Naming things

2022-12-31

Some ideas and principles for name generation; how to create a name for new products and companies.

  • A thing: Apple, Amazon, Oracle, Stripe (confident but difficult to brand, poor SEO)
  • A related thing to the main thing: Stripe
  • Two words combined: FaceBook, NetFlix, MicroSoft, InstaCart, YouTube
  • Merged words: Figma, Urbanears, ICQ (“I seek you”)
  • Part of word: Voi(là), Canva(s), Revolut(ion), Intel(ligence)
  • Change 1+ letters: Expa
  • Two juxtaposed words: Teenage Engineering, Echo Nest
  • Prefix (Go-, Hey-): GoDaddy, GoPuff, Heylink
  • Suffix (-ify, -gon): Spotify, Shopify, Simplygon
  • Another language: Uber, Einride, Klarna
  • Person name: Tesla, Levi’s, McKinsey, Kirkland & Ellis
  • Acronym: AMD, ICQ
  • A full sentence: We Are Rewind
  • A beautiful, longer word: (example?)
  • A pun: Hair Today Dye Tomorrow