Nothing you will do in your brand will be used more often or for longer than your name.
That's not my line. It's from David Placek, the founder of Lexicon Branding, the firm behind names like Swiffer, BlackBerry, Pentium, and Impossible Foods.
But after years of naming companies at Lunour, I can tell you it's the truest thing anyone has ever said about branding.
Your name is the first thing people hear. The last thing they forget. It shows up on every invoice, every email signature, every pitch deck, every Google search. It compounds over time.
A great name builds cumulative advantage, quietly working for you in every interaction. A mediocre name? It's friction. Every single day.
And yet, most founders spend more time picking a restaurant for dinner than they do naming their company.
This playbook is everything I know about naming.
It's informed by years of experience running naming projects at Lunour for B2B and B2C companies and learning from the greats like Lexicon (which, at $75K to $200K per project, most startups can't afford).
Consider this the playbook I wish someone had handed me five years ago.
*Quick p.s. since a few of you asked, I converted this to a skill. Available at the bottom. Enjoy.*
Why Your Name Matters More Than You Think
Let's get this out of the way: your name is not your brand.
Your brand is the total experience, the perception people hold in their heads.
But your name is the handle for all of it.
It's the container everything else gets poured into.
One of our clients, that is the premium marketplace for one-of-one human-made artwork used to be called "Nerd Crawler".
Investors told them it was a real problem and wouldn't invest with that name.
They came to us, and through the process I'll explain below, we rebranded them to Raremarq.
Rare: Unique items + Marq: the annotation artists make on physical work.
Did it work? Let's just say growth has been really good.
Another awesome company we had the pleasure of rebranding "Phoenix Air Charter" to "Axio". In a world of cargo jets, with standard operating methods, they had an ambitious mission to be the partner that could be relied on in the most challenging conditions.
A good name does three things:
1. Gets attention. In a sea of noise, it stands out.
1. Holds attention. It's easy to process, easy to say, easy to remember. Linguists call this "processing fluency."
1. Surprises. There's something unexpected about it. Something that makes you pause for half a second.
That third one is where most people fail.
They go safe.
They pick something that describes what they do.
And they end up invisible.
Think about it. If you're starting a cloud computing company and you name it "CloudTech Solutions," you've told people exactly what you do.
You've also guaranteed they'll never remember you.
You've entered what I call the invisible zone: familiar enough to feel comfortable, distinctive enough to be... nothing.
The names that win are the ones that create an emotional connection, not a literal description.
They're surprisingly familiar. Easy to say, easy to spell, but with a twist that makes you lean in.
The Comfort Trap (And Why "Safe" Names Are Actually Dangerous)
Here's the pattern I see in almost every naming project.
We present a range of options.
The founders gravitate toward the safe ones.
The names that describe what the company does.
The names that feel "professional."
The names that nobody on the team hates.
That last part is the problem.
David Placek has a framework I love. He talks about the "tension zone" vs. the "invisible zone."
The tension zone is where half the team loves the name and half the team hates it.
Energy is high.
People have strong reactions.
The invisible zone is where everyone nods along and says "yeah, that's fine."
You want the tension zone.
When Intel was naming what would become the Pentium processor, the engineers wanted something like "ProChip" or "i586." Something safe, technical, descriptive.
When Lexicon proposed "Pentium," there was real pushback internally.
Andy Grove, Intel's CEO, made the call.
His reasoning?
"This is a good name because it is polarizing. That means it has energy."
Pentium went on to become one of the most recognized processor names in history.
Meanwhile, can you name a single AMD chip from the same era without Googling it?
The lesson:
if your name makes everyone in the room comfortable, it's probably not distinctive enough.
The best names create a little tension.
A little "wait, what?"
That energy is what makes people remember you.
The Naming Process: How the Best Names Actually Get Made
After running many naming projects and studying how the greats like Lexicon approaches their work, I've distilled the process into three phases.
This is the framework we use at Lunour, adapted for teams that don't have six figures to spend on a naming firm.
Phase 1: Map the Landscape
Before you generate a single name, you need to understand the territory.
Study your category.
What are your competitors called? What naming conventions dominate your space?
If every fintech startup is named "[Noun]Fi" or "Pay[Something]," that tells you where NOT to go.
This is the most important decision in the entire process: deciding what you're not.
We start every project by mapping the competitive landscape and drawing clear boundaries.
"We know we're not going there."
This constraint is actually liberating.
It eliminates the obvious and forces you into more creative territory.
Action items:
- List your top 20 competitors and their names
- Identify naming patterns in your industry (descriptive, invented, metaphorical, acronym, founder name)
- Decide which patterns are overused and off-limits
- Note which names you admire and why
Phase 2: Find the Ultimate Benefit
This is where most people go wrong. They name the company after what it does instead of what it means.
Placek tells a great story about a fiber product Lexicon was hired to name.
The obvious territory was gut health, digestion, fiber.
All the expected stuff.
But Lexicon kept pushing: what's the ultimate benefit of better digestion? How does the consumer actually feel? The answer they landed on was feeling lighter.
Not "healthy gut" or "daily fiber." Lighter.
That reframe opened up entirely new creative territory.
Instead of being stuck in medical/health language, they could explore words related to lightness, air, freedom, movement.
The naming options went from predictable to inspired.
This is the ladder.
You start with the product feature, then climb up to the functional benefit, then up to the emotional benefit, then up to the ultimate benefit.
That top rung is where great names live.
Here's how to do it for your company:
1. What does your product/service actually do? (Feature level)
1. What problem does that solve? (Functional benefit)
1. How does solving that problem make someone feel? (Emotional benefit)
1. What's the bigger aspiration or identity that connects to? (Ultimate benefit)
Example: A project management tool.
- Feature: Task tracking and team collaboration
- Functional: Projects get done on time
- Emotional: Feeling in control, less chaos
- Ultimate: Clarity. The feeling that everything is handled and you can focus on what matters.
Now "Clarity" as a concept gives you a hundred times more creative fuel than "project management."
Action items:
- Write out the benefit ladder for your company
- Interview 5-10 customers. Ask them how they feel after using your product/service, not what it does
- Identify the ultimate benefit in 1-2 words
- Use that concept as your creative springboard
Phase 3: The Treasure Hunt
This is the fun part. And this is where most founders quit too early.
Quantity leads to quality.
Most founders brainstorm 50 to 100 names, pick the least offensive one, and call it done.
It’s not uncommon to generate over 2,000 candidates per project.
Two thousand.
Exploring Greek and Latin roots, word fragments, sound patterns, adjacent fields, metaphors, invented words, and combinations nobody has tried.
You don't need 2,000. But you need way more than you think.
Here's how to run your own treasure hunt:
Start with word exploration. T
ake your ultimate benefit concept and explore it from every angle. If your concept is "clarity," look at:
- Synonyms: lucid, vivid, clear, transparent, sharp
- Latin/Greek roots: clar-, luc-, vid-
- Adjacent fields: optics (lens, prism, focus), water (crystal, pure, spring), weather (clear sky, horizon)
- Sounds and fragments: What syllables feel "clear"? Crisp consonants? Open vowels?
- Metaphors: What objects or experiences represent clarity? A bell ringing. A mountain view. First light.
Use "approximate thinking."
This is another Placek concept I find incredibly useful. Imagine a spectrum.
On one end, you have completely bizarre, absurd, illegal ideas.
On the other end, safe, workable, obvious ones.
In the middle is what Placek calls the "approximate thinking" zone. Ideas that aren't fully baked, aren't polished, might even seem bad at first glance.
That middle zone is where the magic lives.
Give yourself permission to sit there. Don't judge ideas too early.
Write down the weird ones. The half-formed ones. The ones that make you laugh. You can refine later. Right now, you're hunting.
Pay attention to sound.
This is something most people skip entirely.
Lexicon is obsessive about what they call "sound symbolism."
Certain sounds carry meaning. Hard consonants (K, T, P) feel strong and precise. Soft sounds (L, M, S) feel smooth and gentle. The letter V, according to Placek, is "the most daring letter in the English language."
Look at Vercel.
The company was originally called Zeit (German for "time").
Nobody could spell it, the SEO was terrible, and the name didn't communicate anything about what they did.
When Lexicon renamed them Vercel, they drew on "versatile," "accelerate," and "excel." That V at the front adds confidence and energy.
The company is now valued at $9.3 billion. The name didn't do that alone, obviously. But it stopped being a liability and started being an asset.
Action items:
- Set a target of 300+ name candidates (yes, really)
- Spend time in etymology dictionaries, thesauruses, and foreign language resources
- Explore your concept from at least 5 adjacent fields
- Say every name out loud. How does it feel in your mouth?
- Use AI to generate batches of 200 to 300 names. Then apply human judgment. (More on this below.)
Case Studies: Names That Won (And Why)
The best way to understand good naming is to study it. Here are five names I reference constantly.
Swiffer.
Procter & Gamble came to Lexicon with a new cleaning product. P&G's internal suggestion was "ProMop." Lexicon's response: "This isn't a mop. Let's put fun in this." They created "Swiffer," a word that evokes swiftly and effortlessly sweeping and swiping. It's playful. It's active. It sounds like the motion of using the product. Swiffer became a $5 billion brand. Clorox launched a competing product around the same time called "ReadyMop." Safe, descriptive, forgettable. It did a couple hundred million. The name didn't just reflect the product. It reframed the entire category.
BlackBerry.
Research In Motion (RIM) needed a consumer-friendly name for a device that would give people constant access to email. The risk? Scaring people. "Always-on email" sounded like a nightmare in the early 2000s. Lexicon's approach: be unpredictable. "BlackBerry" has nothing to do with email or technology. It's warm, organic, approachable. And here's the subtle genius: the little drupelets on a blackberry look like the tiny keys on the device's keyboard. The name made a potentially intimidating technology feel friendly.
Impossible Foods.
The client originally wanted something "crunchy and hippie" that would feel at home in Whole Foods. Lexicon pushed back hard. Their argument: you're not making a niche health product. You're making a bold claim that plant-based meat can be better than the real thing. The name needed to match that ambition. "Impossible" is a dare. It's confrontational. It makes a claim. The name forced people to have an opinion, which is exactly what a disruptive brand needs.
Pentium.
As mentioned above, Intel's engineers wanted something safe and technical. "Pentium" combines "pent" (five, for the fifth-generation processor) with a suffix that sounds like a chemical element, something fundamental and powerful. It was polarizing internally, which is exactly why it worked externally.
Vercel.
A rename that shows it's never too late. Zeit was a fine name for a small developer tool. But as the company grew, the name became a liability. Hard to spell, hard to search, no emotional resonance. Vercel is clean, modern, energetic. It matches the ambition of the company it became, not the one it started as.
The DIY Naming Exercise: Do This Over a Weekend
Here's the exact exercise I'd walk you through if you hired Lunour for a naming project, compressed into something you can do yourself.
Phase 1 (1-2 hours): Set the Foundation
1. Write your benefit ladder (feature → functional → emotional → ultimate)
1. List 20 competitors and their names. Identify patterns to avoid.
1. Define your "we're NOT going there" boundaries.
1. Write down 3 to 5 adjectives that describe how you want people to feel when they hear your name.
Phase 2 (2-3 hours): The Treasure Hunt
1. Take your ultimate benefit concept and explore it across 5+ adjacent fields
1. Use an etymology dictionary (etymonline.com is free) to explore roots
1. Open a thesaurus and go deep on every synonym
1. Try combining word fragments. Take the first half of one word and the second half of another.
1. Use AI (ChatGPT, Claude, whatever) to generate 200+ candidates. Give it your concept, your adjectives, your constraints. Ask for invented words, Latin-inspired words, compound words, metaphorical words.
1. Write down EVERYTHING. No filtering yet. Target 300 candidates minimum.
Phase 3 (1 hour): First Filter
1. Read every name out loud. Cross off anything that's hard to say.
1. Check basic domain availability (.com matters less than it used to, but still check)
1. Remove anything that sounds like a competitor
1. Remove anything that describes what you do literally
1. You should have 40 to 60 survivors
Phase 4 (1-2 hours): The Tension Test
1. Share your top 40 to 60 with 5 to 10 people you trust (not just founders, include potential customers)
1. Ask them: "What does this name make you feel?" Not "do you like it?" Feelings, not opinions.
1. Pay attention to the polarizing ones. If half the people love it and half hate it, that's a signal. Don't dismiss it.
1. Narrow to your top 10.
Phase 5 (1 hour): Final Evaluation
Score each of your top 10 on:
- Distinctiveness (1-10): Does it stand out from competitors?
- Processing fluency (1-10): Is it easy to say, spell, and remember?
- Emotional resonance (1-10): Does it connect to the ultimate benefit?
- Energy (1-10): Does it create a reaction? Does it have tension?
- Longevity (1-10): Will this name still work in 10 years? Does it box you in?
- Availability: What domains (.com, .co, .io, etc. or modifications: namehq.com, getname.com, etc.) and social handles are available? We use Instant Domain Search and Instant Username Search to help with this. Also, don’t forget about a trademark search (no one likes cease and desist letters.)
The winner probably won't be the one with the highest average score.
It'll be the one that scores a 9 or 10 on distinctiveness and energy, even if it's a 6 on something else.
Remarkable beats balanced.
On AI and Naming
I'd be irresponsible not to address this. AI has fundamentally changed the naming landscape.
Tools like ChatGPT and Claude can generate 200 to 300 name candidates in minutes.
That's not an exaggeration. Give them a good brief and they'll produce more raw material than most agencies could in a week.
Here's what this means: the competitive advantage has shifted from generation to judgment.
Anyone can create a long list of names now. The hard part, the valuable part, is knowing which name is right. Not just good. Right.
AI is excellent at quantity. It's terrible at feeling. It can't tell you which name has energy. It can't sense the tension in a room when a name is presented. It can't feel the difference between "surprisingly familiar" and "generically pleasant."
Use AI as a brainstorming partner. Let it generate hundreds of candidates. Then apply human judgment. Say the names out loud. Test them on real people. Trust your gut on the ones that create a reaction.
Final note on AI - on a first pass they are pretty bland and generic. You must do the first phases so you have a direction to work from.
The playbook hasn't changed. The tools just got faster.
When to Rename (And Why You Shouldn't Be Afraid)
I talk to founders all the time who know their name isn't working but are terrified to change it. The fear is always the same: "We'll lose the equity we've built."
Placek says Lexicon has never seen evidence of this in the marketplace. And in my experience, he's right.
If you're a young company, pre-Series B, your name equity is minimal. Your customers know your product, not your name. A rename done with enthusiasm and a clear story ("here's where we were, here's where we're going, here's why this benefits you") actually generates attention and energy. It's a PR moment. It's a reason to reach out to every customer and tell them something exciting.
The real risk isn't losing equity. It's spending the next ten years with a name that creates friction instead of compounding advantage.
That said, there are times when a rename doesn't make sense. If you're a household name with decades of recognition, the calculus is different. Coca-Cola isn't renaming.
But if you're a startup or growth-stage company and your name is holding you back? Make the change. Do it now, while it's cheap and easy.
Signs your name might need to change:
- Nobody can spell it or pronounce it correctly
- You constantly have to explain what it means
- It describes what you did, not what you've become
- The domain situation is a disaster
- People confuse you with a competitor
- You cringe a little when you say it out loud
FAQ
How important is the .com domain?
Less than it was ten years ago, but still important for B2B companies. Your customers will type yourname.com instinctively. If you can't get the exact .com, consider .co, .io, or adding a word (get[name].com, [name]hq.com). But don't let domain availability kill a great name. Domains can be acquired. A mediocre name is forever.
Should the name describe what we do?
Almost always no. Descriptive names feel safe but they box you in and make you invisible. "General Electric" worked because they had a century of dominance, not because the name was good. For a startup, a descriptive name is a missed opportunity.
How long should the name be?
One to three syllables is the sweet spot. Two syllables is ideal. Every additional syllable reduces memorability. If people naturally shorten your name in conversation, it's probably too long.
What about made-up words?
Some of the best brand names in history are invented: Kodak, Xerox, Spotify, Swiffer. The key is that they need to feel like they could be real words. They should follow the phonetic rules of English (or your target language). "Xzqft" is invented but it's not a name. "Spotify" is invented and it feels like it belongs.
Should I test the name with focus groups?
Test it, but not with focus groups in the traditional sense. Focus groups optimize for consensus, which pushes you toward the invisible zone. Instead, share names one-on-one with 10 to 15 people. Ask "what does this make you feel?" not "do you like this?" Track which names generate the strongest reactions, positive or negative.
We're a B2B company. Does naming matter as much for us?
Yes. Maybe more. B2B buyers are humans. They talk about you in meetings, recommend you to colleagues, Google you before demos. A distinctive, memorable name makes every touchpoint easier. The idea that B2B can afford to be boring is one of the most expensive myths in business.
What if my co-founder and I disagree on the name?
Good. Disagreement means you're in the tension zone. Don't resolve it by compromising toward something safe. Instead, test both options with people outside the company. Let the data (reactions, not opinions) break the tie.
Can I name the company after myself?
You can, but think carefully about why. Founder names work for certain categories (law firms, consulting, luxury brands) where personal reputation is the product. For tech, SaaS, or anything that might eventually be bigger than you, a standalone name gives you more flexibility.
The Bottom Line
Your company name is a long-term asset. It compounds daily. It's worth spending a weekend (or a month, or hiring someone) to get it right.
Don't settle for safe. Don't describe what you do. Don't optimize for consensus.
Find the name that has energy. The one that's surprisingly familiar. The one that half the room loves and half the room questions. That tension is a feature, not a bug.
And if your current name isn't working? Change it. The best time was before you launched. The second best time is now.
Lunour's Naming Skill
Download Skill
Here's how to get started with the Lunour Naming Skill:
How to load the skill into Claude
- Go to Claude.ai and open Settings
- Navigate to "Skills" and click "Add Skill"
- Upload the lunour-naming.skill file you downloaded
- The skill will now be available in any conversation
Start with context, not a request. Instead of saying "give me name ideas for my startup," open with a brief about your company. The skill is designed to run a brand discovery phase first, so the more you front-load, the better the names. A strong opener looks like:
"I'm building a [what it does] for [who it's for]. The feeling I want people to have is [emotion]. Help me name it."
Answer the discovery questions fully. When Claude asks about your brand personality, target customer, and names you love or hate, don't rush past these. Those answers are what separate generic name lists from names that actually fit. The "names I hate and why" question is especially powerful.
Ask for names by category. If you want to explore a specific style, say so: "give me evocative names," "give me invented words only," or "show me names that could become verbs." The skill has a full taxonomy of 10 naming types it can work through.
Use the evaluation framework. Once you have candidates, ask Claude to score your top 3 to 5 against the 7 criteria (memorable, spellable, ownable, etc.). This turns a gut-feel decision into a structured one you can defend to co-founders or investors.
Go all the way to finalist development. Most people stop at the name list. The skill can go further, writing a brand origin story for each finalist, suggesting taglines, mapping domain alternatives, and flagging international risks. Ask for it explicitly: "Now do a full finalist analysis on these three."
The single best prompt to kick it off:
"Act as a brand naming strategist using the Lunour naming process. Ask me your discovery questions before generating any names."
That one line activates the full four-phase process instead of jumping straight to a name dump.
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If you got this far, congrats. You probably learned more about the naming process than you every imagined.
If you're considering the next chapter of your company, and your name is a pain point, I'd be happy to talk through strategies. Hit me up on DM.
*Scott Bair is the co-founder of *Lunour*, a B2B branding and design agency. He spends an unreasonable amount of time thinking branding.*
