Tips from the Hub Incubator: Naming Your Product
Choose a Name for Your Product or Service
Quick Guide
The name
- Builds customer engagement
- Differentiates your product
- Fits within the product group
- Is descriptive or suggestive (“Ford Mustang;” “iPod Shuffle”)
- Has unique spelling easily found with web search (“Hytch Hyker;” “numb3rs;” “Kix”)
- Not associated with negative connotations (“Ayds” candy)
Checking availability
- Not a registered trademark, or easily confused with one
- No other organization, product or service that would be easily confused with your product
After selection
- Start using publicly
- Decision to trademark
Follow-up
- Create product logo
- Trademark
- Create web page, brochures, flyers, signs, etc.
Product and Service Names
Naming Your Product
A good product name can excite potential customers and keeps existing customers coming back. A poor name, though, can destroy a brand. Finding the right name requires equal parts inspiration and investigation, and often the first names do not work out. A product name needs to be unique but memorable, distinct from existing organization or brand names, and fit into the product family.
Trademarking
Many business owners are quick to trademark (sometimes confused with “copyrighting”) the name they come up with to prevent others from copying their brand. A trademark protects the name or its representation from copying across the United States, but it’s not always the right decision.
Ultimately, the decision of whether or not to trademark is an economic one, and it’s about balancing risk and reward. Is the price worth the (future) benefit?
Helpful Links
Google is your friend when weeding out names, but so is the United States Patent and Trademark Office's Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS).
How We Help
We've been there, we have contacts who are experts, and we'll work with you to come up with good names for your product or service.