At its best, a name acts as an immediate cue. It doesn’t have to explain everything, but it should say something, whether that’s a clear product truth, a point of view, or a feeling the brand wants to own.
In moments where there is no marketing or creative support – a press release, a conversation, an online search – the name often has to do the heavy lifting on its own.
In those contexts, it should quickly convey what the brand stands for, what makes it different, or the ambition it brings into the world, writes Christina Frayne, Senior Strategy & Innovation Director at Equator Design. Even abstract names can work when they clearly signal intent or difference, especially when supported by strong creative expression and consistent brand behaviour.
Beyond this, a name must be as memorable as possible because that’s how people are going to find you, whether they’re searching for you or telling somebody about you. Being memorable also means being easy to read and pronounce in the native language.
The anatomy of an effective name also includes credibility, whether or not the name delivers on the brand promise. This depends on what your brand is doing. Are you about fun and escapism or are you an authority within your space? It’s important to make sure you’re exuding the thing you’re trying to deliver, and the name needs to be a part of that.
Interestingly, differentiation isn’t always the goal. Familiarity can be useful, which is why you sometimes find similar sounding names in certain spaces. There’s a benefit to being a follower if you have something within the same hemisphere of the category that’s been established – unless you’re going to be a pioneer and put a lot of marketing behind your brand to raise awareness. Confusion can be helpful if people are searching online and both names come up.
The challenges of naming
But naming in today’s world is not easy. Many of the names that make it into the real world are shaped by constraints as much as by strategy. Trademark availability has become increasingly limited due to saturation and name hoarding, meaning legal defensibility often plays a significant role in decision-making. This has led to more forced spellings and constructed names, which can dilute clarity and meaning if not handled carefully.
There are also a whole host of considerations when naming products or brands that have a global presence. In China, for instance, the language contains thousands of characters that each carry multiple meanings, with pronunciations that differ from region to region. Having local experts contribute to the early stages of naming is essential for bridging those cultural and linguistic differences. You might even have to have a different name in markets where the name is either culturally inappropriate or simply doesn’t translate at all.
This is the pragmatic side of naming. The word chosen has to function in the real world. It should be intuitive, memorable, and easy to design around – not overly complex, hard to say, or difficult to use. Phonetic clarity, cultural relevance, language associations, and unintended interpretations need to be thoroughly evaluated with the audiences the brand seeks to reach. A name that creates confusion or friction can undermine trust before the brand ever has a chance to show up.
The naming process at Equator
So how do we help retailers and brands navigate these complexities at Equator Design? The process begins with understanding the brief. What’s the brand promise? What’s the tone and personality? What are the trademark classification codes? Which markets matter? Subjectivity can add another layer of complexity, especially when multiple stakeholders are involved. A clear strategic north star and a strong naming brief are essential for navigating this.
From there, we help the client to establish the naming guardrails before going off and creating naming territories, which are like mood boards. They allow us to explore different opportunities, such as naming type – for example, whether it’s abstract, descriptive, hybrid, metaphoric, and so forth – and any themes we might wish to express.
After this, we move onto brainstorming, which is a highly collaborative process. We set up work sessions with clients or with internal teams, as involving outside thinkers can be really helpful to widen the aperture. We will generate hundreds of names, but the shortlist we present to the client will contain about 15. For each one, we provide comprehensive rationale: how it connects to the brief, what the word means culturally, any phonetic challenges, and crucially, preliminary trademark availability. We also look at them in the context of competitive names. It’s almost the equivalent of doing a shelf set in packaging design.
Where possible, we create mock-ups. Sometimes it’s just typography. Sometimes it’s actually applied to a package. And that’s important because words on a page don’t always exude their potential until you see them brought to life with some sort of visual anchor. Testing, when the client requests it, provides a good understanding of whether your name is intuitive and whether it’s hitting the attributes you want.
The power of gut instinct
But for all the process and pragmatism involved in naming, there’s one element I always highlight and that’s intuition. When we present names to clients, I tell them, “You will never get another chance to have a gut reaction.” When strong leadership is paired with a clear strategic north star, trusting your gut isn’t guesswork – it’s an important part of the process. After all, it’s how your consumers will first react. But equally, try not to fall in love with a word in case it’s not meant to be. It’s a bit like dating; take every name for a spin, see how it feels, and then sit with one for a while before you decide whether you want to marry it!
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