The Naming of the Brand…

Brand names.

They can seem critical to a brand’s success, conveying the brand’s essence or promise. There’s a whole industry behind naming them.

Yet in reality, they mean little by themselves. McDonald’s, Nike, or Uber didn’t start iconic. They only became meaningful through people’s experience of the brand.

Brand names are simply about recognition.

The Role of Recognition

There are two key roles the brand name plays in recognition.

First, together with other distinct assets such as logos and taglines, it’s the means by which we learn to identify the brand whenever we come across it. The more we come across it, the more familiar it becomes.

Second, these assets form a kind of hashtag in our minds, linking together all the experiences we have with the brand. It’s this network of experiences that gives the brand meaning for us, not the brand name itself.

That’s why the name of a minor character in the novel Moby Dick (Starbuck - who knew?) can bring to mind a place for connecting over coffee, separate from home or workplace .

Choosing a Brand Name

However, not all names are created equal. Some brand names work better than others. While there’s no hard and fast rules, there’s some simple guidelines in choosing the most effective name possible.

Is it Distinct?

A brand name that’s distinctive in its category has a better chance of standing out.

Of course, as a brand owner you want the name to be legally unique in its category so it can be protected with a trademark.

But legally unique does not necessarily mean it’s distinct. Look what’s happening with Probiotic Soda. While Poppi and Olipop are becoming familiar, there’s now multiple brands all using “pop” in the brand name: Culture Pop, Simply Pop, Mighty Pop, Popwell. They’re springing up all over the place! Each may be unique, but they’re easy to confuse.

Is it Memorable?

A brand name also needs to be easily remembered. Otherwise, there’s little chance for familiarity and meaning to be built over time.

Neuroscience suggests names that are easy to pronounce, easy to spell, and sound pleasant are more memorable. TikTok, Poppi, and Oatly, are good examples of this.

Also, we’re more likely to remember names that elicit an emotional response.

This can be done by using words that already have familiar associations. Take Apple or Fox. The words immediately conjure up meanings and images we all relate to. They don’t explain anything about the brands, we just easily remember them.

Or, by making the name itself intriguing. Liquid Death and Spotify are great examples, we just want to know more.

Does it Make Sense for the Brand?

This is an area that can feel of critical importance to marketers: the name has to convey at least a part of the brand meaning.

But, once you consider recognition as the primary role of a brand name, it becomes a lot simpler.

Either, the name should describe the category or brand promise in a way that people immediately understand. For example, Pizza Hut, Specsavers, or Salesforce. This can be very effective in giving the brand a head start (and saving some marketing dollars), since the association doesn’t need to be learnt through experience. However, it does run the risk of being generic rather than distinct in saturated markets. For example, Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, Dollar General all feel rather similar and are easy to confuse.

Or, the name needs to complement rather than clash with the rest of the branding. For example, Poppi wouldn’t work as well if the rest of the branding was very formal and serious. While Fox might be fine for a media company, but wouldn’t be great for a healthy pet brand.

The idea that a brand name should at least hint at what the brand’s about is just an unnecessary complication. People don’t process brand names deeply. Nike is a great brand name because it’s distinct and memorable, not because people immediately knew it’s the Greek goddess of victory. Similarly, with Amazon, people didn’t link mental images of vast rainforest to the brand’s vision to become the largest online marketplace. It’s just distinct and memorable. After all, the name McDonald’s worked just fine, without hinting at the burger colossus it would become.

Consistency and Repetition Are Key

Rather than agonize over whether a name suggests enough about the brand meaning, what’s far more important is consistency and repetition. If the brand name and assets look and feel the same every time we encounter it, we will learn to identify it. Then, the more we see it, the more we’ll understand it. And the more familiar it becomes, the more positive we’ll feel about it.

But it all starts with recognition.