How to Name a Brand or Product (Without Regretting It Later)
TL;DR: A brand or product name is the most repeated and hardest-to-change asset you'll create, so the goal isn't a clever name — it's a distinctive, memorable, legally ownable one that still fits when your business grows beyond today's product.
The types of names
Names broadly fall into a few camps. Descriptive names say what you do (easy to understand, hard to own and easy to copy). Suggestive names hint at a benefit or feeling. Abstract or invented names mean nothing at first but can be owned completely and shaped over time.
There's no universally 'best' type. Descriptive helps a tiny local business get found; distinctive and ownable serves a brand with ambitions to grow and advertise. The right choice depends on how far you intend to travel.
The tests a good name must pass
Run every candidate through a short checklist. Is it distinctive in your category, or a near-twin of three competitors? Is it easy to say, spell and remember after hearing it once? Does it still fit if you expand beyond your first product or city?
Then the unglamorous but decisive checks: is the trademark available, is a usable domain and social handle obtainable, and does it carry no unfortunate meaning in the languages and markets you'll operate in? A name that fails these is a lawsuit or a rebrand waiting to happen.
Common naming traps
The biggest is being too literal. A name welded to your launch product or location becomes a cage the day you grow. The second is cleverness that only works written down, or only the founders understand.
And never skip the legal search. Falling for a name before checking it's free is how businesses end up spending more on lawyers — or a rebrand — than they ever saved on creativity.
The Marketing Minute read
A great name is a quiet, compounding asset: said thousands of times, it does free work every day. A poor one taxes everything — harder to remember, harder to market, sometimes impossible to defend.
Our advice: shortlist on distinctiveness and longevity, kill anything that fails the legal and practical checks, and resist the clever option that only impresses you. You're naming a business, not winning a pun contest.
Quick FAQ
What makes a good brand name?
Distinctiveness in its category, ease of saying and remembering, room to grow beyond the first product, and crucially, legal availability — trademark, domain and no unfortunate meanings in your markets.
Should a brand name describe what the business does?
Descriptive names help small local businesses get found but are hard to own and easy to copy. Brands with growth ambitions usually benefit from a more distinctive, ownable name.
You're naming a business, not winning a pun contest. A name is said thousands of times and almost never changed, so distinctiveness and longevity beat cleverness every time — and the fastest way to an expensive rebrand is falling for a name before you've checked it's legally free. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
Pick a name for distinctiveness, memorability and room to grow — then kill anything that fails the trademark, domain and meaning checks, however clever it sounds.
Does your brand name still fit the business you're becoming — or the one you started?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: Marketing Minute analysis.
Related reading
Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
