Naming a small business: a decision you live with for years

Aug 27
3 min read

Updated: 4 days ago

Introduction

A business name is chosen in an afternoon, early, when nothing else exists, and then lived with for a decade. It affects how easily people find you, remember you, spell you and pass you on.

None of that makes it the most important decision you will take. But it is one of the hardest to reverse, and a few checks beforehand prevent the most common regrets.

1. Naming a small business means optimising for spoken referral

The test that matters most is being said aloud.

Somebody recommends you in conversation and the other person has to find you afterwards. A name that cannot be spelled from hearing it, or that sounds like several other things, loses those referrals silently and permanently.

2. Say it on the phone before you commit

The single most useful practical test.

Say it to a few people and ask them to write it down. If you routinely have to spell it, repeat it or explain it, you will be doing that every working day for years. Deliberate misspellings and unusual constructions fail badly here.

3. Decide how descriptive you want it to be

There is a real trade-off and both directions are legitimate.

A descriptive name tells customers immediately what you do and helps with search, but constrains you if the business changes. An abstract or personal name is flexible and memorable but needs explaining. Choose deliberately rather than by accident.

4. Do not name it after something you might outgrow

A common and avoidable regret.

A single service, one town, a technology, or a market you may leave. Businesses spend real money rebranding away from names that described them accurately at the start and became a constraint after five years.

5. Check the legal and registration position before anything else

The check that prevents the expensive mistake.

Company registration availability, trade marks in your sector and territory, and existing businesses with similar names in your area. Discovering a conflict after signage, vehicles and stationery is an entirely self-inflicted cost.

6. Secure the domain and the handles at the same time

Availability across the places customers will look for you.

The domain you actually want, and the social handles you will use. A name whose domain is unavailable means either an awkward variant or a permanent disadvantage, and both are worth knowing before you decide.

7. Consider what it does for local search

For a local business the name interacts with how people search.

Including a service or a place can help you appear for the terms customers use, though the effect is smaller than it once was and should not override memorability. A name stuffed with keywords reads as untrustworthy.

8. Think about how it will look and sound in use

Names live in specific contexts.

On a van, on a shirt, answering the phone, in an email address, said by a receptionist, abbreviated by customers. Long names get shortened by other people, and it is worth knowing what they will shorten it to before they decide for you.

9. Decide whether to use your own name

A specific choice with real consequences either way.

Your own name is credible, personal and hard for anybody else to claim, and it suits professional services. It also makes the business harder to sell, harder to grow beyond you, and ties your reputation to it permanently.

Conclusion

Choose for spoken referral and reversibility, because a name is repeated aloud constantly and changed only expensively.

Test it by asking people to write it down from hearing it, decide deliberately how descriptive to be, avoid naming yourself after one service or one town you might outgrow, check company registration and trade marks before spending anything, secure the domain and handles at the same time, weigh local search benefits without letting keywords override memorability, consider how it will look on a van and how customers will shorten it, and think carefully before tying the business permanently to your own name.