How to

Generate Names
A practical guide for
branding professionals
 About name
Contents_ generation
There is no “right way” to generate name ideas. The
aim of this booklet, therefore, is not to prescribe a
single, best way of coming up with names but to
1. About name generation share common practices and generally accepted
2. The naming process rules of thumb. As in any other domain, norm-
breaking experimentation could lead to innovative new
3. Keeping a master list approaches—or backfire spectacularly. By shedding
4. Ideation ground rules light on how many professional namers tackle name
generation today, the recommendations in this guide
5. Basic name generation
may strengthen your process, augment your name
6. Diving deeper generation “tool box,” or open your eyes to different
ways of thinking about naming.
7. Ten techniques to try
8. About this guide
H O W T O G E N E R AT E N A M E S

2 3
 There is no “right
way” to generate
name ideas but there
are best practices and
rules of thumb.

4 5
 The naming
process
While individual agencies and consultants may take
slightly different approaches to naming, most experts
agree on a general process. These steps can differ
from project to project, but name generation usually
starts as soon as a naming brief has been approved. (To
learn more about the naming brief, download our guide,
How to Write a Naming Brief.) Name generation can be
conducted by individual namers, in a group setting, or
some combination of the two. Ideally, multiple namers
conduct multiple rounds of name generation to maximize
the depth of exploration and diversity of ideas.
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1. Brief
A short document—a naming brief—is created, outlining
the parameters for the name to be developed.
2. Generate
Based on the brief, one or more namers create multiple
name ideas (typically hundreds, if not thousands) and keep
track of them in a master list.
3. Shortlist
Namers select a subset of name ideas in the master list to
move forward through the rest of the process.
4. Screen
Shortlisted names are subjected to linguistic/cultural
disaster checks and/or preliminary trademark screening.
Only the less “risky” name ideas continue in the process.
5. Present
Name ideas are presented to decision-makers, who select
a smaller group of ideas to go through full legal searches.
6. Legal
An experienced trademark attorney performs a full legal
search—a deeper assessment of legal availability and/or
risk associated with each name idea.
7. Select
Decision-makers choose the final name from those ideas
with an acceptably low level of risk.
 Keeping a
master list
Throughout a naming project, namers keep a master
list of every idea generated. Whether you start out with
a pad and pen, a whiteboard, or a series of emails or
texts, make sure to collect every idea (not just your
favorites) in one place. Many namers record name ideas
in spreadsheet software (e.g., Excel or Google Sheets),
which makes it easy to sort, de-duplicate, and jot down
notes associated with each name.

To set up a master list spreadsheet, create headers for

simple sorting and filtering. Label one column “Name
ideas” and another “Notes” (e.g., origin or rationale for
the name idea). If multiple people are generating names,
track who suggested each idea in a “Namer” column.
In projects where the name will likely be paired with
another brand name or word—for example, a master
brand name or a descriptor—create a column to test
out these pairings without having to type them over
and over again. (You can create and drag a formula to
automatically combine relevant words.)

To download a free master list spreadsheet template

with sortable columns, example content, and built-in
conditional formatting to highlight duplicate entries,
visit howbrandsarebuilt.com/free and select
“Naming spreadsheet.”

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 Ideation ground
rules Four rules of brainstorming

The following ideas are neither original nor specific

to name generation. They serve, however, as useful
guideposts for any creative endeavor. Go for large
No criticism quantities
of ideas of ideas
Five steps to coming up with new ideas

1. Gather raw material

Collect and organize any relevant information you can get
your hands on.

2. Digest the material Build on each Encourage wild and

Read, observe, think about, and analyze what you’ve other’s ideas exaggerated ideas
collected. Where possible, group things and make
connections between groups. Try ideas on for size.

3. Unconscious processing
Step away from the information for some period of time
and try to stop thinking about the problem. Whether you’re working in a group or individually,
these rules can help you get the most out of name
4. Wait for the “a-ha moment”
generation. The second rule, Go for large quantities,
Often, ideas will “bubble up” from the subconscious. Be
is especially relevant to naming: at first, quantity is the
ready to capture them (e.g., by writing them down or
recording them). main goal (a professional namer will shoot for at least
100 ideas per “round”). As Amanda Peterson, former
5. Introduce the idea to reality
Head of Naming at Google, put it, you’re looking for
Try implementing the idea. See what works and what
“quality through quantity.”
doesn’t. Revise, refine, and fine tune accordingly.

From A Technique for Producing Ideas, by James Webb Young Created by Alex Osborn, the “O” in BBDO, and published in his book,
Applied Imagination

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 A professional namer
will shoot for at least
100 ideas per “round”
of name generation.

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 Basic name
generation
Start with the brief. Whether it’s a formal document, an Eventually, you may find you’ve opened up a new
email thread, or notes from a conversation, the brief conceptual territory, or new way of looking at a territory
should provide multiple “jumping off points” for name from the brief. For example, while exploring “light as a
generation. Read it once, then go through it again, noting feather,” you might create the following:
any key concepts for the name to convey or words that
could work as names or parts of names. Light Grams Bird Plane
Feather Hover Wing Paper Plane
Capture your initial ideas, organizing them by conceptual Air Float Hummingbird Superman
territories. For a brief suggesting the name should Helium Levitate

convey ideas like “strong” and “light as a feather,” you

could represent each territory as a mind map, cluster of
Looking at “Bird,” “Paper Plane,” and “Superman,” you
sticky notes on the wall, or column in a spreadsheet (use
may feel you’ve opened up a new territory, beyond
a new tab if you’re working in the master list file).
“light as a feather”—call it “things that fly.” To keep your
Once you’ve exhausted ideas pulled straight from the thoughts organized and give yourself space to pursue
brief and any other initial thoughts, start thinking about this territory further, create a new mind map, group
synonyms, metaphors, and other concepts related to of sticky notes, or spreadsheet column, and continue
those in the brief. To expand your thinking, consider adding relevant ideas there:
using resources like a thesaurus or Google Search (see
the list of naming resources on page 20) to expand your Bird Superman Fly Boomerang
Plane Spaceship Zeppelin Bullet
thinking. Continue adding ideas, keeping them organized
around conceptual territories.

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 Here are five other, simple, “low-hanging fruit”
techniques for name generation, each demonstrated
using the same fictional brief in the examples above:
Diving deeper
Four hours, minimum—that’s how long many namers say
1. Mix and match words or word parts to create they need to focus on name generation before they’ve
novel compound names. “cracked” an assignment. It may take that long to get
Manually or with an online tool, try every possible beyond the most obvious ideas and begin to dive deeper.
combination of short words you’ve generated to create
compound name ideas: In his blog post, “How to Name: Explore Concepts, not
Lightwing Airspace FeatherFly Superfloat
Words,” Anthony Shore of Operative Words describes
“treating name exploration as an actual expedition.” He
starts his expeditions with a concept from the brief and
2. Combine with common words and word parts.
“ladders up” to parent concepts (hypernyms), “drills
Fuse ideas from your list with common prefixes, suffixes, down” to child concepts (hyponyms) and “crawls across”
Greek/Latin roots, or words:
to coordinate or sibling terms. For example, starting with
Aviair Flyology Floatable Featherwise
“strength”, Anthony ladders up to “attribute,” across to
“personality,” and down to “steadfast”.
3. “Lightly” coin by altering spelling or adding,
removing, or changing letters. Diving deeper can also mean taking the time to
conduct research on a relevant topic. Sticking with
Zeppelino Oomerang Zuperman Lyte
“strength” as the concept to explore, a namer might
decide to explore “armor” as a metaphor for strength,
4. Explore other languages.
leading to an in-depth investigation of the history of
Use dictionaries or translation software to find interesting,
armor, types of armor, and materials used in armor—
relevant non-English words:
research that could uncover ideas like “ironclad,”
Volar Avion Uku Umoya
“bulletproof,” and “titanium”.

5. Look for rhymes or other forms of wordplay. To find these “deeper” ideas, namers often seek out lists,
Use a rhyming dictionary (online or off) and other tools to find glossaries, technical documents, and encyclopedia (or
opportunities to rhyme, alliterate, create portmanteaus, or Wikipedia) entries. It’s also why namers like Amanda
employ other forms of wordplay: Peterson, have shelves lined with esoteric textbooks and
SkyFly Bellfeather FloatFlex SwiftLift reference books like The Dictionary of Imaginary Places,
The Dictionary of the Occult, and Brewer’s Dictionary of
Phrase and Fable.
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 Ten techniques
to try
A few more ways to ensure you’ve left no stone unturned:
1. Idioms, quotes, and song lyrics
Look up text that contains words or concepts related to
the brief.
2. Movies/shows, books, and podcasts
Find media related to the topic at hand (at least loosely).
Naming a tech startup? Good excuse to watch “Silicon
Valley.”
3. Misdirection
Pretend you’re naming something else. Naming a lightning
fast microprocessor? Try thinking about a running shoe
for sprinters instead.
4. Bad ideas
Come up with a list of the worst possible names for
whatever you’re naming. The bad names may lead to some
good ones.
5. Sprint
Set a timer. See how many ideas you can come up with
in 10 minutes. Then, if you’re up for it, go for another
10 minutes.
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6. Socialize
Meet up with friends. Go out to dinner. Talk to other
people—but not about the project. Be ready to
write something down. (You’ll be generating names
subconsciously.)
7. Exercise
Go for a walk. Get some blood flowing. Distract yourself.
8. Field trip
Get away from your desk. Naming an innovative cloud
storage product? Visit The Container Store for ideas.
9. Sleep on it
Keep a pen and paper on your bedside table.
10. Mine old lists
Not your first naming assignment? Check all your old
ideas for anything that matches the brief (and hasn’t been
used elsewhere).
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 Additional About this guide
resources This guide was written by Rob Meyerson, creator of
How Brands Are Built, a podcast and blog for branding
Book or website professionals. Ideas and insights from the following
Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable naming professionals—all of whom Rob has interviewed
Crabb’s English Synonyms for the podcast—may have been incorporated into
The Describer’s Dictionary the guide:
Dictionary.com
The Dictionary of Imaginary Places • Eli Altman, A Hundred Monkeys
The Dictionary of the Occult
• Jonathan Bell, Want Branding
Dictionary of Symbols
• Clive Chafer, Namebrand (and freelance namer)
Online Etymology Dictionary
Forvo.com
• Shannon DeJong, House of Who
Getty Images • Scott Milano, Tanj
Google Images • Amanda Peterson, Milwaukee Art Museum
MRC Psycholinguistic Database (formerly Head of Naming at Google)
OEDonline • Steven Price, Tessera Trademark Screening
Official Scrabble Players Dictionary
• Anthony Shore, Operative Words
OneAcross
• Laurel Sutton, Sutton Strategy (and co-founder
OneLook
of Catchword)
RhymeZone
The Secret Language of Symbols
To get in touch with any questions or comments, please
Sketch Engine
visit howbrandsarebuilt.com.
Synonym.com
Visual Thesaurus
Wikipedia
WordNet
Wordnik

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Version 1.0, June 2019

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