What's in a name? 5 rules to live by

Most people know Goodside is a branding agency, but one of our favorite disciplines can also fly under the radar: brand naming. That’s why we’re excited to unpack our process with tips, tricks and rules to live by. 

With roughly a decade of naming experience under our belts, we can confirm, naming a brand *is* harder than naming a kid. But it’s also a magical creative process. It’s art and science, skill and luck, and a whole lot of iterative, collaborative goodness with our clients. With the right strategies and team on your side, it can be an incredibly meaningful exercise that defines the core of your company. It can also be a total blast. We try to make it both.  

But first, what makes naming so hard? There are a few common challenges that teams will face in finding their name, but they ultimately all tend to boil down to risk. When it comes to naming, there are typically two big categories that we face:

Legal:
‍We often say naming is a beautiful and heartbreaking process, and that’s due to the legal vetting process. Because while the world of words is at your fingertips in a naming exercise, a huge number of those will be ruled out before you even begin due to conflicts in the market, existing competitors and adjacent businesses, and pre-existing associations your audience may have.

But! Don’t despair. Lawyers are here to enable you to take the right amount of risk for your business. The best thing you can do is communicate clearly with your lawyers about what kind of risk you’re willing to take. Do you need a name that can be trademarked, or do you just want a name that has a good domain? Are you willing to choose a name that another business also uses, if the business doesn’t pose market risk (different product, customer, location etc.), or is it important that you are the one and only? The more legal risk you can get your lawyers comfortable with taking, the more names will be open to you during the naming process. Be sure to communicate your risk tolerance and needs to your creative partner ahead of time, so that you don’t arrive at the *perfect* name only to have your collective dreams crushed by your lawyers. 

Emotional:
Now this one isn’t quite as unique to naming—it’s common in branding as a whole—but it’s a challenge nonetheless. Change is hard. Navigating it often means taking opposing opinions and finding a way to bend them together toward your new identity. That’s exactly the kind of brand therapy we love at Goodside and the kind of challenge that’s led us to our 5 naming rules to live by. 

So, without further ado, these 5 tactics are our tried and trues for a successful naming engagement.    

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1. Start with your story

If we had just one rule, it would be: don’t rush straight into naming. Naming, like everything else in branding, starts with the story you’re going to tell to the people you want to reach. By building your name on a solid strategic foundation, you’ll reduce some of the subjectiveness that can creep into the process and kill a perfectly beautiful name. 

2. Start from a place of Yes

You can find holes in any name. Apple? Generic. Nike? Hard to pronounce. Airbnb? What even is that? And yet all of these names clearly work. Starting from a place of yes is not only a good creative practice in general, it’s our best defense against the challenges of legal vetting.

3. Set fair expectations

People say your brand is the party, your name is the invitation—it’s just one component of a much larger system that will all work together. So we can’t expect our name to mean everything or tell our whole story. Your name opens the door to a conversation, so let’s make sure it’s an interesting one. 

4. Dream far and wide

Naming exploration is both art and science. To create structure around an amorphous process, we’ll brainstorm themes throughout our research phase, then think laterally from there. Seek out unexpected inspiration in books, poetry, history, and industries completely unrelated to the one you’re in.  

5. Ask yourself… 

• Is it meaningful? Does it have a good story that we would be excited to repeat? 
• Is it functional? Does it sound good out loud? Read well in a sentence? Translate successfully?  
• Is it distinctive? Does it stand out? 
• Is it accessible? Can people pronounce and spell it without you repeating it or caveating?
• Is it ownable? For each of the names, go through domain options and potential risks. 
• Does it look good visually? Will it make for a good logo? We’re always thinking about the way words and visuals work together. 
• And finally, can this name last for the long term? We don’t want to pick a name that we’ll outgrow when we inevitably evolve and shift. 

At the end of the day, finding the right name for your company is both an investment in your future and a leap of faith. It's about balancing pragmatism with possibility, knowing when to push boundaries and when to play it safe. The perfect name won't solve every challenge your business will face, but the right one will grow alongside you, becoming more meaningful with every milestone you hit. So take your time, trust the process, and remember—the best names often feel obvious in hindsight, even when they felt impossible to find at first. 

Looking for a great brand partner to help you name your company and reimagine your brand? We’d love to chat.  

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