tasty Domain Name Project Leftover: Quistro Anyone?

2009-04-07T16:49:00.000-07:00

Came up this name for a client looking for restaurant delivery website name, thus simply the Quick+Bistro portmanteau, Quistro.

The client preferred a more descriptive name (which often happens for services), so I thought I’d throw Quistro out there for someone. I think it's got some "good bones." For a dot com, it’s fairly short, and I like the unique energy and catchy playfulness of the Qu+O or "Key" (depending on how you may pronounce) intro.

Quite by happy accident, a brief online search reveals that Quistro appears to a town in Lombardy, Italy. And this brings me to a possible pitfall of coined names, that you are likely aware of, but bears repeating.

I pride myself on my language skills, but it’s best to proceed with caution when it comes to names and possible global branding. When I craft coined names with a foreign flair, I recommend that they be vetted by native language speakers for global use.

You may not be able to check every language pitfall (there are over 5,000 or so), but in this case, I’d at least review the name in a few Latin-based languages like Spanish, Italian, or Portuguese.

As always, dot com (or trademark) availability for my free name ideas is not implied or guaranteed--They're just free, fun name orphans I hope someone can use. If you do register this name please let me know. Thanks and enjoy-Beth.

Naming: Getting Past the Beast of Neutrality

2009-04-07T08:42:00.000-07:00

In his book, The Name of the Beast (The Perilous Process of Naming Brands, Products, and Companies) British writer and branding expert Neil Taylor sums up his final chapter with the 22 Secret Rules of Naming.

To date, I’ve been lucky enough to work on over 125 naming projects (quick shout of out of thanks to my clients and agencies.) In working on these projects, I’d agree with Mr. Taylor that some phases in the naming process tend to go much more smoothly than one would anticipate, while others can get quite perilous and keep you up at night. One such phase is what I’m now calling the Neutral Beast (to borrow from Mr. Taylor).

I won’t completely spoil the book and reveal all of Mr. Taylor’s commandments, but I wanted to share one gem of wisdom that I feel is extremely helpful in conquering the Neutral Beast. And it’s this: Review your final name list in some kind of marketing context.

Sounds simple enough, but I often see a list of very expensive names shuffled around a client office as text-only names imbedded in an email or scribbled on that hazy whiteboard in the secondary lunchroom with a nearly invisible, yet amazingly stinky marker. (You know who you are.)

As namers, we understand the time, money, and effort that went into this list. We think names should be handled with a bit more love and tenderness. One of these names, after all, just may change the face of your brand forever.

Sure, initially, I’ve presented (or passed along) a cumbersome, brainstorm as an unplugged, text-only list (let’s say 50 or more names). But once the list is manageable, say 20 or less, it’s time to judge them more harshly, yet respectfully, in broad daylight.

Take a look at your new potential names as logos (or at least with some color and type treatment applied), on a business card, in a trade ad headline, in website banner, in a press release, etc. Everyone on the marketing team (including your consultant should have a good idea of where your brand name will live now and if possible, in the future.)

Quick Tip: Remember names are often spoken as much as they are written. So have your receptionist or someone in the office answer the phone with the names—how do they sound? Is anyone struggling with the pronunciation?

One of my favorite product names of all time is the loquacious, 31 (!) character with spaces name: I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter. Kudos to that namer and brand manager. But, I wouldn’t want to consistently deal with this type of name in practical marketing applications.

Yes, this visual and auditory step may add time and some money. Particurlarly, if you don’t have a graphics person on hand, but many offices do (or at least have an affordable relative, friend, or student resource). But I truly believe you’ll make a better, more profitable name and branding decsion. Plus, you get the added thrill of seeing your brand’s personality begin to gel and blossom, and that’s a wonderful thing.

Need help with your Name Beast? Drop me a line, I'd love to chat with you. Beth.

Beyond the Thesaurus: Let’s go to the Movies

2009-04-05T11:21:00.000-07:00

Today, more often than not, clients tell me they want an ultra modern, sleek name. But every once in a while, a project comes along where the product or service calls for a name that’s more time-honored and conservative. These names need a different type of creative muse for inspiration and ideas.

A while back I was asked to create some names suitable for a high quality, traditional cabinetry line. Typically, for this style of name, I might grab a British or European historical atlas. But this time, I decided to try another source—one of my “go to” sites for entertainment reference or just plain entertainment if you love movies and movie trivia.

I don’t’ know about you, but when I picture a stately, corbelled- kitchen I envision gracious, moss-covered homes in Savannah or New Orleans—locales steeped in history. In turn, I associate these settings with fiction or film.

In need instant Southern gratification and inspiration, I went to one of my favorite online reference sites IMDB. The site allows you to search their extensive data base by title, plotlines, characters, keywords, quotes, etc. As a result, it didn’t take long to find a plethora of interesting cabinet line names that would embody Southern grace and elegance.

Reviewing IMDB’s extensive list of Southern and/or Civil War era movies and their characters quickly provided a wealth of elegant and enduring names that would entice any interior designer. Names (and variations) like Jezebel, Laurely, Eatenton (for all you Steel Magnolia fans), Livingston, Ashton, DuBois, Raintree, Remy, and Summersby (one of the names ultimately chosen by the client).

So the next time you need name ideas for a product or service that lends it’s self to a particular time or place, grab a bowl of popcorn instead of the dictionary, and take a virtual trip to the movies.

Have a naming challenge that you need help with?

Drop me a line at namelancer@hotmail.com-- I’d love to hear from you. Beth.

Naming Tools & Resources: The Word Spy

2009-04-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

Namers, copywriters, and creative directors are always on the look out for new resources and reference tools for names and ideas when it comes to words and trends in language.

(Like many namers, I collect dictionaries and reference books. And I cherish these colossal unabridged tomes with abandon, but they do take up space on the shelf and desk.)

So I’m always on the lookout for entertaining and handy online word lovers or linguistics reference websites that may provide my next inspiration. Looking for the latest, cutting edge “now” words plucked from the Web or media?

Check out Word Spy A quick glance at this site devoted to freshly minted words provides potential name gems such as Ghost Call, Flashpacker, and Zorse.

Blog Link: Seth Godin Chats About Naming

2009-04-03T07:41:00.000-07:00

This is from Seth's blog a few years back, but because he's such a popular branding writer and speaker, I thought some of you would enjoy his post: New Rules of Naming

Free dot com name idea of the day: Indigogo

2009-04-03T07:11:00.000-07:00

(Name availability not guaranteed. Shown as available at time of post checking http://www.whois.net/ If you do register this name, please let me know. Thanks!)

I’ve been naming websites for over ten years. When I first started, you could usually craft a website URL name like Red Frog or Blue Clover (descriptive adjective + common noun) and it would likely be available.

As many of you know, when you try to register this type of name today, you’ll typically find that those halcyon days of availability are long gone. (As you’ve likely heard every word in the English language has been registered. As is every 2 and 3 letter combo, I believe. I just randomly checked BZY.com and yes, it’s taken. Though the dot net seems to be available if you are interested.)

But it’s not all bad news. Viable, available dot com and dot net names do exist. (And yes, the dot net, though not my favorite seems to be a bit easier to find these days with the economy.)

Finding a good dot com name is like diving for giant black pearls. You just have to open a lot of shells. So once in while I just like to give myself an assignment of finding an interesting and possibly usable dot com name. Why not register it myself? I sometimes do. Like many namers I own many dot com names, and maybe one day I’ll get a call for one of them.

In the meantime, I’ll be posting some here for your usage. Again, if you do register it please let me know. What do I like about Indigogo? I’ve always liked the word “Indigo” which comes from the from Greek indicon meaning from India. It’s a color name (in this case a dark blue pigment), which I’m fond of because it lends itself to some imagery. And it contains the action verb “go”twice which also makes it fun to say and gives it some extra flair.

As a Creative Director, I also give props to names that give the art directors and logo designers something nice to work—the color, the “gogo” part would both work well for a logo application.

Need help with your website URL name? Please email me at namelancer@hotmail.com

Behind the Name: Zillow

2009-04-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

Type of name: Portmanteau (often used by namers and broadly defined as a blend or contraction of two or more words, such as brunch, blog, Chunnel, advertorial, etc.)

I’d heard through the naming grapevine that Zillow was for “zillions of pillows.” The Zillow website elaborates on the name choice:

"Zillow" evolved from the desire to make zillions of data points for homes accessible to everyone. But a home is about more than data - it is where you lay your head to rest at night, like a pillow. Thus, "Zillow" was born.”

Whether or not you think this brand story makes sense, the Zillow brand name is unique, easy to remember and fun to say. More importantly, the Z sound is so strong as an umbrella name that it allowed the brand to naturally expand with their sub-brands, Zestimate and Zindex. Names which, out of context, sound rather juvenile make perfect sense as part of the Zillow real estate services brand.

Even if you have no immediate needs to expand or grow your business, when evaluating a new name, always take a moment to consider how your new name works as an umbrella name or how may influence other names in your brand stable when you do grow. I can’t stress this enough. Brand names do not exist in vacuum. A strong umbrella name should be the keystone in your brand architecture.

Naming & Branding Lessons from the Yellow Kangaroo

2009-04-02T10:19:00.001-07:00

Last April, as some of you may have seen, the Journal of Consumer Research (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/jcr/current) published an interesting branding study discussing the consumer phenomena of why animal wine labels are such a highly effective marketing technique.

For many of us, intuitively, this succesful fauna sales strategy is not all that surprising. In the Red Sea of cabernet choices at my local wine shop, I’ve often selected a colorful penguin, equine, or kangaroo label. But why? Why does an animal such as a penguin entice us to purchase a Pinot Grigio? Why not chose the label with glistening grapes or a Tuscan sunset?

The problem with the grapes or sunset imagery, no matter how nicely embossed they are, is that these are traditional, expected imagery for the brand category. Yawn. That limits our emotions. An animal on the other hand (though arguably now popular on wine labels) is at least likely unique in that there is probably just one armadillo wine. Make that a hot pink armadillo and you’ve got a wine that’s easy to find, remember, and an immediate brand personality.

An animal allows the brand to enjoy a very specific brand image because consumers use the animal as a shorthand visual cue. It helps buyers find the wine. More importantly, it allows consumers to associate with the brand even though they’ve never used it before.

In other words, most consumers already have an associative emotion or strong feeling regarding dogs, cats, horses, etc. For example, imagine a dog on a wine label. Let’s be specific: A silvery husky. A loyal, fast, working breed. A cold weather dog—more specifically Alaska or the Yukon. The perfect label choice for a new Canadian ice wine.

Which brings us to another reason animals can be strong brand partners. Animals can also be shorthand for a geographic association. The penguin, the kangaroo? Australian wines of course. Sure, we marketers could add a map of Australia to the label, but how then is that wine different (i.e., superior to) another “in category” Australian wine?

What does this mean for names and naming? The next time you are naming, think specific images that you associate with your brand or more specifically, the brand attributes you want consumers to understand, remember, and ultimately, desire.

Q. What’s one of the most common naming mistakes?

2009-04-02T08:28:00.000-07:00

And more importantly, how can I avoid it?

Something I see all the time is companies confusing (and it’s easy to do) what I call their “descriptor” with the company name. Typically, descriptive names (those which attempt to describe the product or service function) are weaker names. For one thing, I’m told descriptor names are much more difficult to trademark because they are simply too generic. And generic is the last thing we want to strive for in branding. Let me give you an example.

If you are a new software firm, you may be tempted by a name like Advanced Software Solutions. It’s a bit long, but many tech names are and quite frankly, it doesn’t sound that bad with the double alliteration. I see this type of name all the time. More often than not this type of name will be initialized, or become an acronym, so be sure to write out and say those letters aloud.

Naming Tip: A trend in naming now is initialization or what I call “monogram” names. Lucky-Goldstar became a more consumer-friendly LG, the ‘M” Luxury Resort, and so forth. This naming minimalism might work for you as an elegant solution if you’ve inherited a longer descriptor name.

The problem with our example name, as most of you know, is that it contains three extremely vague words. When strung together this adjective and two noun combination (note: a common sign that you have a descriptive name) becomes exponentially less powerful as a brand name.

More on descriptive names in upcoming posts.
Need help fixing your descriptive name? Send me an email--I'd love to help you.

Behind the Name (no pun intended): SPANX or the Secret Life of the Letter K

2009-04-01T16:14:00.000-07:00

The other day I saw a talk show clip and one of the female guests mentioned (as they often seem to do on Oprah) that she was wearing SPANX.

Now that’s a cool brand name, isn’t it? Easy and fun to say, a bit risqué yet passes what one of my clients calls “the grandmother test,” and memorable. Women of all ages seem to have no problem admitting they are getting a bit of help from their SPANX (which is basically a slimming undergarment).

According to the SPANX website here’s the story behind the name: Sara Blakely (the brand’s inventor) recognized the value of the "k" sound. Kodak and Coca-Cola are two of the most recognized brand names in the world and in comedy. It is a trade secret that "k" words make people laugh and feel good.

So Sara felt that the "k" was good luck and had to be in her product's name. SPANKS hit her one day like a lightning bolt and eventually became SPANX with an "X" because she also knew that made up names were more successful than real names. We feel the name is edgy, fun, extremely catchy and for a moment it makes your mind wander (admit it).

AlphaBeth Naming Tip: Looking for a more unique name? Take a lesson from Kodak and Kinkos—Consider the impact of the letter K. According to the site Letter Frequency it’s also one of the least frequently used letters in the English language so it will help your name stand out from the crowd.

Letters of frequency in English language: e t a o i n s r h l d c u m f p g w y b v k x j q z

Naming Article: Could you name a new hotel?

2009-04-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

I was recently in Las Vegas and was reminded that it’s truly a brand name lover’s paradise. Up and down the Strip, there are brand “celebrities” everywhere, from globally-recognized fashion giants and iconic, high emotion brands like Hermes, Harry Winston, and Carnegie Deli to the hippest new hotels, restaurants, and boutiques.

Ahh, Las Vegas (which means The Meadows, btw) an endless buffet of names for the name lover! The Wynn (which I read was originally called La Reve--the dream in French), Palazzo, Aureole, Mesa Grill, Mon Ami Gabi (which is just fun to say)...So many I'll have to save for another post.

This trip, when I told the cab driver to take me to the Mirage, he quipped: The one that you can’t see, right? As I wondered how many times he’s said that one, but it got me thinking about naming hotels and resorts.

As a result, I came across this article (from a few years back) in USA Today about Element Hotels--enjoy!: Could you name a new hotel chain? http://www.usatoday.com/travel/hotels/2006-09-21-hotel-chain-names_x.htm

Naming Question of the Day: How do I pick a name now that we have some great ones to choose from?

2009-04-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

In many cases, I recommend at the beginning of a naming project, clients always have a plan for how a name will be selected before the project starts. This can help smooth the way for a more efficient name selection down the road.

For example, will there be a voting process (where the names are ranked by some criteria) or just one key decision maker or will it come down to the cleanest legal name? Sometimes, it’s a combination of all three. Be sure everyone on the “name team” knows what the plan is and why.

Either way, I’ve found as a client and a consultant, it’s not always an easy task—particularly if you have many strong name candidates. Here are some suggestions to help save time and make this stage more successful:

1. Trim down your choices as quickly as possible. (Your naming consultant will likely provide some kind of evaluation criteria or checklist as developed in earlier stages. This may also be done by legal. )
2. Consider involving a focus group (formal or informal) of customers, internal teams, or both to help narrow or rank name choices further.
3. Depending on your brand and the types of names up for review, your namer may also recommend a basic language review to ensure that there are no negative global implications.
4. The legal research, filing, and registration of a tradename and/or trademark (including the logo) can be a long and expensive process so consider selecting no more than 5 name finalists (depending on your budget) for final legal review.
5. Based on legal clearances, make a final decision. And protect your name as soon as possible using legal assistance. This is particularly important with names that will live in a national or global marketplace.

What about Your Website Name?

Along the same lines, register your URL name immediately. Even if you are still on the fence about it. It’s relatively inexpensive, even if you never use it.

Many naming consultants (and I’m one of them) may come across a strong name and register it for future use or even possible sale. As a result, available dot com and dot net names, particularly short ones, can be snapped up the very next day. So again, don't put this crucial step off.

Need help with your naming project? Please drop me a line, I’d be happy to help!

AlphaBeth's Name of the Day: Talenti

2009-04-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

Product: Talenti Gelato

Name type: Eponymous (Def. An eponym is a person, whether real or fictitious, after whom a particular place, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named. One who is referred to as eponymous is someone that gives their name to something, i.e. Julian, the eponymous owner of the famous restaurant Julian's Castle.)

Last night I was enjoying some Talenti Dark Double Chocolate Gelato from WholeFoods (super delicious, BTW, as is the Toasted Almond). Like many namers, I find it enjoyable, and often educational, to research name origins.

At first glance I assumed this was a coined Italian name, perhaps from a place or simply the Italian language. But, in this case, a visit to the Talenti website (http://www.talentigelato.com/) reveals the origin of the brand name stems from noted chef and architect (a most natural combination in Italy) Bernardo Buontalenti .

We can thank him for first creating the exquisite frozen treat, gelato, for the court of Francesco de' Medici in 1565. Linguistically, his family name also translates as “good talents” so that's obviously a nice name bonus. Their tasty tagline? How sweet life can be.

AlphaBeth’s Naming Tip of the Day:

Names Usually Have a Story…And if Not, Make One Up
When you can, include the story behind your name on your website. If you need to, er, fabricate something, that’s OK. I mean the name came from somewhere didn’t it?

Some clients might say, but what if I have a wonderfully fabricated “coined name” or abstract name, such as Alezoro (which I just made up using an A and Z, some of my favorite naming letters)? That’s a valid branding question and I promise to address that in my next post.

Naming thought of the day (courtesy late comedian Mitch Hedburg):

I want to get a job as someone who names kitchen appliances. Toaster, refrigerator, blender.... all you do is say what the “stuff” does, and add "er".

I wanna work for the Kitchen Appliance Naming Institute. Hey, what does that do? It keeps “stuff” fresh. Well, that's a fresher....I'm going on break”.

So I’m off on break as well. Have a good one. Beth.

Welcome to my Naming Blog!

2009-04-01T12:15:00.000-07:00

This blog is for other namers, marketing directors, creative directors, brand managers, and anyone else who is interested in one of what I think is one the most fascinating and important aspects of branding—the Name.

As a naming expert and consultant, I’ve worked on over 100 naming projects for a wide range of products and to date have generated over 5,000 names in my “namestorming” sessions. I welcome your naming questions and project inquiries!

Also, if you have good story about you named your company, I’d love to hear it.

As a “professional” namer, I’m sometimes asked: why not pick a name from a hat? You could certainly do that. And I’m guessing there are many companies out there that may have done just that.

Today, more than ever, there are many compelling and sound business reasons to invest in a formal naming process:

1. The Internet is a crowded, competitive, and global marketplace. As many as 6 out of 10 names filed are already trademarked.
2. Unlike an advertisement, or even a logo, names may linger online, on resumes, in case studies, and in your customers’ memories…Forever.
3. Naming may be one of the more challenging marketing tasks you need to accomplish. 4. Desperation or last minute naming typically produces weaker names.
5. Your name is often your most valuable brand asset.