What’s in a Name? Everything!!

May 6, 2009 2q2btrue

How did you decide on a name for your business, or if you don’t have one yet, how do you go about it?

To me, this is probably the second thing anyone in business should look at – because this is your image, it’s how you present yourself, and it’s something people will remember when they look for you online, or at a show, or in a store. The first thing of course is to decide what business you are in!

I’m not a professional ‘namer’ by any means – those guys get paid big bucks.  But here are my thoughts, and I’d love to hear yours.

First of all – what is special, what makes you you?  For me, it was simple – I am, among other things, a collector of dragons – I have ceramic ones, wooden ones, calendars with them, books with them – I even have a tattoo of one.  What has always been difficult for me is to find jewelry with them.  So my jewelry business was going to involve some dragons – and one type of dragon is a Wyvern.  The other thing was that I started doing this on a whim – it was just one of those things that grabbed me one day.  So Wyvern’s Whims Jewelry was born. By a happy stroke of luck, this also led to a bit of alliteration, with all those ‘W’s in there.  And I had a story to tell my clients and a bit of a bio, all in one.

The second thing to consider is what audience do you want to attract?  Kids? Teens? Men? Women?  Are you hoping to appeal to gardeners, cottages, suburbanites?  If you want to sell widgets to an aerospace clientele, , you wouldn’t call yourself “Wilma Wonders Weird and Wonderful Widgets“, would you?  You would want a name that suggested reliability, stability, and advanced technology.  Or if you wanted to appeal to churches and religious organizations, would you call yourself “Naughty Nones Clothing“?  Nuh-uh!

Finally – how well will the name ‘wear’?  If you were a crafter who does something for a hobby, and likes to sell your creations to make more money to buy more material for more creations, you might want to go with your name (who you are), and your craft (what you do).  If you want to do this professionally one day, or even (gasp) leave a dynasty, you might want something that will outlive you.  Joe’s Jeans is great, unless Joe has been dead for several decades and the jeans have morphed into a ladies evening wear line. 

Again – these are just my thoughts.  I know of no companies with the names I’ve used, (Except for Wyvern’s Whims, which is mine) and apologize if there is a company currently out there with one or more of the names I’ve made up for purposes of illustration.  And if one of those names ‘grabs’ you (again, except for mine), feel free to grab it back – and pass my name along to the hall of namers.

Whats in a name?  Everything.

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