I check my blog analytics regularly and one of the search terms that gets me a lot of traffic is “naming.” So playing to the algorithm, I post today on naming. But what to say? Names, like brands, are empty vessels into which we pour meaning. The best names are organically tied to product, feature, function or target. A good name gets you credit for what you do without doing it. My friend’s company Gotham Seafood has a great name. He sells seafood in NYC and his company has scale. He sells lots of fish.
I wanted to name a web start-up for which I was marketing director Mashpan. It was a website creation tool based on drag and drop technology that let anyone design and build a site. It put a wrapper around objects on the web and let anything, yes anything, be dragged and dropped or copied onto a page. Quite a mash-up. Of everything. A mash pan is also a place to start home brew, but that’s a story for another day. The boss decides Zude sounded better. No context, not a great name. Though it did ultimately work (as a name). Our vessel-pouring was pretty good.
For those of you with kids, you know how difficult naming can be. It’s even more difficult for companies. Don’t make it easy. Embrace it. Find the perfect name. It’s important. Peace!