|
There are four sections of Naming Resources: Naming aids created by Signature Strategies, access to naming software,
access to literature sold by Amazon.com, and links to name-related websites. If you’re going to name your own brand, you’ll need all the help you can get!
Naming Aids
These aids, created by
Signature Strategies, may prove helpful in developing or selecting a name. They are all free but probably worth a whole lot more.
- A list of over 450 business “last names” from which you can choose a descriptive noun to go with your modifying ”first name”, i.e., 1) person’s name, 2) a generic product or service designation, 3) an activity, etc. Pairings might look like: Martin’s Mart, The Sign Works, Jogging Junction. Click here for the FREE list.
- Name classifications and their usage by INC Magazine’s 500 Fastest Growing Companies. Defines name types and measures their popularity with this important group of new, leading-edge businesses. Click here for our survey results.
- A name evaluation matrix you can use to score a series of possible brand names. Use this aid within your organization to narrow a list of name candidates that meet your requirements for a company, product or service name. Click here to access this aid.
- 1-to-1 name comparison chart allows you to compare just two names at a time, and compare each to as many as 16. This chart differs from the Name Evaluation Matrix because 1-to-1 is simply a subjective appraisal of one name against another with no relationship to objectives. This chart can also be used to evaluate and select logos. Click here to access this FREE evaluation aid.
Naming Software
Often, the computer can
generate, with the proper software, strings of words that may or may not be appropriate names. The software described briefly here was been very helpful because there’s some focus you provide. You still
get lots of candidates, but they’re usually appropriate.
- NamePro from The NameStormers. This powerful software includes seven databases and four basic approaches to name creation: searching existing lists by connotation or product category, combining name parts, letter permutations, and “exploding” names. You get relevant name candidates by the dozens. Click to go to The NameStormers website.
- Idea Fisher. This is more than naming software, it generates word and phrase associations around words and concepts you choose. It is very comprehensive, and not only produces names and name parts, it often stretches your ideas beyond the ordinary. They have a module just for name development that helps you think about and address the many elements and concerns that go into a well-fashioned name. Click to go to the Idea Fisher website.
- Headliner from The NameStormers. Intended to help develop headlines and tag lines, Headliner be very valuable in name development as well. It allows you to substitute a like-sounding word for one used in common phrases to give them a twist. An idea stretcher as well as a name generator. Click to go to The NameStormers.
- NameBuilder Pro from Macroworks. Similar in intent to NamePro, NameBuilder contains several databases of words assembled by industry or characteristic as well as the ability to apply prefixes and suffixes to root words you select or introduce. Click to go to Macroworks.
Books Helpful in Naming
The first three
books are reference books that we’ve found to be of universal usefulness for naming. We have a library of over 30 specialized dictionaries, thesauruses and language-related volumes, but these three top
the list. The other books are more “how-to” in nature. Click on any book’s title and you will arrive at that book’s location within Amazon.com.
- Stephan Glazier, Word Menu.
(Random House, 1992) “The Ultimate One-Volume Resource for Finding and Using Words...a Merging of Dictionary, Thesaurus, Glossaries, Reverse Dictionary, and Almanac”. An old reliable which we use for
almost every name development project.
- Princeton Language Institute, Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus, in
Dictionary Form (Dell Publishing, 1993) A very comprehensive,
alphabetically organized thesaurus with a special cross-referenced index of concepts. This broadens your choice when you’re looking for names that connote concepts instead of just word substitutions.
- Mary De Vries, The Complete Word Book: The Practical Guide to Anything and Everything You Need to Know About Words and How to Use Them (Prentice Hall, 1991) That title seems to say it all. There are helpful lists of positive words, foreign phrases, prefixes and suffixes and several more particularly helpful in naming.
- Fred Barrett, Names That Sell: How to Create Great Names for Your
Company, Product or Service (Alder Press, 1995) This helpful book helps the novice past several pitfalls in the naming process, plus it has a major section listing words associated with specific objects or events (sports, trees, etc.)
- Henri Charmasson, The Name Is the Game: How to Name a Company or
Product (Dow Jones-Irwin, 1988) Though 14 years old, there’s solid and comprehensive guidence here.
Naming Websites
There are certainly more
than these sites relating to naming, but most of them sell a naming service, just as we do. We’d just as soon you use Signature Strategies to generate a customer-stopping name, so we won’t introduce you
to our competitors.
- U.S. Patent & Trademark Office provides several online services you can use: a search of registered and pending trademarks, and a way to file for a trademark. The address is uspto.gov/web/menu/tmebc/index/html
- NameWave by The NameStormers is an online version of NamePro that allows you to generate up to 200 name
candidates in a focused category for just $15.00. www.namestormers.com
- iTools provides access to multiple on-line dictionaries, thesauruses and translators. The address: www.itools.com/lang/
- Lexical FreeNet lets you find elusive but related words that rhyme or are synonyms. Find this site at www.lexfn.com
- Naming Online by WriteExpress generates name candidates online on a simple-to-use interface at no cost. It’s at www.naming.net
- WordLab has several word combining generators with little focus or direction so relevancy is a problem. Their “Advanced Search” feature is much more useful. Go to www.wordlab.com
- Go Create provides several limited opportunities to generate out-of-the-box names. Their Name Spring, Word Gizmo and Name Prompts help spark ideas and directions for further thinking. gocreate.com/tools (no www prefix)
- Go Create - Head Shed is a directory of websites devoted to creativity and the creative process, including tools and techniques that are relevant to naming. gocreate.com/headshed/
 |
|
