“What's in a name?"
Recently I listened to Expedia & Zillow: Rich Barton (https://www.npr.org/2021/06/11/1005526927/expedia-zillow-rich-barton) on How I Built This by NPR, and it inspired the way I went about trying to brand my new product. In the episode, he discusses how they came up with the names Expedia and Zillow, how he is a fan of words you can "own," and what he learned from naming Expedia (3-syllables). I think he said they would use a giant whiteboard and put as many words as they could think of for a particular idea/product and then combine them (Zillow = Zillions+Pillow).
Fast forward, and I am working on https://traverse.link/ (a fellow IH) to make my first online course (I'm a traditional classroom teacher). Using the website - https://namelix.com/, I landed on Carency (Care+Currency) because my course is personal finance.
So long story short, what's in a name? How do you come up with a good one, and how did YOU know when "this is the one!" - Side note: my wife does not like Carency due to it sounding to much like KARENency
I think that the search for a name is the most fundamental part of a creation, if you think about it, everything starts with the name.
You associate the name with the product first, then the colors, the shapes, the founders and the services.
I don't have the magic formula for you, but when I have to find a new name I start from what that product offers, from what it wants to convey, from what it represents.
Personally, I always look for a short name that has the same pronunciation in many parts of the world and that has a good symphony.
When do you realize you have found the right one?
When, after months of hearing it, you like it as much as the first time and you can associate it with something of value.