Naming a business: a practical process and the checks to run

Naming is one of those jobs that looks easy until you try it. Every good idea seems to be taken, the ones that aren’t taken sound odd, and after a week of brainstorming the whole team has “name blindness” and can’t judge anything. Here’s a practical way to name a business without ending up there.

When you name a business, you’re also making one of the hardest brand decisions to reverse. You can refresh a logo quietly. Changing a name means new signage, new domains, new paperwork and explaining yourself to every customer.

Here’s a process that keeps things moving and catches the problems early, whether you’re naming a new business, a product or a service line.

Step 1: decide what the name needs to do

Before you try to name a business, agree a short brief. Answer these:

• Who needs to understand and remember it?
• Does it need to say what you do, or can your strapline and branding carry that?
• Will the business expand into other services or areas? If so, avoid names that lock you into one town or one product.
• What should it feel like? Use the personality words from your brand strategy.
• Any hard limits, such as length, languages it must work in, or words to avoid?

This brief is what you’ll judge every option against. Without it, the decision comes down to whoever argues loudest.

Step 2: generate a long list

Aim for quantity first. It’s normal to lose most of your list at the checking stage, so you need plenty to start with. Useful directions to explore:

• Descriptive: says what you do. Clear, but often hard to protect and easy to confuse with competitors.
• Suggestive: hints at a benefit or quality without spelling it out. Usually the sweet spot for small businesses.
• Invented or abstract: a made-up or unrelated word. Easier to protect, but needs more marketing to give it meaning.
• Founder or place names: personal and credible, but think about succession, selling the business, or moving premises.

Pull words from your customers’ language, your industry, your values and your local area. Combine, shorten and twist them.

Step 3: shortlist with some simple tests

Cut the list to eight or ten by running each name through these quick filters.

1. The phone test. Say it out loud to someone. Can they spell it without asking? If you’ll spend your life saying “that’s with a K,” think again.
2. The meaning test. Check it doesn’t mean something unfortunate in slang or in another language your customers might speak.
3. The confusion test. Does it sound close to a competitor or a well-known brand in your sector?
4. The growth test. Will it still fit if the business looks different in five years?
5. The brief test. Does it do what you agreed in step 1?

Step 4: run the proper checks

This is where most names fall over, so do it before anyone gets emotionally attached.

• Companies House. If you’re forming a limited company, use the Companies House name availability search. Some words, such as those suggesting a regulated activity or official status, are restricted and need extra approval or supporting evidence. Being registered at Companies House does not give you trade mark protection.
• Trade marks. Search the UK Intellectual Property Office trade mark register, and consider the classes of goods and services relevant to you. A name doesn’t have to be identical to cause a problem: a similar name in a related area can be enough.
• Existing use. Search online, on Google Maps and on social platforms. Someone trading under a name without a registered trade mark can still have rights under the law of passing off.
• Domains. Check the .co.uk and .com. If the exact match isn’t available, decide whether a sensible variation is acceptable, and check what the existing owner uses it for.
• Social handles. Check the platforms you’ll actually use. Consistent handles make you easier to find.

These checks help you spot obvious conflicts, but they’re not legal clearance. For anything you’re going to invest in seriously, get advice from a trade mark attorney or solicitor before you commit.

Do the legal and practical checks before anyone falls in love with a name. It’s much easier to drop an option on day three than on day thirty.

Step 5: decide, and live with it

By now you’ll probably have two or three survivors. Put each one in context: mock it up on a website header, a van, an email signature and a quote. Names often feel different once they’re doing a real job.

Expect a new name to feel slightly strange for a while. That’s normal. Judge it against the brief, not against a name you’ve been using for years. Then secure it: register the company or trading name, buy the domains, claim the handles and, if the advice supports it, file a trade mark application.

Getting help to name a business

If the process has stalled, or you’ve got a shortlist but no confidence in it, an outside view can break the deadlock. Our naming and messaging service handles the brief, the creative work and the practical checks, and hands you a clear recommendation with reasons. Once you’ve chosen, logo design is the natural next step.