5: Choose Your Business Name

A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet. But Nike by another name would be seen on fewer feet.

Shakespeare (sort of)

What’s in a name? Depending on the kind of business you want to start, you can make the case that your name matters very little or it matters a lot.

As we’ve said before, a brand is so much more than a name. The personality, actions, and reputation of your brand are really what give the name meaning in the market.

But as a small business owner, your company’s name is probably one of the first big commitments you have to make. It’ll impact your logo, your domain, your marketing, and your trademark registration, if you decide to go that route (it’s harder to trademark generic brand names that literally describe what you sell).

Ideally, you want a store name that’s hard to imitate and even harder to confuse with existing players in the market. If you have any plans to expand the product lines you offer down the road, consider keeping your business name broad so that it’s easier to pivot, rather than choosing a brand name based on your product category.

Try one (or a combination) of the following approaches:

  • Make up a word, like Pepsi.
  • Reframe an unrelated word, like Apple for computers.
  • Use a suggestive word or metaphor, like Buffer.
  • Describe it literally (caution: easy to imitate),like The Shoe Company.
  • Alter a word by removing letters, adding letters, or using Latin endings, likeTumblr (Tumbler) or Activia.
  • Create an acronym from a longer name, like HBO (Home Box Office).
  • Combine two words: Pinterest (pin + interest) or Snapple (snappy + apple)

Since your brand name will also affect the domain/URL of your website, be sure to shop around to see what’s available before you decide. 

It's also a good idea to run your name by a focus group of close people, if for no other reason than to make sure it doesn’t have an unintended meaning or is too similar to something else that you might’ve missed.

Please keep in mind that is you are using any name other than your own in your business name you will need to file a Doing Business As (DBA).