“Create names. Not too many. Mostly for the super-important stuff.”
-Me doing a Michael Pollan impression
This month’s playbook is less about telling you something new than lending you some confidence that can be worn down by demands to name things that don’t need names, or to name things in the wrong way.
A big part of my job is repeating the things that I know to be true about naming, learned from running hundreds of naming projects. Our most successful clients do the same: They kick off a naming discussion with a new group of stakeholders by stating a handful of truths about how they name, and that sets the tone for the engagement. When the right naming motto lands, it works like magic: Stakeholders repeat it, it brings logic to the discussion, it frames things around what’s best for the brand/business/customer.
To radically oversimplify, naming should typically be driven by one of these reasons:
To best meet the needs of customers/clients/consumers (that can include creating brand names in parts of the portfolio where they expect a certain kind of name to exist)
To show commitment to a product/service/capability that supports brand-building
To signal of an area of major differentiation/investment
To put language to something that cannot be adequately described using industry-standard terms
Depending on which logic leads where you name, some of these will be more relevant than others. But for those of you that manage naming needs across a large enough organization, they all might come into play at one point or another:
Ten mottos for naming leads
Culled from a list of several dozen, here are my top ten naming mottos that might just come in handy during a naming discussion you’ll have this week:
“Bad guesses kill good names.”
Use when: The team is doubting name candidates without evidence. "Our customers would associate the name Hum with the word Ham." Would they? Ask them before you kill it.
“We don't need to make the right choice, we need to make the choice right." (see also: "The best name is the one we can use")
Use when: There are some practical, criteria-aligned names on the table that your legal team has blessed, but the decision-making team is starting to look longingly back at the drawing board, wondering if there's a better name out there.
“AI is not a naming expert.”
Use when: A stakeholder is insisting on a naming strategy or name candidate that flies in the face of your brand strategy, business goals, or ideal customer experience. Just because AI sounds confident doesn’t mean it should have the final word.
“Just because it's new doesn't mean it needs a name.”
Use when: Everyone thinks it should get a name just because it's new (obvious, I know).
Here’s the thing: You're going to need to follow this up with what should happen instead (using an existing name, a plan for how to market the new thing, etc.). That’s the part that takes a lot of strategy and knowledge of internal culture and politics. You can’t navigate this by being the brand police; you have to become a brand co-conspirator, helping them land (or at least pointing them toward) a great way to communicate what’s new and why it matters.
“We don't name to play catch-up.”
Use when: Someone is making the case that something needs a hot name because your competitors gave it a hot name…when they launched their version four years ago.
“It shouldn't cost us more to name it than we plan to make off of it.”
Use when: The cost to name it outweighs the potential upside. It’s worth doing the math. Consider: If you might spend $150,000 to name something (inclusive of agency and trademark lawyer fees, designing a logo or type treatment for the new name, marketing the new name, etc.) that could go to market under an existing name, and it's only going to increase your projected revenue per unit by a dollar, and your target sales number is $100,000…will that be worth it to the business? Go back to “Just because it’s new doesn’t mean it needs a name” and wonder about other ways to bring this thing to market.
“Naming too much (or naming the wrong things, or naming in the wrong way) costs us more than money.”
Use when: You need to make a case that, even when there's budget to name something, you can see a cost to the business. In most cases, the cost is losing customers through confusion or friction along their journey. They can't compare offerings, or understand what, exactly, they'd be buying. (For a great example of this, check out most internet service providers' package offerings: Did I just improve my professional life by upgrading from Advantage Internet to Gig Internet? Genuinely unsure…)
“We name to meet customer needs.”
Use when: The request is to name something to meet the needs of a sales conversation, to align with an internal org chart or inventory systems—anything other than helping a customer choose you.
“We name when we’re making a big investment [inaudience/market/use case].”
Use when: A stakeholder is asking for a big, sexy name for something that probably just needs a descriptive label. There are some brands that do very little distinctive naming (see: Google and the majority of its descriptively named ecosystem), and when they do, they're signaling they really mean business (see: Android). Reserving your naming efforts for when you need to draw attention to where the business is going is how names stay meaningful.
“We only name when there truly isn't an industry-standard way to say it”
Use when: You're hearing “Competitor X has had this for years, and theirs has a name.” If your organization prioritizes industry-standard/industry-common language for its names (which is a great way to keep attention focused on your brand), this kind of pushback is a great moment to take everyone through my favorite naming decision framework, the Cynefin model.
Need help putting these mottos into action?
At Wild Geese Studio, we specialize in helping global brands build smoother naming engines. Whether you need help building a better operation for managing naming decisions, developing future-ready names, or managing potential risks through linguistic and cultural research, we’d love to show you how we can make you more effective. Email me and we’ll talk: [email protected]
– Caitlin Barrett
Founder and naming expert, Wild Geese Studio
Your strategic naming partner for development, operations, and evaluation