Brand Naming

Your brand’s name is its first and most enduring impression.

A name is how the world knows you, what audiences say out loud, and what carries your business forward. Getting a brand name right isn’t just important—it’s essential.

But it’s not easy: naming is the ultimate blend of art and science. It demands strategy, creativity, and a deep understanding of language, culture, and psychology. In today’s crowded trademark landscape, finding a name that’s distinctive, compelling, and legally viable is more challenging than ever.

That’s where we come in. Drawing from diverse professional and academic backgrounds, our team of experts will help you determine whether your name needs to reinvent expectations or reinforce an intuitive experience. Once the strategy is set, we nerd out over every nuance to bring you the strongest range of name options. We’ve developed some of the world’s most iconic brand names that lead markets and define categories using our proven and adaptable approach.

Whether you’re launching a new brand, service, or product, or redefining a legend, your brand name is the foundation of your story. Let’s craft one that earns its place in the world.

Our full suite of brand naming services includes:

Corporate naming
Product naming
Naming strategy and guidelines
Naming architecture and systems
Name assessments and POVs
Name validation research
Merger and acquisition (M&A) naming
Spin-off naming

Understanding our approach

Why hire a brand naming consultancy?

Hiring a brand naming consultancy as an independent third party can help businesses navigate the complex brand naming process. A consultancy can help teams build leadership consensus by gathering the right feedback at key moments, structuring decision-making, and guiding organizational alignment. Our approach ensures that names aren’t developed in isolation, but work seamlessly with the broader brand strategy to deliver on long-term business objectives.
What brand naming services do you offer?

We offer comprehensive brand naming services, including corporate and product naming, as well as strategic frameworks to guide name development and evaluation within your organization. We use a research-backed approach—conducting in-depth assessments to determine the appropriate level of name change, confirm audience alignment, and mitigate potential risks.
What criteria define a successful brand name?

An effective brand name should align with business strategy, differentiate itself from competitors, and establish an emotional connection with key audiences. It must also be memorable, easy to pronounce, and legally viable. At the outset of each engagement, we establish tailored naming criteria to ensure all name candidates meet strategic, creative, and practical requirements.
How should company leadership evaluate a corporate name change?

A corporate name change should be considered when the existing name no longer reflects the company’s strategic direction, brand equity, or market positioning. However, not every shift in strategy requires a name change. We offer structured assessments to help leadership teams make informed decisions based on brand, business, and market implications. We also regularly help clients navigate naming implications that arise from mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs, and carve-outs.
How do you ensure a name resonates with key audiences?

We use intensive research in our brand naming services to validate audience perceptions, gauge alignment with brand strategy, and get ahead of any linguistic challenges or unintended associations. Additionally, with over 80 years of experience, we have a strong intuition when it comes to creating resonant brand names.
What is required to ensure legal viability?

Our brand naming approach guides the development of viable names by evaluating and screening against legal registries, common-law use, and cultural associations. While our third-party legal partner conducts preliminary trademark screenings to identify potential conflicts, final clearance and risk assessment remain the responsibility of your organization’s legal counsel. Together, with our clients, we successfully navigate a global landscape with tens of millions of trademarks.