FM Walsh & Associates Inc.

Naming Your Business

Finding a name for your new business is frustrating and time consuming for most entrepreneurs. You can come up with endless lists and then everyone around you gives you a different opinion on which ones are good. It is enough to make your tear your hair out!

The Wall Street Journal recently wrote an article on a 12-point test for naming your company, designed by Eat My Words - a San Francisco naming boutique, a San Francisco naming boutique, known for playful names including a chain of frozen yogurt stores named Spoon Me, and a home-cleaning robot named Neato. They call it the Smile and Scratch test.
A good company name should have the following qualities:
Simple – one easy to understand concept
Meaningful – customer instantly “gets it”
Imagery – creates a mental picture
Legs – carries the brand; lends itself to wordplay
Emotional – empowers, entertains, engages, enlightens

Scratch the name if it has any of these:
Spelling-challenged – you have to tell people how to spell it
Copycat – similar to your competition
Random – disconnected from your brand
Annoying – hidden meaning, forced or cutesy
Tame – flat, boring, uninspiring
Curse of Knowledge – only insiders get it
Hard to Pronounce