Choosing a name for your new self made entrepreneur startup may seem like a trivial task at first. Naming a company though could quite possibly be one of the most important steps you take on your business journey.
Your company name will be attached to your brand image for many years to come. It’s important to get it right the first time around ensuring you give enough thought and consideration to your decision.
Whilst this step has pained many entrepreneurs into weeks, sometimes months, of endless brainstorming. If you stick closely to our 20 tips it should help you immensely on your entrepreneur startup.
1. Document EVERYTHING
“Ah what was that name that I came up with yesterday?”
A UK Entrepreneur, probably.
We’ve all been there, you come up with a great idea, you let it linger around for a bit and you are convinced you will remember it for the foreseeable future. Then reality sets in, you are drawing a blank and the idea is gone forever.
This is especially true when it comes to business and brand name brainstorming. We can’t stress enough how important it is to write down every idea you come up with, good or bad. Yes there will be a lot of “what was I thinking options” on that list! But remember, those bad ideas can help form good ideas and what didn’t look good yesterday, may be revolutionary tomorrow.
What program or tool you choose to do this is completely up to you, our favourites in order would be
- Microsoft Onenote
- Personal phone notes (iphone or similar)
- Windows Notepad or similar
- Hard copy notepad
Bare in mind that if you go for number 4 there is no backup or loss recovery options so be sure to keep everything safe.
Options 1 through 3 are all adequate but be sure to backup by emailing a copy to yourself or storing within the cloud.
2. Make use of FREE brainstorming tools
Now that you have chosen how you are going to document everything from tip 1, it’s time to start brainstorming.
Traditionally brainstorming would involve the founders sitting in a room throwing ideas around on a whiteboard for hours on end. Luckily for you it’s now 2020 and the future is here.
There are many many options for paid brainstorming tools and whilst they have their own appeal, we know money is tight in all startups.
It was with that mantra in mind that we created the English Entrepreneur company name generator.
Our company name brainstorming tool is a custom coded AI generating names based on the criteria you enter. The system uses synonyms, alternative adjectives and similar industry trends to help inspire you on naming your new startup.
If our tool doesn’t fit your needs we’d love to get some feedback. In the meantime you can check out BizzNameWiz and NameMesh, both are fantastic free tools designed to help you on your search in a similar fashion.
3. Make use of FREE word tools
Working hand in hand with the brainstorming tools above, there are some even simpler tools that have inspired many an entrepreneur over the years.
A simple google search for synonyms or thesaurus lookup can be invaluable. No matter how big your vocabulary, unless you are a 3 times scrabble champion there are bound to be words that you have either overlooked or not even thought of. Going back to basics covers all of those bases.
It is important to not overlook how useful this simple step can be.
4. Keep it simple, stupid! (KISS)
We all got told in English class at school to “Keep it simple, stupid” or “KISS”.
Whilst at the time it was just a fun way of remembering, there is a lot of wisdom in the saying. This is especially true when it comes to choosing a company or brand name.
Have a look around you at the top most successful businesses in all sectors: Google, Eat, Facebook, Uber, Nike, Virgin – the list is endless. What do all these names have in common? They are short, to the point and simple – in other words they are a great example of KISS.
In fact – going one step further and looking at all company names in the UK, over 50% of them are between 17-27 characters in length (source).
Whilst that may seem like a lot at first glance, it is important to remember that this number includes all trailing words such as trading, group or anything else for that matter.
For example Virgin is clearly the name of Richard Branson’s incredibly successful UK travel company but is actually registered as Virgin Group Limited.
With this in mind you can see the actual number is probably substantially lower than the 17-27 Characters mentioned above.
This suggests that shorter names that roll off the tongue are far more popular so it is important to KISS!
5. Real vs made up words
Should you use existing words like Virgin, Eat or Train line? Or go for something new and made up like Google, Tesco or Unilever?
Well that really depends on what your startup is, how large you want to grow and more importantly your brand/marketing strategy.
Whilst it might seem like making a word up is the way to go you really need to keep in mind how you are going to promote that new brand name to people who will both have never heard of it and have no idea what you sell or do.
These issues can cause your name to be forgotten in the absence of proper brand awareness and new customers will have no clue as to what you sell with the brand name not shedding any light on the situation.
On the flip side though you really stand out and you dominate the SEO and SMO space should anyone search for that brand name. Think of Google – who doesn’t know them? that’s not because the name makes sense it is because huge resources were poured into brand awareness so that they dominate their name to point of it being added to the Oxford English Dictionary!
Traditional words on the other side of the fence do not suffer from the same issues. They tend to say exactly what the company does or sells meaning that potential customers are more likely to remember it. Think of WeBuyAnyCar, their name is to the point, rememberable and is exactly what it says on the tin.
There are many pro’s and con’s for both sides of the coin but if you are new to the entrepreneurial world with a modest budget, then we would suggest real words in almost all circumstances.
6. Check spelling and grammar
This is another of our tips that may seem minor but has successfully tripped up even the smartest of UK entrepreneurs in the past.
Check, check and recheck your spelling and grammar. There are many ways to spell many words as well as conjunctive words that don’t belong.
By the time you have bought your domain or signed up to social media it’s too late!
It’s hard to ask for trust from potential customers when you cant spell your own name correctly.
7. Check word meanings in the UK and abroad
Whilst you may have a firm grasp of a word that is either used locally or something you have never given a second thought to, its not unfamiliar for words to have different meanings in Newcastle as opposed to say Essex.
Along with regional UK word meanings, it is important to take into consideration international understanding of these words. Something that may mean good in the UK may mean useless in Spanish or an offensive slang in America.
Google is your friend in the situation. Check languages (if you are launching internationally) and slang words in urban dictionary just to be safe.
8. Think ahead, think growth
At the time of launching your startup you may be very clear on a single product or product range that you are looking to fulfil without much thought beyond that.
Whilst it is important to stay grounded starting small, it’s also a mistake to restrict growth that may eventually come one day in the future. Niches are good but lack of flexibility in the future could be your undoing.
For example, if you are aiming at starting a company selling women’s shoes then calling yourself “Woman Shoe” is likely to bite you in the long run.
What happens when you branch out of your original product and sell handbags or skirts? Your name is now misleading and doesn’t fit your brand correctly.
Place names can also be a factor but unlike the above it can also be successfully incorporated into your brand.
For example: Hertfordshire Suit Hire is going to be problematic should you decide to serve Manchester or Liverpool in the future but it could also be branded in.
Branded in place names can be hugely successful when used correctly with place names, you only have to look at Yorkshire Tea as a success story of branded location company names.
9. Originality can be everything
Originality isn’t everything….but it can be.
If you are going it alone and starting a roofing company then calling yourself “Ricky’s Roofing Company” is not going to be unique enough to seperate you from the crowd.
There are thousands of roofers out there and I’m willing to bet at least a few are called Ricky. How will customers know who is who and not confuse your company with another?
You need your name to be unique enough that it is not confused with anyone else and you need that name to refer to you and only you.
Spending money on marketing and social outreach only to find your customers think another company is you could be a nightmare scenario that drains all of your resources.
10. Catchy names are free advertising
Catchy names aren’t just easy to remember and roll off the tongue easily. They are absoloutely free advertising.
You only have to scroll through Facebook to see pictures of company signs or vehicles where they are using a catchy and clever name for their company.
This isnt just a quick laugh for friends, it resonates with people and they are far more likely to remember it.
This is in it’s purest sense is free advertising and a great company name all rolled into one!
11. Say it loud, say it proud
Say your company name out loud.
Use it in sentences, shorten it and even give it a try with a regional accent whether that be Geordie or Scouse.
This is important as how a name sounds in your head is never the same as how it sounds out loud spoken amongst your average person.
Does it roll off the tongue? Does it resonate? What does it sound like?
These are all questions you need answered before you can settle on a company name.
12. Have your logo in mind
Your logo is going to be your company name or icon on show for the World.
Whilst it’s not critical to think of a logo at this stage, it can be beneficial to bare it in mind.
You may only have a couple of ideas to mind for the logo of the company name you are brainstorming but acknowledging that a brand or catchy logo can be created from your chosen name is a big green tick next to that particular company name as an option.
13. Check Companies House
Companies house is the home of all limited companies within the UK.
Acting as registrar, companies house contains details of every company that has formed both past and present throughout the entire UK. If a company isn’t here, they either don’t exist or they are acting as a sole trader.
With this information in mind, using their ‘find a company’ tool is a great insight into looking up your company name.
Do remember that just because there is a company with your exact name already trading, this doesn’t mean you cannot use the same in some variation but you will need to seek legal advice before doing so.
If the name is already taken it’s a red flag though and it may be prudent to choose something else instead of pursuing it.
14. Check the domain name
Assuming you have completed the previous step and no company exists then this step should, hopefully, be a breeze.
We say hopefully as this is probably THE most important step in this whole process.
Being unable to register the .co.uk domain for your brand name can be quite catastrophic to deciding on a company name. So much so that 75% of people who find their company name taken would rather use a different company name than an inferior TLD (top level domain) like .io or .info.
Being UK entrepreneurs it may seem like a .co.uk is everything but we would always advise to also get the .com name.
The reasons for this advice is simple. Even in the UK a .com is viewed by the general public as the ‘default’ when it comes to websites. They will tend to type a .com in most instances out of habit and you don’t want to lose them to another site just to save ~£20 per year.
Alongside this, should you ever wish to expand to Europe or the USA, the .com will have you in good steed to associate yourself as an international company.
15. Check social media profiles
In much the same vein as domains, checking you can grab the relevant social media usernames is as must. It may not be quite as important as the domain but it is a close 2nd depending on the social network in question.
Having @YourCompanyName on twitter means some nice URLs like https://www.twitter.com/YourCompanyName/ but it isn’t something that can’t be worked around.
Many public figures and companies have found that their name was not available on social media. To mitigate this they have had “official” or “verified” added to their name to take control of that brand on the platform.
It’s always nice to have the exact name but it’s OK to be flexible here unlike when it comes to your domain name discussed above.
16. Check Copyrights and Trademarks
So by now you’ve searched Companies house, domains and social media so we are almost there. The final step on the research front will be to confirm your chosen company name is wide open for the taking.
The UK government have a nice free and easy tool for checking registered UK copyrights and trademarks.
This step is very important as just because there isn’t a company registered in the name you want doesn’t mean there isn’t a trademark or copyright covering that name elsewhere.
For example there is not a company named maltesers but there is a company who have trademarked that word as it falls under their brand as a product, Cadburys.
Calling yourself Maltesers Limited is likely to lead to some serious legal ramifications from an industry giant.
17. Get opinions elsewhere
Friends and family can be a great tool when looking for validation outside of the founders circle.
Bounce names off of trusted people around you and note down their feedback.
Do they like the name? Do they know what the company does when hearing the name? What comes into their head when they hear the name?
Getting answers to these questions from people who are not involved in your business is the best market research you can do on a budget.
If you can manage to get a varied demographic to agree they like the name then it is very possible you are on to a winner in terms of future brand awareness.
Bare in mind that they may not like your idea. It’s important to not be defensive in these situations, take everything they say on board and reassess your suggested name.
Just because they don’t like it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use it though. Not everyone is a brand or marketing genius. Take all feedback with a pinch of salt and be honest with yourself based on their feedback.
It’s your business so it’s your choice – there will be much harder unpopular decisions to make down the road so you may as well start now.
18. Don’t let it consume you
The term wantrepreneur has become a meme within the entrepreneur community used to describe those who want to be an entrepreneur but never quite get going.
This is unfortunately true of many self starters out there. Not everybody is capable of being an entrepreneur and that’s OK.
What many will do is fixate and stagnate on tasks such as deciding on a company name. They spend months and months trying to come up with the best name and they endlessly go around circles trying to find it.
It’s important to not let this process consume you. Overthinking is as bad and sometimes worse than underthinking. Pick a name, do your checks and get going with the important tasks of making your company a success.
One of the key attributes of any entrepreneur is the ability to make the right decisions at the right time and choosing a company name is the first of many decisions to be made.
19. Make sure you are happy
It should go without saying but here we are!
Many entrepreneurs have been led astray by outside influence and had their ideas shot down at this very early stage.
The bottom line is to make sure you are happy with the name. It’s irrelevant what is happening around you when this is your idea, your company and your time and effort that will be pushing this project forward.
As long as you are being true to yourself and honest without bias about the name then that is all that really matters in the end.
20. Grab everything in one swoop
Now that you are here having researched a lot and brainstormed even more, it’s time to lock it all down in one swift swoop.
Registering your domain name and social media profiles is easy enough but be sure you are ready to register them all as quickly as possible.
It is not completely uncommon for groups of individuals to park domains based on new company registrations.
What do we mean by this?
Well unfortunately some unscrupulous entrepreneurs are monitoring the web looking to beat you to it when it comes to domain registration or social media profiles with the business model of selling the acquisition back to you for a hugely inflated price.
These tactics rely on entrepreneurs not fully registering everything within a few hours of a domain purchase so provided you do it all in one swoop then you shouldn’t fall victim to their tactics
Conclusion
It all starts here!
Be excited and try not to let the stress of a company name get to you or cause a mental block.
This is the beginning of your journey and provided you stick to these 20 tips then you should have no problems in coming up with the best startup name to get your company off the ground.
