How to pick a company name | Hacker News Reader

How to pick a company name

blog.asmartbear.com

85 pointsdchs26 comments

The way we got our name was pretty silly, and it happened in under a minute, so I'll share the story. My co-founder and I build apps, so we decided we should include the word 'app' in our name. I also tend to love company names with animals in them, so I had the idea to append an animal on the end. My co-founder held up our pet rat, and now we are AppRats.

We were initially concerned that people would be turned off by the word 'rat', as they occasionally are when we mention what type of pet we have. But as it turns out, most people really love the name, and they definitely remember us. Furthermore, being 'rats' completely describes our nature, as we are scrappy, extremely resilient, and making the most of the few resources we have.

The lesson we think applies here is that if you build your brand to reflect yourself, do what you do best, and make your customers happy, things generally work out pretty well.

"Rat" also has connotations of obsession, e.g. "gym rat". So an apprat would be one who eats, lives, and breathes apps -- just the kind of image you want to cultivate.

As someone who named my design/development company Beard, Beard & Beard I find this encouraging that non-serious names can still be taken seriously. Although I'm doing fine so far I always wonder if the name is too silly and is turning off potential clients I never hear from. I was in a rush when I was coming up with names but I definitely chose not to go with anything like Something Something Designs or Something Something Design Studio and am happy with that part of it at least.

For the record, I love the idea of a company named Beard, Beard & Beard.

I think it's even better than that. Interesting names show that the company has a creative slant to it. As we start to approach a point where increasing computer speeds are no longer increasing our uses of a computer, we need companies that have the imagination to do things better, not just use better hardware.

I'll quote Scott McNealy, at a recent conference (after he "left" Sun/Oracle). On the screen were the recent investments from the VC firm sponsoring the event. Unprompted, he pointed to the screen and said: "This investment portfolio teaches me one thing: all good names are taken! What happened to my old days. We had, Apple and Sun".

I actually think Smart Bear is a pretty good brand. Think about it for a second, how does your mind respond to the name?

Smart Bear Software implies a lot of things, almost all good. Perhaps a product that is intelligently designed, with a new or alternative approach to problems? Maybe it means you bring thought leadership from an unlikely source? Maybe a wise old bear lumbering down from his cave to solve your problems? Exactly what you do right?

The fact of the matter is that a lot of old guard companies have horrendous brands. SAS or HP mean nothing (by themselves) to the buyer.

> SAS or HP mean nothing (by themselves) to the buyer.

That's a matter of perspective. A big company identified only by initials definitely suggests things to me, they're just not very good things.

Of course, that doesn't matter if they're aiming for megacorporateenterprisemultinationals, since I don't run one of those.

On the other hand, it does matter when I come to buy hardware and software for a small business, or as an individual consumer. Then I want things like good customer service and the flexibility to buy exactly the configuration I want. Unfortunately, these initials-names only suggest to me overpriced, production-line, bloat-ridden products, with unhelpful or inaccessible customer support unless I buy an expensive contract I'll probably never use.

I would far rather buy from vendors who appear to have some level of personal involvement in their companies and who make me feel like a valued individual customer and not just another revenue stream on some bean counter's dashboard at head office. That doesn't mean you have to look amateurish, but I find interesting names like Smart Bear much more attention-grabbing than something that sounds like an infection I don't want to catch!

http://breadpig.com/legend/

Breadpig had just the right amount of professionalism for what we aimed to do. There are some truly awful names out there, but this lesson about a name's "seriousness" is a good one. I think a little humor/self-deprecation goes a long way, especially in an industry where your competition is taking itself too seriously.

Granted, if you're developing a business that relies on a certain degree of trust with a market that is very risk-adverse, some extra discretion would be worth it (e.g., BetterThanYourMattressRetirementBanking.com). But then again...

Reminds me of the story of that company that was called Bradford & Reed, even though the founders had different names, just because it sounded serious and imposing.

Edit: ah, found it, it was Andrew Warner's story.

When talking about names, DuckDuckGo always comes to mind as an example. A good or a bad example? That I am not sure of.

DuckDuckGo is a perfect name.

When I first saw an article about it here, I clicked on it because I was surprised that there's a product with such a silly stupid name.

A few months later I wanted to try the service (because of HTTPS) and I didn't need to look the name up.

It's an unforgettable name that immediately draws your eyes to it. A purple cow.

I don't object to the name on cutesy grounds, but I do feel it's a bit long for a search engine . Hope if they hit the big time they can buy ddg.com or something :-)

[Before anybody asks why am I typing URLs in the first place - I was prompted by HN to switch my searching to DuckDuckGo as an experiment (see what I mean! I had to type it right there!) and so if I am sitting in somebody else's browser and need to search, I need to type it in - it's not in anybody's search history, sadly].

Short names are not necessary for everything, but for search engines I think they are a good idea.

dukgo.com - not quite as short or memorable as ddg.com, but a step in the direction you speak of!

(clickable - http://www.dukgo.com)

Smart Bear makes me think of Yogi, so I approve.

Yup, I always thought it was a spin on 'smarter than the average bear.'

If you have a good memory, think back to the thick and fast torrents of mockery and scorn dumped upon the names Vista, Wii, and iPad when they were first announced. Even "MacBook Pro", which now seems to be almost passé, got plenty of hate at the time - just one example: http://www.maclife.com/forums/topic/76264/1

When it comes to names, fortune favors the bold unless it has negative connotations.

I think Pragmatic Software (one of their other departments, apparently) would have been much better, but that's just me. "Pragmatic" sounds good and has an appropriate meaning, plus the "Software" part means you actually know what they do--beats some "MonkeyCheeseSpoon"/"PirateNinjaRobots" company name.

Pragmatic Software tells me a company does software and thinks they're pragmatic. "Smart Bear Software" is memorable and I still know they make software. :)

And to be honest, pragmatism isn't exactly requirement #1 when I want software. Sure it's good, but I don't care if I have pragmatic software as much as I care if I have software that does what I need.

I would absolutely do business with PirateNinjaRobots. I don't even care what they do. Take my money.

Use a project I'm working on now:

http://www.needanym.com (crowdsourced company naming)

"It's what you do, not what you call it."

Unless no-one can find you because your name has a billion higher ranking google hits, or because nobody can remember it, or because you are aiming at the international market and your name is an insult in chinese.

What do you think about "lignito"?

Yeah, lignito.com is mine. We are very "discrete", nobody knows we exists.

Imagine saying it on the phone to someone who doesn't speak the same language?

Is it possible without resorting to lima, india, golf ..?.

Perfect timing. I need to pick a name today. Getting tired of Newco.

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