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How To Generate Names - HBAB - v1 PDF
How To Generate Names - HBAB - v1 PDF
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 1. Brief
A short document—a naming brief—is created, outlining
the parameters for the name to be developed.
While individual agencies and consultants may take
slightly different approaches to naming, most experts 2. Generate
agree on a general process. These steps can differ Based on the brief, one or more namers create multiple
from project to project, but name generation usually name ideas (typically hundreds, if not thousands) and keep
starts as soon as a naming brief has been approved. (To track of them in a master list.
learn more about the naming brief, download our guide, 3. Shortlist
How to Write a Naming Brief.) Name generation can be
Namers select a subset of name ideas in the master list to
conducted by individual namers, in a group setting, or move forward through the rest of the process.
some combination of the two. Ideally, multiple namers
conduct multiple rounds of name generation to maximize 4. Screen
the depth of exploration and diversity of ideas. 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.
6 7
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.
8 9
Ideation ground
rules Four rules of brainstorming
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
10 11
A professional namer
will shoot for at least
100 ideas per “round”
of name generation.
12 13
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
14 15
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.
16 17
Ten techniques
to try
A few more ways to ensure you’ve left no stone unturned:
18 19
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
20 21
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