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How To Name Your Magazine or Newspaper
We’re always told not to judge a book by its cover. But unfortunately for magazine and newspaper owners, that’s exactly what readers do!
The brand name is the first thing that prospective customers are drawn to in this industry, so it’s vital to get it right. That’s why our marketing specialists have put together a comprehensive guide to naming your new magazine or newspaper business.
Using the Magazine Name Generator, you’ll be able to craft a unique name that compels readers to pick your publication off the shelf. We suggest trying the Newspaper Name Generator now before continuing with the full tutorial below.
You’ll also find sector-specific tips for coming up with a name, a competitor analysis of other well-known brands, and a step-by-step guide to walk you through the entire naming process.
20 Magazine & Newspaper Name Ideas
To ease you in, we’ve compiled 20 of our favorite names from the Magazine Name Generator. Remember to try the Newspaper Name Generator out for yourself and see what names you can come up with!
- Attire Talk
- Social Synergy
- The Inspector
- Travelology
- Everyday Celebrity
- Corporate Crunch
- Gamers’ Corner
- Daily Zeitgeist
- Garden Party
- Culturopedia
- Decorators’ Digest
- Chart-Toppers
- FameGame
- New Currents
- Fauna & Friends
- Epicenter
- What’s New
- Artscapes
- Fitness Forum
- Auntie’s Recipes
20 More Magazine & Newspaper Name Ideas
- Fashion Focus
- The Ruby Bulletin
- City Scoop
- Disculture
- Soul Talk
- Eco Observer
- Fan Official
- Verified
- Agent Analysis
- Inside Authority
- Data Loop
- Cover Source
- Backstream
- Distillate
- Indigo Leaf
- Huckle & Elm
- Arlo & Dusk
- Modern Fount
- Augment
- The Phenom
Best Real-world Magazine & Newspaper Business Names
If you’re struggling with formulating your ideas, it can be helpful to look at some examples of real-world magazines and newspapers. We’ve put together five of the best brands in the industry and explained what makes their names so effective.
The businesses below make up some of the biggest magazines and most widely circulated newspapers in the U.S. Consider which names stand out to you and take some ideas forward to use with the Magazine Name Generator.
USA Today
USA Today is a middle-market daily newspaper with one of the biggest circulations in the U.S. The name is aptly unspecific, as the publication covers everything within the realm of ‘general interest’, from the local level to the national. Most strikingly, though, the name is very concise and it rhymes. These both work to create a title that is memorable and, thus, highly brandable.
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is another major player in the daily newspaper trade and boasts an international readership. It focuses on the topic of business, as evoked by the famed Wall Street locale used in the name which also sits just a few miles away from the paper’s head office. This proximity suggests a level of deep insight into the business world, which is furthered with the use of the scientifically-inflected word ‘journal’.
Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair is a successful monthly magazine covering pop culture and current affairs. The name first appeared in a 1678 book—originally described as “a place or scene of ostentation or empty, idle amusement and frivolity”—and has since snowballed with new meaning. Steeped with cultural references, it’s a punchy name that expertly conveys the publication’s main areas of entertainment and celebrity.
WIRED
WIRED is a popular monthly magazine that explores technology and culture. This is a concise name that, again, captures the publication’s vision; the imagery of a network of wires reflects how the main topic of technology is connected to and actively changes other areas of society. In addition, the capitalization of the name makes it all the more striking for readers.
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a monthly music, pop culture, and politics magazine with a wide readership. The name originally drew on three musical reference points: the Muddy Waters song, the British rock group, and the Bob Dylan rock and roll hit. This was a great way to brand the magazine when it was first issued and primarily focused on rock music. As the name has grown, the publication has broadened its coverage to new areas.
Step-by-step Guide to Naming your Magazine or Newspaper Business
Even if your head is brimming with ideas, it can be difficult to get these down on paper and mold them into an effective magazine or newspaper business name.
Don’t worry—we’ve broken the entire naming process down into 6 simple steps for you to follow. With some help from the Newspaper Name Generator, you’ll be able to create a name that truly reflects your publication and appeals to your target audience.
1. Envisage Content
The first step is to consider what you’re going to cover in your magazine or newspaper, and how you’re going to do it.
There may be a gap in the market that you try to fill. Or, you may have a specialist area of expertise that you can package into great content.
To get you thinking, here are three questions to ask yourself about your new venture:
- What will the content be? It could be news, politics, culture, entertainment, or all of these things!
- How regularly will the content be covered? It could be daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly.
- What platforms will the content be placed on? It could be print, digital, or a mix of both.
Your answers will help to inform your business name.
2. Consider Target Audience
Most newspapers and magazines market themselves to specific groups within society. Even the most mainstream publications will have a typical profile of readers that they rely on for a large chunk of their revenue.
Media audiences are usually segmented in two ways:
- Demographics; social class, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation
- Psychographics; personalities, lifestyles, values, interests
Based on some of the above categories, try to picture your target consumer. This is important, as you need to select a name that speaks their language.
3. Conceptualize Keywords
Now that you have a good idea of your publication’s content strategy and target audience, you can begin to brainstorm keywords that reflect these two areas.
Keywords are specific words that will help to differentiate your magazine or newspaper from competitors and communicate its unique vision. They should be tailored to your content and readership. Let’s consider two examples.
Possible keywords for a fashion magazine appealing to men:
- Suave
- Tailor
- Couture
Possible keywords for a business newspaper appealing to entrepreneurial people:
- Enterprise
- Venture
- Hustle
Aim to shortlist up to five keywords for your business.
4. Use the Newspaper & Magazine Names Generator
Next, insert your shortlisted keywords one by one into the Magazine & Newspaper Names Generator. For each keyword, select the two most eye-catching names.
The Magazine Name Generator has the filter options on the left of the screen that allows you to view results based on the number of words, rhyming features, and character length.
You should now have 10 names to take forward to the next stage.
5. Conduct Market Research
At this point, you need to put your 10 shortlisted names from the Newspaper Name Generator to the test.
Get in touch with clients, colleagues, and friends and ask them to complete a short name testing survey. Include some of the following open-ended questions:
- What is your immediate reaction to this name?
- What content would you expect from this magazine/newspaper?
- Would you pick this magazine/newspaper off a shelf?
Collate your results and select the best performing name.
6. Check Availability
Finally, check the availability of your selected name. There are three stages to this process:
- Check that the name hasn’t already been trademarked by another business
- Check that the name is available as a web domain (the Magazine Name Generator has a handy feature that allows you to do this when browsing the results)
- Check that the name is available on the major social media platforms
You can use business name search and our domain name generator to ensure you can use the name you picked.
Your name must satisfy these three areas.
Whilst the first step is a legal requirement, the second and third are also important as they will enable you to grow your digital presence. This is now key for the development of any contemporary publication.
7. Expand Your Magazine
You need to move your magazine to digital media if you want to reach more readers. We suggest starting a podcast, creating a blog, and launching a mobile app.
We have name generators that can help you find interesting podcast name ideas, blog names, vlog names, and mobile app business name ideas for your magazine.
3 Tips for Creating Unique Magazine Name Ideas
Here are the three best tips from our branding experts to keep in mind when developing your magazine or newspaper business name. Some of these can be implemented using the Magazine Name Generator.
1. Express Yourself
What we mean here is to give a glimpse of your content with the title. Your name should signal to readers what they will find inside.
This can be achieved through your choice of keywords. They could be direct, implicit, or draw on cultural references (such as with Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair) that will help readers to connect the dots.
2. Make it Brandable
Remember that your name is something you’ll grow with for years to come. To amplify the reach of your publication, you need a brandable name.
Don’t overthink it—the most brandable names are always short and simple. Impose character limits on your name with the Magazine Name Generator to view names that are more concise and memorable.
You can also try our brand name generator to find brandable name ideas.
3. Think Visually
If you’re going to run a print newspaper or magazine, you need to think about how your name is going to appear on the page. Put the semantics aside for a second and consider what it looks like aesthetically.
For example, you might consider words that have a symmetrical visual effect. The use of italicization or capitalization (as in the case of WIRED) can also help your name to catch the eye.
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