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Create a unique company name

Posted on March 7, 2008 by admin

When trying to create a unique company name for your business, I found that there was a three step approach to creating a unique name.

When I was developing a new company name, I created about 20 using this method, each time I would follow the steps through to create a name that was appropriate, unique and usable.

1. Get inspiration

First of all you have to select a few sources for inspiration. You need ideas as to what you’re looking for.

Most companies begin by thinking up variations of the activity they do (ie: for a company selling mobile phone: mobile, phone, cell, sales, etc), however sometimes a company may not sell anything specific, and may cover many different activities.

You can try investigating other company names, to see where they got their inspiration from.

Find words that you like, or that sound as if they relate to your general activities.

Look at your own name, and names of others involved in the company, see if they can give inspiration.

Place names are good too, see if you can become establish based on the name of your area.

2. Generate a unique name

Once you have your inspiration, there’s a few techniques you can use to get the unique name that you are looking for:

Crossword Helper/Solver – This will allow you to use certain formulas to pick words. (ie: using the initials of the partners to help you generate appropriate words).
Thesaurus – Allows you to find synonyms for words your choice of words.
Anagrams – Use this with a combination of names involved in the company or such.
Translator – Try translating a few words you’ve chosen to get that unique angle.

3. Validate it’s usable

You should really ensure that the name you choose is not in use, recommendations for ensuring they are not in use include:

Check with your common sense – If your company is only open 12 hours a day, for gods sake, don’t call your company “24seven”.
Checking with government departments (in the UK such as CompaniesHouse WebCheck).
Check the registered trademarks database for your country and possibly major countries such as US and UK, as existing companies may wish to expand into your country, meaning you would not be authorised to use the name.
Check with yellow pages, and ensure there’s no one already using the name.
Check with Google, check for variants (eg: “my idea”, myidea, etc), if it’s commonly used by a website or company for their product or service, then chances are they could battle you over rights to the name. Avoid where possible.
Check that there is no active domain name using your name, (eg: myidea.com). Sometimes domain names are not in use and are just parked/advertising/on sale, always check first.

Feedback

Once you have a sufficient amount of names, gather feedback from your friends and family.

I found asking them their top 5 and their bottom 5 helped narrow down the choices.

This will help you settle on a name that will work for you and your customers.

If all else fails…

You could always try the assistance of a naming firm or a company name generator, but there’s nothing quite like your own inspiration, so don’t give up straight away.

Note: I DO NOT help you choose a company name for free.

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About admin

The author formerly known as HM2K is now the Phurix Labs administrator.

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This entry was posted in Business and tagged branding, company name, name, unique. Bookmark the permalink.

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76 Responses to Create a unique company name

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Jaan Sajdi says:

August 26, 2011 at 7:09 pm

We need to start a new mobile distribution department please provide us some unique names.
shahbaz says:

August 29, 2011 at 5:50 am

mai ek houskeeping company start karna chahta hu.jiska name (I) se start ho. aur last me houskeeping services ho.pls koi good name rply kare.plz
umesh kumar jangir says:

August 30, 2011 at 11:41 am

hi all,
I m going to open an international call center ,so suggest me good name ,
mamta prasad says:

August 30, 2011 at 7:01 pm

i am going to start a private limited company pl suggest me some name
Vaishali says:

August 31, 2011 at 4:00 am

i need to one software company name so plz gives sagetion of my compnay name.
nimain charan panigrahy says:

September 2, 2011 at 10:12 am

i go to open an organisation for it i requre aunique na me please help me th name should start with the word c,e,z,k,n
neeraj says:

September 6, 2011 at 2:42 am

suggest a diffrent and unique name for a newly firm
MANISH KUMAR says:

September 10, 2011 at 4:11 pm

I WILL BE GIVE A PPT PRESENTATION RELATED TO CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR , SO PLZ.SUGGEST ME AN UNIQUE NAME ?
pauline ong says:

October 24, 2011 at 1:18 pm

I am setting up a company dealing in maintaining book keeping and accounts records for people. Any suggestions for a name?prefer to start with ed or ec ….solutions sdn bhd or with bl …management services sdn bhd
Rahul Sharma says:

December 1, 2011 at 7:42 am

I want to start a marketing agency of pharmaceutical
please suggest me a unique name started with
“S”
Sachin Rajgrihar says:

December 11, 2011 at 7:40 pm

Hi,
i am opening new SEO company so please suggest me what’s are good company and international label name.

Regards,
Sachin Rajgrihar
Anoop Jain says:

December 13, 2011 at 3:38 am

Suggest adiffrent and unique name from School,collage,play school,mmanagement services
kiran belur says:

January 21, 2012 at 10:24 am

I AM STARTING ANMATION COMPANY IN BANGALORE INDIA. WHICH INCLUDES Graphic designing, 3d Animation,3d Architect,Editing & Compositing Please Advice me Unique Name…
SACHIN MORE says:

January 23, 2012 at 4:59 pm

send me neme for my company related ti IT-COMPUTER FARM
rajat says:

February 16, 2012 at 6:40 am

I want creat company .So plz give me low cust software good activity
rajat says:

February 16, 2012 at 6:43 am

Plz arange good name for my organistion.

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Mamta Kumari says:

February 29, 2012 at 7:56 am

i am going to start a private limited company pl suggest me some name
Mamta Kumari says:

February 29, 2012 at 7:58 am

plz suggest me unique name for a private company
Mamta Kumari says:

February 29, 2012 at 7:59 am

please suggest me unique name for my company
farheena ashrafi says:

March 15, 2012 at 8:22 am

i need name for group of company name which shud be highly energetic,nimble,strenght

company belongs to education field,adv,real estate,medis and branding
kishor bunde says:

April 4, 2012 at 7:43 am

pls suggest name for new firm belongs to telecom services , it solutions , and multiservices
sanjay khurana says:

April 24, 2012 at 8:05 am

i am going to open a tissue paper company, plz suggest me a good name.
Agnes Cheah says:

April 26, 2012 at 7:23 am

needs some of the unique names for registration of a company name. mainly on trading business such as ladies fashionable goods & baby’s products.
rajendran says:

May 3, 2012 at 8:32 am

i am going to start a agricultural export company. plz suggest me a unique name for my company
RAHUL SHUKLA says:

May 9, 2012 at 4:33 am

I am going to start a pharma marketing company,Pls suggest a unique & attractive name.
Donald says:

May 15, 2012 at 4:47 pm

I am planning to start a Shipping & logistics company very soon.Please suggest a unique & attractive name.