How to choose a business name for your startup business?

Choosing an apt business name is important but if you spend too much time thinking about the perfect name, it can become a distraction.

Choosing a business name is something that new entrepreneurs agonize over for weeks or months prior to launching.

There are a few reasons why you don’t need to spend more than a day on your business name:

1. You will be less focused on what is important, which is creating something great. That is ultimately what matters and will decide what makes or breaks your brand.

2. Your business will probably change a lot as you get established. Nintendo started out making playing cards. Tiffany’s started out making stationery.

3. Most names don’t mean anything when they are first given. But if you wait, the name might grow on you and fit you as you grow older. Steve Jobs named Apple after the farm he dropped acid on. If that works for him, then anything goes!

4. You can change your business name if you want to. Often, it is very easy to do. Even big brands have done it successfully. Small startups can often change their name very quickly and for very little money. You are not stuck with your name forever. Google started out as “Backrub”.

5. Your customers do not care what your business is called. You should choose a name for your business that is acceptable to you and meets the highest level of standards. Having a perfect worldwide brand can come later, but you want to make sure your name is not terrible.

It can be ironic that a terrible name is often the result of overthinking it.

You should come up with a few business names. This will help you pick the best one. You can use logic to help make this decision.

There are many ways you might go about doing this. Here are some naming tricks to get started:

1. Some places are named after what is around them. Apple was named after an apple farm, and Adobe was named after a creek that ran behind the founder’s house.
2. Combine two words to create a new name. Intel combined “Integrated Electronics.” Groupon combined “Group Coupon.” Pinterest combines pin & interest.
3. Use an acronym for your product/service. IBM stood for “International Business Machines.”
4. Look for industry terms. For example many venture capital choose vc as their domain extension. VC is short for venture capital.
5. Use a dictionary. Jack Dorsey liked the name Twitch, so he looked at words around it in the dictionary and found the word “Twitter.”
6. Extend a related word. For example many companies add “ly” to a word
7. You can outsource the task of finding a business name. You could try online forums or social media, or ask your friends for help.

The more time you spend looking at names, the stranger they get. IKEA was named after the first two letters of the founder’s name and the village where he grew up. Zynga was named after Mark Pincus’s bulldog.

Yahoo started out as “Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web” and then became an acronym for “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.”

What the name means doesn’t really matter.

Come up with ten names for your business. Then, use this framework to pick the best one.

A Framework for Choosing an Acceptable Business Name

1. Is it taken?

Don’t choose a name that’s already taken. You should check if you have the right to use a name. This is important because you don’t want to get in legal trouble for using a name that you don’t have the right to use.

Here are some questions to ask:

Is there a trademark on the name for your region? You can use uspto.gov/trademarks14 in the U.S. For other countries you can check your local website to find out.

Is the .com website taken for this name? This will often tell you if someone is already using the name. This doesn’t mean you can’t use it by choosing another domain extension like .co or .org, but it’s something to think about.

If the Twitter handle is taken, this can give you an idea of how active someone is, if the name is taken.

Can you legally register your business name in your local area?

None of these things are absolute deal-breakers. There are plenty of businesses who have started with names that have been used for other things. It’s up to you to look at how the name is being used and decide if it is an acceptable level of risk for you to use it.

Also, a word of caution here. Sometimes entrepreneurs choose a name that is very similar to, an adaptation of, or based on an existing brand name. Don’t do that, as you may be bringing an unnecessary lawsuit especially at a time when your focus should be on building the business.

2. Is it simple?

Choose a name for your business that is simple. Even if it doesn’t mean anything, it will be more memorable this way. Eventually, the name will mean something to people. For example, Apple was named so because it is simple and memorable.

Here are some tips to follow:

• Try not to use made-up words.
• Don’t use misspellings or words that people commonly misspell. This only increases the chance that people won’t find you.
• Most importantly, keep your name to fewer than 12 characters if possible. 16 All of the top