I have had a flair for coming up with names for quite sometime now. Direct involvement in coining names for products over the past three years has been very productive and I am really proud of that. I believe it’s a gift from the unknown energy because I never tried to learn anything on coining names, catch-phrases or tag lines from an advertisement or marketing angle.
Being a keen follower of all kinds of creative writing as path to reaching out to people, both in the technology and entertainment space, I hope to add a creative director profile (copywriting, naming, branding etc) to my portfolio sometime down the line.
Yesterday, I was looking for some inputs toward the philosophy or ideology behind how names were coined both for companies and products. I found a good link on how some of the companies were named. Here is a link from Wikipedia on Company Name Etymologies. It is quite an interesting read as lot of times the name’s impact on consumer’s mind is phenomenal.
While I couldn’t find a similar list pertaining to the existing products in the market, I found this. It gives a good summary of the thought-process that anyone involved in naming initiatives should have. I really like the ‘Product Naming Techniques’ which briefly describe morphemes, phonemes and syntax and how they are used in certain combinations to coin names. There are also methods which are based on the premise as to how you want people to get interested or influenced by. Like you could name a product for dieting which has words from over eating habits (just an example).
Names give the first and undoubtedly the best impression to consumers all around the world.
Be it products or companies, here is my school of thought on naming:
- Finalize the audience
- Envisage the entry into the market (i.e., whether you are a late entrant or first one in the market)
- Decide on the comparative pitch (i.e., competitor to established and popular product?)
- List the virtues or selling points (offering)
- Prepare a comparison table
- List suggestions based on the first four points
- Club suggestions(based on intended meanings you want to convey)
- Filter the list to ‘N’ and poll for the best (get the others in the team involved!)
It has worked for me in the limited exposure I have had. It might for you also!
As an exercise, I just randomly picked product and company targets and came up with the list below:
- Software targeted on ‘Study of Rocks - Geology’ : Softrocks
- Company into Air Travel : EZFLY
- Hair gel : HoldOn
- Energizing Massage Chair : Massagizer
- Organization fighting all forms of cruelty: Spare Me
- Barbwire Fencing Company: Spikes
- New Juice Drink (for children?) : Gulp Gulp
- New Perfume : Glued Forever
- Photo Frames : Nice Touch
Please note that some of the above names might already exist for different entities, but my exercise was to see how one can come up with names that stand out.
If you have any requests for naming, please write to me.
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