Brand Naming
The Art Of Brand Naming
Creating Memorable Brand Identities
Naming is one of the most important elements of any brand. As a premier brand naming agency, Starfish understands that your name is often the first touchpoint customers have with your brand and can significantly impact their perception and recall. While always an engaging and collaborative process, brand naming can become challenging, if not frustrating, when trying to secure a trademark or a URL.
Experience That Delivers Results
As a branding firm, when asked to develop names in our process, we’ve developed hundreds of names for companies across diverse industries. Our success in this discipline is rooted in a thorough process that minimizes subjectivity and successfully delivers names that are always original, strategic, and memorable. Our team of naming specialists combines linguistic expertise, creative thinking, and strategic insight to develop names that resonate with target audiences and stand the test of time.
Strategy-First Approach
At Starfish, our brand naming services always start with the brand strategy. This is the filter through which we assess a name’s meaning, relevance, and alliteration. Without these guardrails, the process can fall into subjective assessment and personal preferences rather than strategic alignment. By anchoring the naming process in your brand strategy, we ensure that every name we develop supports your brand positioning, values, and business objectives.
Comprehensive Naming Process
We then create a range of naming territories that fit the criteria and never present a name you can’t own. When we ideate, we keep a sharp eye on the name’s etymology, origin, and meaning. Our process also includes domestic and global domain and name trademark searches to verify availability before presentation.
As a thorough brand naming agency, our process includes several key phases:
- Strategic Briefing: Understanding your brand, audience, competitors, and naming objectives
- Naming Territories: Developing conceptual directions that align with your strategy
- Name Generation: Creating hundreds of potential names across approved territories
- Preliminary Screening: Conducting initial trademark and URL availability checks
- Refinement: Narrowing options to a shortlist of strategic, available names
- Validation: Performing comprehensive legal searches and linguistic checks
- Presentation: Presenting final names with strategic rationale and creative context
The Value of Expert Naming
Poor naming decisions can lead to legal challenges, market confusion, or expensive rebranding efforts down the road. Our brand naming services help you avoid these pitfalls while creating valuable brand assets. The right name can:
- Differentiate your brand in crowded markets
- Communicate key brand attributes instantly
- Facilitate trademark protection
- Support international expansion
- Create strong brand recall
- Provide a foundation for brand storytelling
Our Naming Philosophy
As a dedicated brand naming agency, we believe that great names balance art and science. They must be creatively compelling while strategically sound, emotionally resonant, and legally defensible. Our collaborative approach involves your team throughout the process, ensuring that the final name has internal buy-in and an authentic connection to your organization.
If you’re curious about our name, Starfish, there’s a good and relevant story behind it we’d be happy to share with you. It exemplifies our philosophy of creating names with meaning and memorability. Interested in our brand naming services? Contact Starfish today to discuss how we can help create a powerful name for your brand, product, or service.
FAQ
The Art of Brand Naming
Creating Insight-Driven and Memorable Brand Identities
What is brand naming and why does it matter?
Naming is one of the most critical, and often most challenging, elements of brand building. Your name is the first touchpoint customers have with your brand, and it shapes perception, recall, and emotional connection. The right name can differentiate you in a crowded market, while the wrong one can create confusion or costly rebranding later.
At Starfish, a premier brand naming agency in NYC, we create names that are strategic, original, memorable, and yes, legally defensible.
Experience That Delivers Results
Why should I hire a brand naming agency instead of naming internally?
Great naming requires more than creativity; it requires process, expertise, and discipline. As a leading branding firm, Starfish has developed hundreds of names across industries. Our naming specialists combine linguistic insight, strategic thinking, and creative firepower to deliver names that not only resonate but also stand the test of time.
What makes your naming process more effective than others?
Our process minimizes subjectivity and anchors naming in brand strategy. Instead of relying on personal preferences, we evaluate every name against strategic filters like meaning, relevance, phonetics, and alignment with your brand positioning. This ensures your final name is not only compelling but also strategically sound and trademark-ready.
Strategy-First Approach
How does strategy guide the brand naming process?
At Starfish, strategy comes first. Every name is assessed against your brand positioning, values, and objectives. Without these guardrails, naming becomes a subjective debate. By tying the process directly to strategy, we ensure every name we deliver is purposeful, relevant, and aligned with your long-term goals.
Our Comprehensive Naming Process
What is the process for creating a strong brand name?
Our proprietary naming methodology follows a rigorous, multi-phase process:
- Strategic Briefing – Defining brand, audience, competitors, and naming objectives
- Naming Territories – Developing conceptual directions anchored in strategy
- Name Generation – Creating hundreds of potential names within approved territories
- Preliminary Screening – Conducting trademark and URL availability checks
- Refinement – Narrowing to a shortlist of strong, ownable candidates
- Validation – Running full legal and linguistic checks for global viability
- Presentation – Delivering final names with strategic rationale and creative context
Unlike some firms, we never present names you can’t legally own or use.
The Value of Expert Naming
What are the risks of poor brand naming?
Weak or unvetted names can result in:
- Costly legal disputes or trademark conflicts
- Market confusion and diluted brand equity
- Missed opportunities for international growth
- Expensive rebranding or renaming efforts
What are the benefits of working with a naming agency like Starfish?
The right name becomes a strategic asset. It can:
- Differentiate your brand in crowded markets
- Instantly communicate key brand attributes
- Build strong brand recall and memorability
- Facilitate trademark protection and domain acquisition
- Provide a foundation for storytelling and future growth
That’s why leading organizations choose Starfish as their brand naming partner. Our names are designed to deliver both creative impact and long-term value.
Our Naming Philosophy
How do you balance creativity and strategy in naming?
We believe that great names live at the intersection of art and science. They must be:
- Creatively compelling – inspiring and memorable
- Strategically aligned – true to your positioning and purpose
- Emotionally resonant – connecting with audiences instantly
- Legally defensible – viable across trademarks and global markets
Our collaborative approach ensures that your team has buy-in throughout the process, resulting in names that feel authentic and ownable.
Looking for the best brand naming agency in NYC to create your next great name?
Contact Starfish today and discover how an independent, top-tier, mid-sized consultancy can help you create a powerful name for your brand, product, or service.
