How to name your book club
Hey, I’m Ashley (Branding Expert) and I’m going to guide you through our four steps to name your book club. Below you’ll find twenty example names I created in this process and next, I’ll show you how you can create your own. To get started try our book club name generator above and then scroll below to find the first step in the naming process.
- Lovers of Mystery
- The Fantasy Realm
- ABC Nerds
- The Book Community
- Literary Classics
- The Lady Club
- The Magic of Words
- Unleash the Fantasy
- Majestic Pages
- Page Turners
- Solid Books
- We Love Books
- The Literary Critics
- Poetry Aficionados
- Prose and More
- For the Love of Books
- Fiction Checklist
- The Phantom Book Club
- The Classics Society
- We Read
Four steps to naming your book club
This four-step process will help you name your book club. In this example, I’m creating a name for a book club that conveys the sheer pleasure of reading a good book. Here’s each step I took in crafting these business names.
#1) Brainstorm your name ideas
Start by brainstorming what words could fit into your business name. In my name ideas, I used words like “Fantasy”, “Majestic”, “Magic” and “Lovers”. You can see that while these words can be related to a book club, they also suggest that you can expect an incredible, satisfying experience from joining this club. Your goal here is to create a list of words or names that come to mind when thinking about your business.
If you’re stuck on words to use, try our business name generator.
Here are my name ideas after brainstorming:
- Lovers of Mystery
- The Fantasy Realm
- ABC Nerds
- The Book Community
- Literary Classics
- The Lady Club
- The Magic of Words
- Unleash the Fantasy
- Majestic Pages
- Page Turners
- Solid Books
- We Love Books
- The Literary Critics
- Poetry Aficionados
- Prose and More
- For the Love of Books
- Fiction Checklist
- The Phantom Book Club
- The Classics Society
- We Read
#2) Shortlist your ideas
Once you’ve developed a list of possible names, do an analysis of your ideas. Remove any names that could be hard to remember, spell or speak aloud. Keep names that are brandable, sound great, are memorable, and communicate your brand values, product, or service to your target audience.
Here’s a quick checklist you can run your ideas through to help shorten your list of names:
- Is the name simple and easy to remember?
- Is the name easy to read and say aloud?
- Is the name different from competitors?
- Does the name convey a relevant meaning?
- Does the name avoid overused words or cliches?
My Shortlist:
- The Magic of Words
- Unleash the Fantasy
- Prose and More
- For the Love of Books
Removed Ideas:
- Lovers of Mystery
- The Fantasy Realm
- ABC Nerds
- The Book Community
- Literary Classics
- The Lady Club
- Majestic Pages
- Page Turners
- Solid Books
- We Love Books
- The Literary Critics
- Poetry Aficionados
- Fiction Checklist
- The Phantom Book Club
- The Classics Society
- We Read
#3) Get some feedback
You’ll now have a list of 3-6 great book club names and you can start to ask potential customers or people working in the industry for feedback (your target audience). Avoid feedback from family and friends, are more likely to praise all your ideas and they aren’t your customer.
Be sure to ask questions like:
- What first comes to mind when you first hear the name?
- How would you spell it?
With you’re customer feedback you can now ask yourself is the name still relevant? and did it represent your business how you intended?
My customer feedback:
The Magic of Words
This name lets us imagine the way that a good book club can help to transport us to a different time and place.
Unleash the Fantasy
This name conveys the power that books have in showing us a fictional world that we enjoy dipping into in order to escape from the daily routine.
Prose and More
This name suggests that the book club offers great reading opportunities but also something else besides this, perhaps friendship and social events are possible.
For the Love of Books
This is name lets us how good books can bring people together and cause them to get more fun out of life.
#4) Check It’s available
At this point, it’s good to have at least three great book club names on your list, in case any of your names are already taken. You can do a quick Business Name Search online to find out if you’re name is available within your country/state, also be sure to search if the name is also available for Trademark and Domain name Registration.
Competitor Name Analysis
To help you brainstorm potential business names, let’s take a look at three successful book clubs and break down why and how they’ve chosen to name their business and why it works for them.
The Social Book Club lets us see that this is about more than reading books. It is also about meeting new friends who share your interest in reading.
Silent Book Club has a name that tells us that they are more interested in reading more books than in social chatting, so it is clear right away what kind of reader is most likely to be keen to become a member here.
Our Shared Shelf shows us that the idea here is to enjoy books and share your opinion with others. It is all about sharing out the pleasure of reading with other members who are keen to find out your recommendations.
5 Tips for naming your book club
The ideal business name should be simple, memorable, and convey a meaning all at the same time. Here are my 5 tips to keep in mind when developing your business names.
1. Do a Competitor Analysis
Doing a competitor analysis as your first step will save you a lot of time in the future, knowing what names to avoid and understanding why and how your competitor’s business name words for them will help you in forming your own business names. When analyzing competitors think about:
- What business or product values are they conveying in their business name? How does that work for them?
- Is there a trend in how these businesses are naming themselves? It’s best to avoid sounding like “just another one of those businesses”.
- Who does it best? Why does it work and how can I produce a better name?
2. Focus on Naming your Business not Describing it.
A typical pitfall most businesses run into is describing their business name too literally, using overused book club terms like read, book, or library. A more effective business name should convey to customers your businesses and product values at a deeper level. Try to name your business in a way that has a story behind it.
Let’s take for example a real book club named “The Social Book Club”.
This name immediately lets us understand that there is a strong social element to this club. In fact, by putting the word ‘social’ first they give the impression that this social aspect is possibly even more important than the books.
3. How to make a more memorable name
Creating a memorable business name is the first step in getting into a customer’s mind and is also a task that’s easier said than done. Your business name should aim to stop a customer in their tracks and give extra thought to your product among your wave of competitors. Some tips to create a memorable name would be:
- Use rhythmic pronunciation or alliteration (brilliant books, ready readers)
- Try using a word that wouldn’t be relevant when out of context (mystery – this word immediately conjures up the idea of a rivetting good book)
- Keep it short and simple.
4. Try purchasing a Brandable business name
Brandable business names are names that are non-sensical but read and are pronounced well. They often use letter patterns of Vowel/Consonant/Vowel as these word structures are typically short, catchy, and easy to say and remember. For example, some brandable book club names could be:
- Bookamatic
- Roro Reading
- The Cucu Club
You can find a full list of Brandable business names at Domainify.com
5. Avoid combining words just to create a unique name.
Another mistake business owners typically make is creating bad word combinations when they find out that their business name idea is already taken. For example, John names his business The Mighty Book Club and finds out it’s already taken. Because he’s already decided this is what he’ll name his business he tries to opt for similar-sounding names like MightyBooks, BookMighty, or MightyClub.
You can see how these ideas are a step backward as they are not catchy, easily pronounceable, or memorable. In these situations, we suggest starting from scratch and trying the tips we mentioned previously.
Business Name Ideas
Here’s the ultimate list of related words you could use in your business name. Below is a list of trending, descriptive, and action words that are often related to.
Trending Words
Here are the top trending words used in book club names.
- book
- literature
- fiction
- poetry
- prose
- fantasy
- romance
- genre
- critic
- discussion
- school
- classic
- Shakespeare
- little
- bookworm
- rebel
- scholar
- audio
- mobile
Other Business Name Guides
Related: How to Start a Podcast
Related: Writing Club Name Generator
Related: How To Start A Book Club
Related: How to Start a Book Blog
Words book club often describes
(“book club ______”)
You can use these words to create book club names like ‘The Book Club Nerds’ and ‘Book Club Masterpiece’.
- member
- reader
- literature
- fiction
- non-fiction
- reading
- poetry
- list
- author
- presentation
- discussion
- criticism
- session
- review
- venue
- meeting
- genre
- mentor
- founder
- assignment
How book club is often described
(“______ book club”)
Example book club names using these related descriptive words ‘The Poetry Book Club’ and ‘Shakespearean Book Club’.
- epic
- poetry
- fiction
- non-fiction
- classic
- fantasy
- modern
- female
- kid
- audio
- mobile
- dedicated
- new
- niche
- secret
- nerdy
- happy
- enthusiastic
- school
- student
- local
- urban
- bookstore
- library
Book Club Adjectives
You can use an adjective in your business name to create a business name like ‘Happy Book Club‘ or ‘Advanced Book Club‘.
- advanced
- newbie
- enthusiastic
- professional
- happy
- serious
- critical
- committed
- dedicated
- niche
- public
- open
- trendy
- modern
- urban
- little
- secretive
- expert
- prolific
- leisurely
- monthly
- passionate
Book Club Verbs
You can use a verb in your book club name to create business names like ‘Book Club Reading‘ or ‘Representational Book Club‘.
- read
- present
- play
- recite
- criticise
- review
- comment
- discuss
- challenge
- analyse
- remember
- memorise
- play
- understand
- comprehend
- opine
- debate
- assign
- complete
- scan
- spell
- feel
Combine Words
We’ve taken words from above and from our generator results and combined the words to create new book club names.
- bookun(Book + Fun)
- fantasyel (Fantasy + Novel)
- poetsters (Poetry + Masters)
- literatus
- fictionn (Fiction + Fun)
- monvel (Monthly + Novel)
Book Club in Foreign Languages
Consider using foreign words in your business name to give the impression of an international or exotic brand.
Latin: noun (libro clava)
French: noun (club de lecture)
Italian: noun (club del libro)
Spanish: noun (club del libro, el circulo de lectores)
