How to Create a New Company Name

Tools and plans for creating a new company name

Introduction

A company name is part of your branding and is central to your identity in the marketplace. It must be:

  • Unique
  • Easy for others to spell.
  • Unambiguous. For example, A-B-C.com is a poor name if another name like ABC.com already exists.
  • When pronounced, its spelling contains some "hard" sounds such as "k" in "keep", G in "get", X as in "Xerox" which make the names more memorable.

It is also nice if you have a company name that:

  • Is easy to pronounce
  • Hints at or says what the company does
  • If possible, use "hard" sounds in the name. For example, Xerox (the Z sound, such as "Zoo"), Google (the hard G sound, such as "Gate"), Dash (the D in dash). These hard sounds tend to be remembered and help avoid spelling mistakes.
  • It can be used as a domain name in a URL. Using this form of company name also has benefits in terms of search engine optimization.

Lastly, be prepared to compromise among these requirements.

For example, we have chosen EntreBahn as our company name because:

  • It hints at who we are speaking to:
    • Entrepreneurs entering the market
    • Businesses that want to grow speedily
  • It is unique so:
    • It can be used as the domain name in our URL for our company.
    • Its name could be registered legally and could be marked with registration mark (®).
    • It is fairly easy to spell
    • While not perfect, it takes the rules we mentioned into consideration
    • We found it an acceptable compromise among the requirements for a good company name.
  • It implies our company has broad international appeal

 

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