How To Name Your Product
The ultimate product naming guide by branding specialists and business experts. Learn top tips for how to create an effective product name and find name inspiration with 20+ unique product name ideas.
Video Guide for Creating Product Name
20 Unique Product Name Ideas
In the digital age creating a unique, and effective product name can be extremely difficult. You’re not only competing and naming your product at a local level. Instead, customers are global and stand out from the rest. Thus, the perfect product name is essential. With that in mind, here are 20 unique product name ideas we created using the Product name generator.
- Orbital Keys
- XPress Bottle
- InstaPress
- Uno Wear
- Allure Kit
- Swish Wallet
- Onovo Supply
- Sharpy Knife
- Towlee
- Rhino Case
- Mono
- Handy Mop
- ONEset
- Vortex Bottle
- Terra Shsave
- Gymr Kit
- Villafy
- Stickem
- Snap It
- Scruncho
You can also use other name generators we have on our website for other parts of your business. Our Instagram name generator can help you find the right Instagram handle, and our mobile app business name generator can help you find names for an app if you plan on launching one.
Complete Guide to Naming Your Product
Finding the perfect product name can feel like a tedious task, and a catchy product name is not easy to come by. To add to the struggle, many of the best product names are already taken.
So, what are your options? In this guide, we’ll teach you industry tips and techniques to help create a unique, creative, and effective product name on your own.
What Makes a Great Product Name
As consumers or users, it’s easy to underestimate the strategy and planning that went on to name a great product. The best names are strategic and purposeful, both in brand ability and marketing. Ask any founder and they’ll tell you that name they ended up with was quite far from their first iteration for the product.
But how did they reach that final perfect name? While there are a vast amount of considerations, here are the three most important factors when it comes to developing product name ideas:
1. Is the name SMART?
Short, Memorable, Attractive, Relevant, and Trustworthy
While we could dedicate an entire article to a SMART name, in short, your product name should check all of these boxes. These SMART questions should be the starting point when developing your product name ideas.
2. It must be extremely brandable
All niche markets are extremely competitive, top businesses today must be an overachiever when it comes to branding. Keep in mind that your product name has the potential to make or break your branding and marketing efforts. You can play with our brand name generator if you want brandable product names.
3. It can’t be overly specific
One pitfall of new business owners is to name their products based on keywords or SEO viability, while this is good it can pigeonhole your product or make it less brandable. Think about the big picture for your brand.
Checking for Trademarks and How to Register a Product
If you have fallen upon a name or have collated a product name list, then it might be a good idea to check for trademarks. Trademarks are words or symbols that are identified as being the intellectual property of a registered entity. In other words, someone owns it!
If your desired product name is already trademarked, then you might have to go back to our product name generator and find another you like. However, if the name is not trademarked you can go ahead and trademark it for your own business.
Trademark costs vary across countries, however, it can cost anywhere between $150-$400 excluding renewal costs (that’s right, you have to renew your trademark). This cost is worth it if you are serious about pursuing pushing your product to the market.
You can register your trademark with your local trademark registrant.
The Difference Between a Business Name and a Product Name
You might be thinking, ‘what is the difference between a product name and a business name?’ and you wouldn’t be alone there.
Product names and business names can often get mixed up. After all, many reputable products hold the same name as the businesses that own them. This is very common for SaaS (Software as a Service) businesses.
- MailChimp- Email Software
- Uber- Ridesharing
- Spotify- Music Streaming
- Upwork- Freelancing Platform
- Facebook- Social Networking
- Dropbox- Cloud Data Management}
This is perhaps because these are their flagship products.
If the product you are developing a name for is going to be your flagship product, then you can most definitely have a name that is the same as your business.
However, if your business has multiple products, you don’t want to confuse your buyers with similar names.
This conversation is all about branding. Branding is all about identity. So ask yourself this question,
‘How do I want my business and product/s to be identified?’
Once you can answer this you will be able to decide on what relationship your business name should have with your product name.
We generally recommend our company name generator for business names.
Changing a Product Name
Brands are crucial to the success of a business or product. As mentioned earlier, they help to identify the business or product they represent.
So, when the conversation turns to change a product name, you must proceed strategically.
Here are a few questions you need to ask yourself before you stray too far down the renaming rabbit hole.
1. How much value does the current name hold for my product?
2. What value could be added by changing my product’s name?
If your product’s name holds significant value, then renaming your product may not be the wisest decision. Halt all naming exercises and keep what research you have already undertaken for another project. On the other hand, if you agree that changing the product’s name would bring greater value, then you should most definitely continue this exercise.
- Blue Ribbon Sports was founded by Bill Bowerman in 1964. After years in the sports retail market, Blue Ribbon Sports released the Nike shoe. In 1978, Blue Ribbon Sports changed its name to Nike.
Try to find areas of leverage within your business that you can utilize from a naming perspective. For instance, in the case study above, Blue Ribbon Sports renamed their business, Nike. No doubt, this was because of the success of the Nike shoe.
Are there areas that you can leverage for renaming purposes? What aspects of your business or product do your customers value? Is there an avenue here that you can exploit?
10 Top Tips on How to Name a Product
Now, let’s take a look at a few tips that will help you find the perfect name for your product.
1. Describe the Product
Giving your product a name that describes its use is perhaps the most commonsensical strategy to use when naming a product.
Take Bubble Wrap for example. Bubble Wrap was invented by the Sealed Air Company and is trademarked by them. Bubble Wrap effectively describes its use, for the customer.
The Jobs To Be Done marketing theory was developed by Clayton Christensen in 2003. This theory effectively describes what job a product helps the customer achieve (A lawnmower keeps my garden in good order).
In using this theory, product owners can understand what exact value their products provide their customers. P.S it is usually far more specific than what product owners first think.
Using this strategy can create a strong affiliation between the product and what job that product does for the customer.
2. Conduct a Competitor Analysis
Understanding your market is perhaps one of the most fundamental elements to developing a successful product.Not only does a competitor analysis give you insight into how competitive the market is but it also shows you how your competitors have placed themselves. This includes how they have named their products!For example, say you have a new laptop you are wanting to release. You would know from the competitor analysis that your top-level competitors are the Macbook Air, Microsoft Surface Pro, Acer Swift, and the Dell XPS.
They are each named differently, though they hold some similarities.
Air and Surface both describe earth elements appealing to nature.
Swift is another word for speed which is important in a computer’s overall performance.
XPS is an abbreviation and appeals to the natural naming convention of technology.
The question is, how can you make your name stand out from these?
A common marketing strategy is to ‘zig whilst others are zagging’. In other words, what are your competitors all doing? Perhaps you should do the opposite?
3. Consider Your Target Market
Placing yourself in the shoes of your target market is critical to the ongoing success of your product.Consider this,
What does your target market want?
How do you want them to perceive your brand?
The insight you can glean from your target market will be useful to pinpointing a name for your product.
4. Create Product Name List or Brainstorm
A great way of clearing your mind of all your ideas is by dumping them onto a list or into a brainstorm.Both lists and brainstorms are very helpful when trying to consider all of your options.
By doing this you will bring much-needed clarity to your mind as you try to hone in on a creative product name.
Creativity is key!
5. Make it Easy to Pronounce
Ease of pronunciation should always be a goal for anyone trying to find a catchy product name.Try to keep the name within 15 characters. Any longer than 15 and you risk customers not being able to remember (or pronounce) your name.
Psychologists suggest that our short-term memory groups information together in what is called chunks.
There are differing opinions around how many pieces of information are the optimally sized chunk for our short-term memory, but some psychologists suggest that 4 is a reasonable number.}
Additionally, don’t make your name too distinct. Whilst you want to stand out, you don’t want your customers misunderstanding your creativity for outlandishness.
6. Use a Verb
Using verbs is a great way to make your name unique and help your customers identify your product.You might use a word such as ‘bounce’ or ‘see’ in front or behind your chosen product name.
If you’re lucky, your name might turn into a verb!
Some examples of names turning into verbs are,
Google, Facetime, Rollerblade, Instagram, Photoshop, Airbnb, Dropbox, Uber, Youtube.
7. Combine Multiple Words
This is a classic. How many product names can you think of that combine multiple words? The idea here is to create a name that is far more creative and memorable than a single word.
Using this strategy can also allow you to bring more relevance to the name. There may be a term that you like but bears no resemblance to the use of the product. Combining it with a second word may solve this issue.
8. Use a Prefix and or Suffix
A prefix is a group of letters placed before the actual term. Similarly, a suffix is a group of letters attached to the end of a term Prefix: un, mis, out, be, co, de Suffix: ing, an, fy, ise, ate, age}
Whilst the iPod doesn’t follow this exact methodology, it is a good example of adding something to a term.
Without the ‘I’ before Apple’s products, they certainly wouldn’t have the same effect on consumers.
9. Use a Person’s Name
Using a person’s name in a product name is particularly effective if you have an audience that resonates with it.For example, the George Foreman Grill is very popular all over the world, but it didn’t start that way. It was first named The Fajita Express and received little fanfare.
It wasn’t until the boxing champion, George Foreman, endorsed the product that the George Foreman grill received a much larger reception.
Interestingly enough, the Jackie Chan Grill was marketed across Asia and was named after a man with a similarly sized reputation.
10. Get Feedback
Feedback is always important when making important business decisions. Imagine releasing a product only to learn that no one likes the product’s name. Gather together some trusted family, friends, and business affiliates to give you feedback on the name you have chosen.
If your chosen name has the majority excited for your product, you know you have a winner.
Don’t forget to check the availability of the name with business name search.
Top Product Names 2022
Here is a list of some trending products in 2022. Analyze the list and see what you can glean from their names. Keep in mind that each product is different, some are digital platforms, others are fashion products.
What can you tell from how different products are named?
TikTok
Social media platform
Zoom
Video conferencing software
EnerPlex
Premium face mask
Lululemon
Activewear
S’well
Reusable water bottle
Pandemic
Boardgame
Vahdam
Premium tea
JawBone UP
Fitness wristband
Product Name Inspiration
If you still need some help finding product name inspiration, try our Product Name Generator. It will give you a quality list of product name examples that you are more than welcome to use for yourself.
Product name inspiration can come from anywhere. It can come whilst reading magazines or books, observing people and other businesses, or even on an afternoon walk.
Wherever you best find inspiration, lean into that space. For now, however, take a look at some unique business names below and see if you can find some inspiration there.
- Enjo
- Fozzby
- Visa
- Gucci
- Fossil
- Android
- Greener
- Yealink
- Chevrolet
- LG
Relevant name generators and articles
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