Choose the right name for your business

There are two main types of names used by businesses:

• official/registered name - used on all formal documents

• trading name/business name - sometimes referred to as the brand name of the business.

All businesses need an official name. There are rules around naming a business which depend on the chosen legal structure. There are links to information about this later in this article.

Many businesses trade under their official name. However others choose to have trading names which differ from their official name. These are often referred to as “business names” and may be the overarching business “brand” used on the shopfront or website and, therefore, how customers will refer to the business. For example, ‘Wm Morrison Supermarkets Limited’, trades as “Morrisons”.

Some businesses use a trading name from the beginning, or take one later on when the business grows and evolves, perhaps because the official name is no longer appropriate or relevant for marketing to customers.

To protect the name they trade with, businesses can register the name as a trademark with the Intellectual Property Office to avoid other people being able to trade under the same name.

Naming a business can be relatively straightforward, but as there are rules to comply with and legal implications, sometimes you may need specialist support or legal advice around choosing and registering your official name, deciding whether to use a trading name, and considering if trademarking is appropriate.

You can use your name to describe one or more elements of your business - whether you spell it out clearly or hint at it, for example by:

• using the founder’s or inventor’s name

• referring to the geographic heritage of the business

• describing the product or service.

You can also indicate the benefits you bring your customers and establish your position compared with competitors.

Some businesses use a single element in their name and others combine different elements to make it easier to come up with something unique, for example, by combining founder names with geographical heritage or a product description.

Founder names

A common and simple approach is to name the business after the founder/founders or inventor in some form or another, whether that’s an individual, family members, or a combination of partners. This is often effective, as customers connect with and trust real people. If you’re willing to put your name on a business, it indicates you are committed to it. In design-led businesses, such as fashion, then the founder will often have made a name for themselves which brings valuable awareness and credibility to the business.

However, always think of the long-term, and implications of having your own identity or your family’s identity tied up in the business. For example, if you ever want to sell your business, your name will probably go with it, such as when perfumer Jo Malone sold her namesake business to Estée Lauder.

Heritage and geography

In the same way that customers like to connect with who is running a business, trust can also be built when customers understand the geographical heritage of a business or its products.

Locations are often associated with specific characteristics, which can make it easier to communicate your identity to a wider audience. Also people often like buying local. However remember that perceptions of some places vary between different audiences and won’t always be positive.

Product or service

Another simple approach is to use the name to communicate what the business does in some way. This approach thinks more about the customer perspective, and what the customer is looking for. If you offer a range of products or services, it can be difficult to condense this into one or two words and you need to ensure it is not too restrictive if you want to diversify in future.

To be able to stand out from other businesses in your sector, it may require combining this approach with other techniques around use of language to communicate your personality and create something unique.

Applying description in names

It’s always helpful to look at other business trading names/brands and official names for inspiration and see how some businesses evolve their trading names and brands from their official names as they grow and diversify.

• Whyte & Mackay (Whyte and Mackay Ltd). Using surnames of both the founders and using an ampersand in the trading name.

• Baxters (Baxters Food Group Limited). Using the family name of founders, with the official name including the reference to food.

• Mackie’s of Scotland (Mackie's Limited). Family name of founders with trading name including country heritage.

• Walkers Shortbread (Walkers Shortbread Ltd). Family name of founders combined with core product.

• Ben & Jerry’s (Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ltd). First names of founders used on their own as a trading name - growth of the business may mean “homemade” is no longer accurate for a trading name.

• Nairn’s (Nairn’s Oatcakes Ltd). Simpler trading name reflects the business expansion to products other than oatcakes.

• Johnstons of Elgin (James Johnston & Company of Elgin Limited). Combining the family name with a Scottish town gives local heritage for the woollens and knitwear.

• The Scottish Fine Soaps Company (Scottish Fine Soaps Limited). Communicates heritage and product, with the use of the word “fine” positioning the product against competitors.

• Highland Spring (Highland Spring Limited). Describes the source of the product, from high land in the Ochil Hills creating an impression of pure, clean, natural water from remote and unpopulated land.

• Go Compare (Gocompare.com Limited). Indicates the business purpose is to facilitate comparison, so has easily “stretched” from comparison of insurance offers to comparison of other products such as energy and broadband.

How you make use of language can communicate your personality, influence how your customers perceive your business and help you to stand out.

For example, you can use:

• words that already exist in English in a conventional or unconventional way

• words from other languages

• humour

• abbreviations and acronyms.

You can also create your own word/s by combining real words in an unusual way, making up your own spelling of words or even forming new words.

We’ve already looked at businesses which have used words that already exist, such as names, places, products and services in a conventional way. However you can use language in more unusual ways, to communicate different elements of your personality and make your name more memorable. This can influence how your customers perceive your business and help you to stand out.

Combining words

Some businesses use words from other languages, or create their own word/s by combining real words in an unusual way, making up their own spelling of words or even forming new words.

• Kwik Fit (Kwik-Fit (GB) Limited). Uses a new spelling of “quick” combined with conventional spelling of “fit” to describe the type of service offered for vehicles.

• Strathberry (Strathberry Limited). The luxury leather goods business combines two words in a new way – honoring their Scottish roots with the word for wide river valley in Scots (Strath) and the historic use of berries to dye Scottish fabrics and materials.

• Skyscanner (Skyscanner Limited). The name combines words to reflect their service which shows travellers various flight options in a single place. The name has stretched to cover car hire and hotels which are services customers often need alongside flights.

• Stoats (Stoats Porridge Bars Limited). The name merges the first two letters of one of the founder’s surnames (Stone) with the word “oats”. The “bar” in the official name was originally the mobile van selling porridge - a “porridge bar”. The business context prevents customers being confused with the small furry animal by the same name.

We’ve looked at businesses which have used words that already exist, such as names, places, products and services in a conventional way. However you can use language in more unusual ways, to communicate different elements of your personality and make your name more memorable. This can influence how your customers perceive your business and help you to stand out.

Combining words

Some businesses use words from other languages, or create their own word/s by combining real words in an unusual way, making up their own spelling of words or even forming new words.

• Kwik Fit (Kwik-Fit (GB) Limited). Uses a new spelling of “quick” combined with conventional spelling of “fit” to describe the type of service offered for vehicles.

• Strathberry (Strathberry Limited). The luxury leather goods business combines two words in a new way – honoring their Scottish roots with the word for wide river valley in Scots (Strath) and the historic use of berries to dye Scottish fabrics and materials.

• Skyscanner (Skyscanner Limited). The name combines words to reflect their service which shows travellers various flight options in a single place. The name has stretched to cover car hire and hotels which are services customers often need alongside flights.

• Stoats (Stoats Porridge Bars Limited). The name merges the first two letters of one of the founder’s surnames (Stone) with the word “oats”. The “bar” in the official name was originally the mobile van selling porridge - a “porridge bar”. The business context prevents customers being confused with the small furry animal by the same name.

Drawing on other languages

• Drambuie (William Grant & Sons Limited). The whisky name is derived from Gaelic “An Dram Buidheach” which means “the drink that satisfies” which was chosen as the earliest consumers described it that way. (The significant difference between the trading name and registered name is that the Drambuie Liquor Company Ltd was acquired by William Grant & Sons.)

• schuh (schuh Limited). The founder of the shoe retailer made a last-minute decision to use the German word for “shoe” even though there was no link to Germany, showing that sometimes there’s no need to overthink a business name to communicate that it is distinctive.

Symbolism, metaphors and emotive words

These can be used to associate a business with an image of something else your customers can relate to.

• Timorous Beasties (Timorous Beasties Limited). The edgy pattern design company which often incorporates elements of nature, took its name from Robert Burns’ Scots poem “To a mouse” reflecting their Scottish heritage.

• Trespass (Jacob and Turner Ltd). The business designs, manufactures and retails outdoor clothing, which encourages adventure through embracing the outdoors.

• Genius (Genius Foods Limited). The focus is on clever innovations to create and increase availability of high quality gluten-free bread and foods that taste as good as gluten-containing products.

Alliteration

This is where the same letter or sound is used at the beginning of each word.

• Growers Garden (Growers Garden Limited). By combining alliteration with words that reflect their use of fresh vegetables from their own fields, it supports their messaging around sustainable farming and vegan-friendly healthy eating.

Abbreviations and acronyms

• ESPC (ESPC (UK) Ltd). The abbreviation originally came from Edinburgh Solicitors’ Property Centre.

• abrdn (abrdn plc). Formerly Standard Life Aberdeen, an element of its heritage was retained in a new way by removing some of the vowels from “Aberdeen” and using all lowercase letters to add another element of difference. There has been much discussion of the pros and cons of this approach.

• Toys R Us. Replacing the word "are" with "R" makes the name much more distinctive than Toys Are Us, and lends itself to more interesting logo graphics.

Acronyms

These are formed from the initial letters other words, then pronounced as a word, so can be used to create something unique with meaning.

• IKEA (IKEA Limited). Many people assume this is an abstract name and don't realise it has been formed from an acronym including the initials of the founder Ingvar Kamprad, the farm Elmtaryd that he grew up on and the nearby village of Agunnaryd.

Humour

Humour always needs to be used with care, and can make it harder to expand to new markets and audiences, but can be ideal for small businesses needing to project a friendly and informal personality and wanting to stand out with dozens of similar businesses in their local market. There are many humorous small business names in Scotland, such as Spex Pistols optical boutique, The Fast and the Furriest dog walking service, Dae It Yersel home improvements, Calm a Khazi plumbing and The Codfather chip shop.

Symbols

Using symbols can be tempting but you can’t use them in limited company names. You also can’t use them in domain names where you can only use letters, numbers and hyphens (or international characters for different languages).

Abstract names can be effective when trying to create something short, memorable and unique - making it easier to register, find an available domain name and protect as a trademark. It is also useful for flexibility, for example if your business offering is more complex, if you plan to evolve or extend your offering, or if you might diversify into new markets. However often you will need to invest more in marketing to help customers understand more about who you are and what you do.

• Moonpig (Moonpig.com Limited). The abstract name for the online card retailer was chosen to be unique in Google searches and available as a domain name, as well as short, phonetic and easy to visualise in a logo.
• Zoopla (Zoopla Limited). At the time the business launched, most main property website competitors had descriptive names, and the founder wanted something that would stand out and reflect that they were innovating with a new approach.

Once you have some ideas, hopefully you will find some that are original (not used by anyone else or already trademarked) and unlikely to be confused with other businesses.

Use the following to search for your proposed name:

• Company name availability checker
• Search for a trademark

Do general searches online and on social media platforms to see if:

• any other organisations use that name such as charities, community organisations, sole traders etc
• your chosen words have any other meanings in slang or other languages

You will need a digital presence so the availability of the same domain name as your business name options may influence your final choice. The 'domain name' will be your web address and the basis for your business email address.

Ideally it will be the same as your business name. If it’s not identical, it should be very similar to minimise customer confusion. If the name you want is not available, you could consider variations on it, e.g. adding your location onto the end. Or you may wish to reconsider the name of your business entirely.

To check availability of domain names, simply search online ‘domain name registration UK’ and you will see many providers which have a search facility such as 123Reg (given the topic of this article, it's worth mentioning this is an example of an alphanumeric business name) or GoDaddy (another example of a business with an abstract business name chosen to be memorable and simple, with an available domain name).