A 5-Step Strategic Process for Product Naming

A 5-Step Strategic Process for Product Naming

Product naming is the strategic foundation of brand identity and market positioning. 

A strong name shapes perception, differentiates your product in crowded categories, and protects you through trademark clarity. Yet, many founders still rely on aimless brainstorming instead of a structured process grounded in linguistics, law, and marketing strategy. 

Effective product naming blends creativity with commercial rigour—it considers phonetic appeal, domain availability, cultural resonance, and SEO performance. 

As a brand consultant, I’ve seen companies lose valuable time and visibility because their chosen names failed legal screening or linguistic tests. 

This guide introduces a 5-step strategic framework for product naming that ensures every idea is validated, defensible, and distinctive—transforming your name into a long-term asset rather than a costly mistake.

Before we get to the “how-to,” let's clear the air. My frustrations are born from watching good businesses make the same unforced errors.

1. The “Design by Committee” Fiasco. You don't ask your friends, your partner's cousin, and your entire email list what they “think.” This is how you get beige. You'll end up with the most inoffensive, unmemorable, boring-as-dishwater name on the list because it's the only one nobody hated.
2. The .com Obsession. It's 2026. If your perfect name is “Acme” and acme.com is taken, you don't have to throw it away. GetAcme.com, Acme.ai, or Acme.io are all perfectly viable. Customers are smart. They will find you. Don't hamstring a brilliant name for an outdated domain rule.
3. Ignoring the Trademark Search. This is the cardinal sin. Falling in love with a name, buying the domain, and printing business cards before you've spent 30 minutes on the UK's IPO database or the US TESS database. I had a client spend £5,000 on branding for their new app, only to receive a cease-and-desist letter in their first week of operation. They had to scrap everything.
4. Meaningless Adjective Soup. “Innovative Solutions.” “Dynamic Creative.” “Apex Digital.” These are not names. They are descriptions of an entire industry. They are invisible, unsearchable, and tell me nothing except that you lack imagination.
5. The “Clever-for-Clever-Sake” Name. You are not James Joyce. If your name is a complex Latin pun or a word no one can spell, you're not being smart; you're creating friction. Clarity trumps cleverness every single time.

The Core Problem: You're Naming a Product, Not a Pet

First, what are we naming? A product name is not always the same as a company name. This is a question of brand architecture. Get this wrong, and you'll build a house of cards.

• Monolithic (Branded House): The company name is the product name. Think Google. The products are Google Maps, Google Docs, and Google Analytics. The parent brand does all the heavy lifting.
• Pluralistic (House of Brands): The company is invisible, and the products are the heroes. Think Procter & Gamble (who?). They make Pampers, Tide, Gillette, and Crest. Each product has its own name, identity, and audience.
• Endorsed: A hybrid. The product has its own name, but it's “endorsed” by the parent company. Think Courtyard by Marriott or iPhone by Apple.

For most small businesses, you typically start with a Monolithic or Endorsed structure. But knowing this helps you decide: are you naming the whole company (“Acme Widgets”) or just the first product (“The ‘Optimiser' by Acme”)?

Brand Architecture Quick Guide

The takeaway: Decide on a name before you start naming it.

The 7 Types of Product Names (With Real-World Examples)

All names can be categorised into a few distinct groups. Knowing them helps you focus your brainstorm. There is no “best” type; there is only the best type for your strategy.

1. Descriptive: The name accurately describes the product's function.
   • Examples: Microsoft Word, The Weather Channel, General Motors.
   • Pro: Instantly clear. No marketing budget needed to explain it.
   • Con: Boring. Unmemorable. Extremely difficult (or impossible) to trademark.
2. Evocative (or Suggestive): The name suggests a benefit, a feeling, or an experience.
   • Examples: Nest (a safe, warm home), Kindle (to ignite a fire of knowledge), Slack (for less formal, easy communication).
   • Pro: Much more emotive and memorable than a descriptive name.
   • Con: Requires a small cognitive leap. Needs some marketing to connect the dots.
3. Invented (or Neologism): A name that is entirely made up.
   • Examples: Kodak, Sony, Xerox, Pentium.
   • Pro: The holy grail of ownability. It's a blank slate you can pour meaning into. Almost always easy to trademark.
   • Con: The “Empty Vessel” problem. It means nothing at first, costing you more in marketing to build that meaning from scratch.
4. Lexical (Clever Misspellings & Compounds): Names that play with language.
   • Examples: Flickr (drops the ‘e'), Netflix (combines ‘internet' and ‘flicks'), LinkedIn (connects professionals).
   • Pro: Can be highly distinctive and “sticky.” Often, a good way to find an available domain is to.
   • Con: Can be confusing to spell. This trend can also date your brand quickly (remember all the “-ify” names?).
5. Founder (or Personal): Named after a real person.
   • Examples: Ford, Ben & Jerry's, Adidas (from founder Adi Dassler).
   • Pro: Instantly human. Implies a story, heritage, and accountability.
   • Con: What happens if the founder leaves or sells? It can also be limiting if the brand wants to grow beyond that person's image.
6. Geographical: Named after a place.
   • Examples: Cisco (named after San Francisco), Nokia (named after the Nokianvirta River in Finland).
   • Pro: Can evoke a sense of heritage, quality, or a specific lifestyle (e.g., “Nantucket Nectars”).
   • Con: Can feel dated or be geographically limiting if you expand.
7. Arbitrary: A real word used in a completely unrelated context.
   • Examples: Apple (for computers), Amazon (for a store), Shell (for energy).
   • Pro: Highly distinctive and memorable. Easy to trademark in that category.
   • Con: Like invented names, these require a significant marketing budget to connect the random word to your product.

A Practical 5-Step Naming Process (The Inkbot Method)

This is how we move from chaos to clarity.

Step 1: The Strategic Brief (Not the Brainstorm)

Stop. Do not open a thesaurus. Do not start spitballing.

Before you think of a single name, you must define the box you're building in. This is your “Naming Brief.” Answer these questions with brutal honesty:

• Audience: Who exactly are you talking to? “Everyone” is not an answer. (e.g., “30-40-year-old freelance graphic designers in the UK.”)
• Competitors: List your top 5 competitors. What are their naming conventions? Are they all descriptive? Are they all “techy”? Your job is to stand out, not fit in.
• Core Value Prop: In one sentence, what is the #1 thing you do for your customer? (e.g., “We make invoicing painless for freelancers.”)
• Tone of Voice: If your brand were a person, what three words would describe it? (e.g., “Playful, expert, confident” vs. “Authoritative, secure, traditional.”)
• The No-Fly Zone: What words, concepts, or feelings must you avoid? (e.g., “Must not sound ‘corporate',” “Avoid any childish words,” “No tech jargon.”)

Only after you have this one-page brief are you allowed to proceed.

Step 2: Generate & Categorise (The “Long List”)

Now you brainstorm. But it's not a free-for-all; it's a focused exercise guided by your brief.

Aim for 100+ names. Don't judge, just generate. Use every trick:

• Use your 7 types (e.g., “What's a descriptive name?” “What's an evocative name?”).
• Use a thesaurus now. Look up words from your brief (e.g., “painless,” “simple,” “flow”).
• Use name generators (AI is great for this ideation phase). Ask it for “compound names related to finance and ease.”
• Consider other languages (but be cautious—see Step 3).

As you go, categorise them. Dump them into buckets like “Traditional,” “Modern,” “Playful,” “Techy.” This helps you see patterns.

Step 3: The Brutal Cull (The “Shortlist”)

This is where the committee-lovers fail. You need to be ruthless. Take your list of 100+ and get it down to 10.

To do this, I use my “S.M.A.R.T” filter. (No, not the one for goals).

• S – Simple: Is it easy to say? Is it easy to spell? Is it easy to remember? If you have to spell it out loud more than once, it fails.
• M – Meaningful: Does it suggest the benefit (Evocative) or clarify the function (Descriptive)? Or is it at least distinctive (Invented/Arbitrary)? It can't be meaningless and boring.
• A – Available: This is the 5-minute check. Go to a domain registrar. Is the .com, .co.uk, or a suitable .io/.ai available? Check X, Instagram, and Facebook. Does someone hold the handle in your exact field of expertise? If it is, kill the name.
• R – Registrable: This is the 30-minute check. Go to your national trademark database (TESS in the US, IPO in the UK). Search for the name. Is it already registered by someone in your “class” (i.e., your industry)? If you see a direct conflict, kill the name immediately.
• T – Testable: How does it look in a URL (namesmith.com)? How does it sound on the phone (“Hello, NameSmith?”)? Does it have any unintended or unusual meanings? (e.g., The “Who Represents” agency at whorepresents.com). Perform a quick check for slang and foreign language usage.

After this filter, you should have 5-10 strong contenders.

Step 4: The Legal Gauntlet (The Non-Negotiable)

You have your shortlist. You've done your 30-minute check. Now, you must conduct the actual check.

This is not optional.

You must engage a trademark lawyer or a professional naming agency to conduct a comprehensive trademark search. My 30-minute “TESS” check is just to filter out the apparent failures. A professional will check for “likelihood of confusion,” phonetic similarities, and common law usage (unregistered businesses using the name).

Yes, this costs money. A few hundred pounds or dollars. But rebranding costs tens of thousands. Remember my client with the cease-and-desist? They skipped this step.

This is the single most significant, most expensive mistake you can make in product naming. If you are struggling with this part, consider engaging professional brand naming services. It is a specialist field that blends legal, linguistic, and creative expertise.

Step 5: The Real-World Test (Beyond Your Mum)

You should now have 2-3 names that are legally “clear.” It's time to test them.

DO NOT ASK: “Do you like this name?”

“Like” is a useless metric. It's subjective. Instead, run these simple tests with 5-10 people from your target audience:

1. The Memory Test: Tell them the name. An hour later, ask them to write it down. Did they spell it correctly?
2. The Context Test: Show them the name written down. Ask them: “What does this product do?” and “Who do you think this product is for?” Their answers will tell you if the name is communicating what you think it is.
3. The Phone Test: Say the name out loud in a sentence and ask them to spell it back to you. (e.g., “I just signed up for a new tool called ‘Klyr.'”). If they say “C-L-E-A-R?” you have a problem.

Analyse the feedback. If a name passes the legal check and these real-world tests, you have a winner.

The Product Naming Disasters I've Seen (And How to Avoid Them)

Theory is one thing. Here’s what happens in the wild.

• The “Invisible” Name: I had a client in the FinTech space. They wanted to name their budgeting app “Flow.” It's a nice, evocative name. The problem? A 5-minute Google search showed twelve other apps, blogs, and services in the finance space already named “Flow” or “Flo.” They would be screaming into a void, with zero chance of ranking on search or standing out.
  • Lesson: Don't just check for trademarks; check for search visibility. If the name is already a high-traffic keyword, you'll be invisible to search engines.
• The “Too Clever” Name: A B2B SaaS client had a product for managing digital marketplaces. The founder, a classics buff, wanted to call it “Agora.” It's clever—the Agora was the ancient Greek marketplace. The problem? No one in his target audience (busy, non-technical execs) knew that. They couldn't spell it. They didn't know what it meant.
  • Lesson: You're selling to your audience, not to your old university professor. Clarity trumps cleverness.
• The Acronym Trap (The “IBD” Problem): Startups love to shorten a long, descriptive name into an acronym. “International Business Dynamics” becomes “IBD.” Now you're just three meaningless letters. Worse, you're competing with “Inflammatory Bowel Disease” and the “Institute of Directors.”
  • Lesson: Avoid acronyms unless you have the (massive) marketing budget of an IBM or a BP.

Your Name is Chosen. Now What?

Congratulations. You have a name. You've secured the trademark and the domain.

The work isn't over. In many ways, it's just begun.

A name is an empty vessel. It's just a word. Your next job is to pour meaning into it. You do this with design.

The name is the foundation of your brand identity.

• A name like “Riot” demands a bold, aggressive font and a high-energy colour palette.
• A name like “Serenity” requires a calm, elegant typeface and a muted, natural palette.

The name informs your logo. It sets your tone of voice. It guides every design decision you make. This is the stage where the abstract word becomes a tangible asset. It's the point where you take your legally cleared name and request a quote to bring your brand identity to life.

Final Thoughts: Stop Searching for the “Perfect” Name

There is no “perfect” name.

There are only strategic names and unstrategic names. A name that is confusing, impossible to own, or invisible is unstrategic. A name that is clear, memorable, legally defensible, and speaks to your audience is strategic.

Stop “liking” and “disliking” names. Start filtering them through the S.M.A.R.T. test. Be ruthless in your cull. Be paranoid about the legal check. And be practical in your real-world testing.

Don't settle for a “safe” name. Safe is invisible. Be brave, be smart, and choose a name that gives your business the running start it deserves.

Want to skip the guesswork?

If you're staring at a list of 100 names and feeling overwhelmed, that's normal. This process is fraught with legal traps and strategic dead ends. It's also where we come in.

We don't just design logos; we help businesses build brands from the ground up, starting with the name. If you're ready to find a name that works as hard as you do, explore our professional brand naming services. Or, if you're further along, check out more of our thoughts on building a complete brand identity.

Product Naming FAQs