Naming a company in 2020 is close to impossible.
All the good names are already taken—at least it seems—and the process is an endlessly frustrating battle against existing names.
When it came time for our company’s rebrand to Grow Atom, I used a unique strategy that unlocked hundreds of potential names.
Here’s the process we used, and one you can copy.
Why rebrand?
The first and most obvious question you need to answer is why you want to rebrand. It’s a major hassle, causes stress, and all things being equal is bad for your SEO.
So why rebrand?
In our case, the original name was Thoughtful Prose.
I sketched this out almost as a joke when I started the company a while back. My main business at the time was Thoughtful Growth, and I thought it was a clever twist to market my writing.
The problem came as my business grew.
Pretty soon I wasn’t just writing, I was helping with SEO strategy and promotion. Plus, I had a team.
But we were consistently shoehorned in as “writers,” and I’d imagine it was in large part due to the name.
Plus, the logo was just a free icon from Apple Keynote, and the font was nothing special.
In short, I believe—and still believe—our name was holding us back more than anything. And taking those disadvantages was worth it to improve the naming.
There’s no shame in that. It’s hard to imagine a billion-dollar eCommerce company called Cadabra or an industry-dominating search engine called Backrub.
The key is to make a change.
Here’s the process I used.
1. What kind of company am I creating?
The way I see it, the most important part of a name is to invoke a certain set of feelings and emotions.
If you time-traveled to 1990 and shared the names LinkedIn and Instagram, most people could guess which was a sleek, instantaneous photo-sharing app, and which was a network for business professionals to connect.
So to get that right, you must start with what you want to portray.
For me, step one was writing down a list of words that I wanted to portray with the company rebrand.
Some were adjectives, others visual images. Here was my list:
– Knowledgeable
– Smart
– Great writers
– Experts
– SaaS
– Marketing
– Technology
– Helpful
– Great customer service
– Helpful
– Value
– Persuade
– Fast
– Strong
– Confident
– Grow
Notably, there’s zero mention of what our brand specifically does (with the exception of SaaS, perhaps?).
That was intentional. Thoughtful Prose was too specific, and got us into this mess. A specific brand name would only put us back there if we pivoted, which we inevitably would.
As a simple example, using the word “Rank” or “Search” or “SERP” wouldn’t make sense if we started including PR services as well.
2. Set your guidelines
Now, I knew what I wanted the company to invoke.
But a lot of things could invoke those emotions and yet be totally off the mark—think of a name like “The Speedy Growth Expert Squad.”
I think I went a little overboard here. The ideal would be just a few requirements, but I listed a whopping nine.
That made the process a lot more challenging than it needed to be, but also helped refine the final name to something I was really proud of.
Since we’ll be building out with SEO, most of these focus on the biggest problem I constantly have with websites. I’ll come across a great site and love its content. Then a week later, I’ll want to find it again—but I can’t. For whatever reason, I’ve forgotten the name.
Here’s the exact list I wrote as I started this process:
1. 10-year-old could spell it
2. 15 characters (ideally fewer)
3. Would be relevant 100 years ago and in 100 years
4. .com domain name
5. Not already used for something else (Google search doesn’t return much)
6. Could pivot to nearly anything
7. Memorable, not a lot of synonyms for the word
8. Maximum three syllables (ideally two)
9. Not terrible in Spanish (or hard to spell, like Thoughtful Growth)
Let me explain each one a bit more.
1. a 10-year-old could spell it. The easier it is to spell, the more likely people would find the website successfully. As a business owner, I’m responsible for the entire customer experience of finding my brand. I could have the perfect site, but if someone is frustrated typing it in, that sets a bad experience from the beginning.
2. 15 characters (ideally fewer). Similar to the previous example, the fewer characters, the better. Google’s top searches each year are phrases like “netflix,” “facebook,” and “amazon.” If millions of people don’t even have the energy to type .com, what chance does a long name have?
NOTE: Both of these also came from my experience with Thoughtful Prose. Typing it in to get to Slack each day—thoughtfulprose.slack.com—was a minor hassle and one I never liked. It’s just too easy to type thougthfulprose or thoughtulfprose if you’re not careful. If I dislike writing my own company name, how much more so would that apply to potential clients?
3. Would be relevant 100 years ago and in 100 years. I admire names that can stand the test of time, and a name that could be understood in 1920 and 2020 and 2120 is incredible.
4. .com domain name. More than anything else, this made the process harder. For me, a .com signifies credibility and authority more than a .io or .co ever would. I also didn’t want to lock myself into a name that, if I wanted the .com domain one day, would cost $500,000.
5. Not already used for something else (Google search doesn’t return much). This comes back to Google’s results for names. Imagine a publishing house nonprofit supporting South American rainforests. Even if it’s an otherwise perfect name, you will never rank on the first page with the name “Amazon Books.” The search engine results page should be empty for your company name, so that you can quickly and definitively own the real estate when someone searches for you.
6. Could pivot to nearly anything. I’ve already covered this one—Thoughtful Prose can’t pivot too much. Most small, local businesses fall into this trap. “Sandra’s Gluten-Free Cookies” or “Boise Tax Prep” are clear names, but they don’t leave much room for expansion. I wanted something that could work for just about anything
7. Memorable, not a lot of synonyms for the word. Memory experts know that the least memorable names are usually the easiest ones. Think of a name like “Puma Blaze.” Memorable enough, right? But tomorrow you’ll be wondering if it was Panther Fire, Leopard Flame, Cougar Tinder? (That last one sounds interesting.) The best names shouldn’t be able to be said in a lot of different ways. The more synonyms and similar words associated with a name, the less likely customers are to remember it.
A great example: Blue Nile. Simple, but how else can you say that? “Azure Egyptian River”? “Navy Styx”? It’s a clear image, and one that maps to a specific set of words very easily.
8. Maximum three syllables (ideally two). The simple it is to say, the simpler it is to remember.
9. Not terrible in Spanish (or hard to spell, like Thoughtful Growth). With my connections and work in Latin America, this was important to me. The emotions invoked in the name needed to at least somewhat translate into Spanish. And the name itself needed to be easy to spell for Spanish-speakers.
For example, the Spanish translation of a name like “Check Fang” could be interpreted as “Popcorn Tusk.” That pretty much ruins the emotional side.
Most non-native English speakers I know in LatAm struggle with our idiosyncratic -th, -gh, and -ght sounds. It would be hard to choose a worse name than THougHTful GrowTH.
With those rules established, it was time to start preparing.
3. Choose a basic pattern
Now, you’ll want to choose a pattern for your name.
I chose a handful of companies with names that I really liked, and started breaking them down into categories.
Here’s what I came up with.
– Adjective + noun (Red Bull, Single Grain, QuickSprout)
– Two words together (Kissmetrics, HubSpot, Growth Lab)
– Single word (Uber, Slack, Amazon)
– Made-up word (Netflix, Calendly, Google)
I quickly decided I didn’t want to go with a single word. For example, I could name my company Grow and put it at MeetGrow.io or GrowHQ.co or similar, but I didn’t like that.
Also, finding a single-word company that isn’t THE single word company is almost impossible on Google. If you don’t believe me, try searching for Pandora (.net) reviews—they get lost in the sea of pieces on Pandora (.com) (music streaming). Or Delta faucets amongst a sea of airline results.
Inventing a name can work, but it presents an extra hurdle when you’re just starting a new name. The best ones are memorable because they directly tie into a specific service, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for pivoting (see: Netflix, Calendly, Canva, Gmail, Backlinko). There are of course exceptions (Zillow, Google, Twilio, Reddit, Tumblr), but I’m guessing that initial growth was harder since you must teach a word along with a brand.
That left a pretty simple formula—two words. A huge number of companies use this formula because it’s easy to remember and say, yet there are still plenty of combinations available.
Say there are only 1,000 good single words for your startup. Chances are, they’re all taken. But 1,000 x 1,000 = 1,000,000, and there’s a slim chance all million are used.
Perfect. Time for the fun to begin.
4. Create your word list
This is the most straightforward, yet most important step in the process.
You’ll want to look back at your list of earlier emotional words and find synonyms, related terms, and objects or descriptions that match those ideas.
There are some tools that help make this easier. I used Related Words and OneLook Dictionary. I also recommend brainstorming with friends or writing down what first comes to mind with each word.
I did a few revisions of this, each time adding or removing new words. But soon I had a final list of words.
The important thing is to include everything, even if you’re convinced it’s a terrible word. You’ll never know until you see it!
5. Combine and check
Now, I pulled out some spreadsheet wizardry to finish the next step.
I created a document that automatically generates combinations of words along with a .com name. Just add them to the side, and they populate up top along with every possible match.
(Here’s a template you can use. Just click “Make a copy” and add in your own words.)
Next, I copied those to the bulk domain search at Name Bright. Once it analyzed them, I downloaded the list of available names.
6. Pick your favorites
As you go through the giant list, you’re sure to see some ideas that stand out, and others that don’t.
In my instance, I fed in over 3,000 combinations and got back around 800 names. That’s a huge number!
A lot were ridiculous or terrible—Aim Aim Media or Burn Trust Marketing don’t sound right to me.
But the possibilities are only limited by your words. That’s why it’s so important to get lots of ideas out there.
Along the way, you’ll probably see trends you want to remove. For example, the word “Skyrocket” was on my original list. But I quickly realized “Skyrocket + word” was almost always available… because it’s a weird combination I’m not going to use. So I took it out.
(SkyrocketGreen? SkyrocketFocus? SkyrocketDart?)
This process is tedious, but the goal is to get a shortlist of your favorite names. It can be as long or as short as you’d like, but I’d shoot for around 20+.
7. Refine your shortlist
Now, you’ll need to go through your shortlist. You’ll probably have a lot of ideas that are very similar.
For example, here was my original shortlist.
– Spark Iron
– Fuse Jet
– Blaze Bold
– Blaze Rocket
– Grow Thunder
—
– Tree Bold
– Launch Atom
– Comet Boost
– Swift Atom
– Boost Oak
– Boost Atom
– Aim comet
– Bolt Comet
– Launch Oak
– Boost Muse
– Atom Grow
– Boost Comet
I recommend narrowing it down to 3-5 that you like but are distinctly different.
8. Run some tests
I’ve read articles on naming that recommend testing your idea with a target market.
I think that’s fantastic advice for B2B brands, but in my situation it wasn’t super applicable. I don’t know how to run a statistically significant test on how many C-Suite startup executives will bring you on for a long-term contract, and that’s the end goal.
My concern was that testing with Facebook Ads or Mechanical Turk would provide misleading data—which is worse than no data.
(For example, a name that gets Instagrammers who follow Gary Vaynerchuk to download a free guide might even be inversely correlated with perceived credibility amongst my true clientele.)
So I ran it by a set of people I trust or are generally in my target market—my family, some business owners, and entrepreneur friends.
They pointed out some issues I had missed. For example, GrowThunder.com could be interpreted as GrowthUnder.com—not a good choice.
Their feedback and recommendations led to a shortlist of three options:
– Spark Iron
– Tree Boost
– Grow Atom /Atom Grow
9. Be the boss and decide!
Now, I actually did another step here. I did some basic logo mockups just to see how people interpreted some of the possible ideas here.
I’m not sure if that was a good idea or not. People tended to focus a lot on the logo and color scheme, with the name becoming secondary.
But for me at least, it helped get an idea of where the brands could be headed with their design and interpretation.
Tree Boost was pretty much immediately out (in hindsight, I’m not quite sure how it got this far. It’s kind of a weird name.)
Spark Iron was my early favorite, but seeing it in logo form solidified the idea for me that it didn’t really fit the brand style.
Grow Atom / Atom Grow (both domains were available), on the other hand, hinted at technology, speed, power, and an analytical approach.
So the final step is to Be The Boss. Set a deadline and make a decision.
There will always be people who disagree, and there is no such thing as a perfect name. At some point, you must take a side and stand by it.
And for me, that stand was for Grow Atom.
(I decided Atom Grow sounded too much like MiracleGro, though I bought the domain name for good measure and it forwards to GrowAtom.com.)
Grow Atom is our new brand. Our new name. And the new way we’ll grow our business.
Welcome.
