The Perfect Name is Out There. How Do You Find It?
Choosing a name for your startup is a big decision. It’s exciting, but let’s be honest, it can also be a little terrifying as well. A great name can feel intuitive and powerful, while a bad one can be a constant hurdle.
While the final decision is yours, how you get there doesn't have to be a shot in the dark. Rather than waiting for a lightning bolt of inspiration, we want this to be more like a strategic playbook. By following a clear process you can move from a blank page to a strong, protectable brand name.
This guide will walk you through that playbook. We’ll cover the creative strategies for brainstorming, the practical checks to see if your name is actually usable, and the final, non-negotiable step that too many founders overlook: the trademark check.
Part 1: Your Name Style
Before you dive into brainstorming, it helps to know what kind of name you’re looking for. Most brand names fall into one of three broad categories. Understanding them will help you focus your creative energy.
Descriptive Names
These names are the most straightforward, and they tell people exactly what you do. Think The Carphone Warehouse or General Motors. They are clear and direct and leave little room for confusion.
- Pros: Instantly understandable, which can help you save on marketing spend. They can be good for search engine optimisation (SEO) because the name includes keywords (but bear in mind that a common word can be harder to own)
- Cons: Can feel a bit generic or uninspired. They can be very difficult to trademark because they simply describe a service or product. A descriptive name might also box you in if your business pivots later
It’s also worth bearing in mind that if you ask a chatbot or AI model to come up with a brand name for you, it will almost always sit in this category. Worth considering if you end up going down this route what potential customers might think of this or how many other similarly named brands might pop up after you launch.
Evocative Names
Evocative names don’t describe what you do. Instead they suggest a feeling, a benefit or a bigger idea. Patagonia doesn’t sell mountains, but the name evokes a spirit of rugged outdoor adventure. Nike is named for the Greek goddess of victory and aligns with a spirit of competition and achievement.
- Pros: Highly memorable and can build a strong emotional connection with customers. They offer more creative storytelling potential and are generally easier to trademark than descriptive names
- Cons: They require more marketing effort to connect the name to the actual product or service. There's a risk the meaning gets lost on your audience without the right branding to support it
Invented Names
These are completely new words, created just for the brand. Think of names like Kodak, Zendesk, or Accenture. They are a blank slate, with no pre-existing meaning or baggage.
- Pros: Almost always unique, making it easy to secure the domain name, social handles, and trademark. You get to define the word's meaning from scratch
- Cons: As a blank slate, it has zero initial meaning for customers, so you have to work hard to build it. They can sometimes be difficult for people to spell or pronounce correctly
Wizebirds sits somewhere between an evocative and invented name. A combination of wise + birds, which obviously has no connection to the business services that we offer, but similarly still conveys that it’s something used by smart (wise) founders. It’s something unique that we can own, which was important to us in coming up with it.
Your Action Step: Spend 30 minutes brainstorming in each category. For the descriptive route, list keywords related to your industry. For evocative, mind-map feelings and benefits. For invented, try combining word fragments (e.g., 'Zen' + 'desk') or using a business name generator for inspiration.
Part 2: Can You Claim Your Name?
You’ve got a shortlist of names you love. Now it’s time to see if you can actually use them. A name is only as good as its availability. Run each of your top contenders through this four-step check. Unfortunately, you’ll probably find that you lose a couple of your favourite candidates at this stage.
1. The Google Sanity Check
This is your first, fastest filter. Type the name into Google and see what comes up. Is anyone already using the name? Does it have an unexpected or negative connotation in another language or context? If a search for your name brings up confusing or unsavoury results then it’s time to cross it off the list and move on.
2. The Domain Name
Your website is your digital home, so owning the right domain is critical. Check if your desired name is available as a .com. While other extensions exist (like .io or .ai, although these are generally more expensive to register), the .com is still the gold standard and what most people will type by default. If the .com is taken, you might consider a country-specific domain (like .co.uk) if your market is local, but be aware that you might always be competing with the .com owner. Where you can, avoid hyphens or awkward spellings to get around an unavailable domain.
3. The Social Handle
Next check if the name is available on the social media platforms that matter for your business. Is @YourBrandName available on X, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn? Consistency across platforms is key for building a coherent brand. While you can add modifiers (as we have done with @wizebirdshq, our Instagram handle), owning the clean handle is a huge advantage. Use a tool like Namechk to quickly search across multiple platforms, but always double-check manually as these tools can sometimes be out of date.
4. The Companies House Check
If you're setting up a limited company, you need to register the name with the relevant government body (e.g. Companies House in the UK). Their online tool will tell you instantly if an identical name is already registered. But here’s a crucial warning: this is not a trademark check. Just because you can register a company name does not mean you have the legal right to trade under it. Someone else could already own the trademark, which is a much stronger form of protection.
Part 3: The Trademark Check
This is the step where a mistake can cost you everything. After all the creative work and practical checks you need to be sure you can legally own and defend your name.
What is a Trademark, Really?
Let's demystify this. A trademark is a form of intellectual property that protects your brand identity (things like your name, logo, or slogan) in the specific commercial areas and jurisdictions that you operate in. It gives you the exclusive right to use that brand for certain goods or services, preventing others from using a confusingly similar name for a similar offering. Owning a domain name or a company registration gives you no such power.
Why a Simple Search Isn't Enough
You can’t just Google your name and call it a day. Trademark law isn’t about identical matches. It’s about the “likelihood of confusion” for the consumer, which is where it can get tricky.
For example, imagine you want to launch a new software tool called “Starlight.” You search the trademark database and find nothing. Great, right? But what if there’s an existing, registered trademark for “Starlite” that also makes business software? Even with the different spelling, a trademark office would likely rule them as confusingly similar, and your application would be rejected, or worse, you could be sued for infringement if you started trading.
Trademarks are also registered in specific categories, known as “classes” or sometimes “Nice classes”. There are 45 classes in total which cover everything from chemicals (Class 1) to software (Class 9) and clothing (Class 25). You need to check for conflicts not only in your primary class but in related ones as well. A common one here is Class 35, which covers online retail and eCommerce. For example if you’re a clothing brand that sells primarily online, you will likely want to check (and then trademark) your brand in both Class 25 and 35. You can read our guide to this here.
How to Perform a Basic Check
While a full search is best left to professionals you can perform a preliminary check to weed out obvious conflicts. Here’s how:
- Search the Official Databases: Every country has its own intellectual property office. For the UK, search the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) database. For Europe, use the EUIPO’s eSearch tool
- Think Beyond Identical Matches: Search for your name, but also for common misspellings, phonetic equivalents (like Starlight/Starlite) and synonyms
- Check the Classes: If you find a similar name, look at what classes it’s registered in. Is it for something completely unrelated (e.g., “Apex” for car tires vs. your “Apex” for coffee beans)? Or is it dangerously close to your industry?
The Importance of Ongoing Protection
Here’s something few founders consider at the naming stage: protection doesn't stop at registration. A trademark is only powerful if you defend it. Checking once at the start is vital, but what happens a year from now when someone else tries to register a name that's confusingly similar to yours? Manually searching databases forever isn't a good use of your time.
This is precisely why we at Wizebirds built tools to help founders protect their brands. Once you have a name you love, the work shifts from creation to protection. Automated monitoring can alert you to potential conflicts, giving you the chance to formally oppose a conflicting application before it becomes a major problem. It’s about securing your brand's future, so you can focus on building your business.
Our monitoring software, which we call Wizebirds Shield, covers not just direct matches, but also spelling and pronunciation similarities, foreign translations (in relevant markets). We have six different tests that we put marks through to determine whether or not they are a potential conflict. Wizebirds Shield costs just £9/month (see our Pricing page for other currencies) and covers unlimited trademarks, so you can grow at your own pace with continued peace of mind.
From Idea to Identity: Your Name is Ready
Naming your startup is a journey. It starts with a creative spark, moves through a gauntlet of practical checks, and ends with the legal certainty of a protectable trademark. By following this playbook, you’re not just picking a catchy name from a list; you’re methodically building a foundational asset for your business.
You’ve done the hard work to ensure your name is memorable, available, and legally sound. Now you can move forward with confidence, ready to build a brand that lasts.