What Makes Apple a Good Company Name
4 Things to Know about Naming a Company
When you first start thinking about owning a business, giving it a name probably comes early in mind. But what makes a company name stand out in the long run? Why do the most successful tech giants have names like “Apple” or “Amazon,” which are iconic now but seemed totally irrelevant and absurd when they first came to market. These were the questions we asked during the early days of Buoy. In fact, I thought the answer would be easy. I bet if I surveyed 10 random people to come up with a name for a business idea, most of them would have no trouble giving a clever pun followed by a smirk. And so did we. “Qur” we called it — a three-letter play on “cure” that carried the noblest of intentions for healthcare. It had just the right tinge of mystery and a much- needed web 2.0 feel. “Someday, people will say, ‘just Qur it’,” we would joke. But soon it became very apparent that it couldn’t work. We would spend 4 three-hour brainstorm sessions and get the help of an agency to finally nail down a better name. Here are the 4 considerations you need to make to arrive at a good company name. (As always, I speak only for tech startups that rely on web presence.)
First, be very hesitant to choose a three letter name, unless you’re prepared to spend $100,000+ on a .com domain. All combinations of three-letter URLs have been purchased, by people who know that it’s only a matter of time before an agency or a large corporation would open up their treasure troves to spend whatever necessary to get the .com they need. We are talking about seven figures here. Don’t even try to write them a nice email claiming you’re starting a non-profit and that you’re doing the world good. Everybody has tried that.
Second, resist the temptation to pick the most obvious name. By obvious, I mean a name that partially describes what the company does. You will run into trademark issues. Let me give you an illustration. Let’s say I’m in the market to sell apples. If I named my company, “Apple,” it would be very hard for me to trademark my brand and defend its uniqueness. Many people in my business will have the word “Apple” somewhere in their name. Thus, when people hear “Apple,” they won’t think of my apples. But if I sold computers, it’s a totally different story. Paradoxically, names that have the strongest trademarks and brand recognizability are those that are remotely tangential, if at all, to the business. Think Apple, Amazon, Tesla, Robinhood, Google, and the list goes on. In fact, we eventually picked Buoy (pronounced as “boo-ie”, rather than somethingMD for this precise reason.
But this doesn’t mean the name should have no relevance at all. Each of the icon names I mentioned above had some sort of metaphoric connection to their business. For Buoy, we loved the fact that buoys serve as a guide for ships lost at sea and can be a verb that means to keep something afloat. We felt that it was a very fitting metaphor for the guidance and uplifting we wish to do for sick users at home.
Lastly, a good name should pass the bar test, which basically means if you said it to someone at a bar, they should be able to spell it. And if it’s easy to spell, hopefully it can also be verbiafied. On this point, I must admit, Buoy doesn’t pass the bar test. Finding a name is a process of give-and-take and we decided to sacrifice a little here. Though it helps that buoy is an actual English word and strangely enough, because it’s hard to spell, people find it surprisingly sticky once they do get it.
Hopefully, these four points gave you a better idea of how to pick a company name. If yours already fit all four of the above, give yourself a pat on the back. It’s not an easy feat. But if you haven’t and are tempted to name it something only a computer nerd would like, maybe consider seeking advice from agencies like Hundred Monkeys that specialize in naming. Best of luck!
