This is where good branding starts. Your name determines the feeling people get when they hear about you, how successful your company may be and how people will appreciate it.

For example, the outcome of Gowalla versus Foursquare could have been predicted just on the name of the brand alone. Foursquare evokes groundedness and has a better ring to it.

Think. What is your company about? What kind of emotions does it invoke? What do your customers think about when they say your name? What do people think when they hear your company name for the first time?

Common words in their original form, spliced together, misspelled or created from sounds seem to have worked the best in the past for others.

Let’s start with a few examples to get you started.

Original

Amazon - named after the world’s longest river by volume and their “A-to-Z” catalog.

named after the world’s longest river by volume and their “A-to-Z” catalog. Adobe - like clay you can mold it into whatever.

- like clay you can mold it into whatever. Mint - short, easy to spell, dollars are green and so are mint leaves, a mint is also where money is made.

- short, easy to spell, dollars are green and so are mint leaves, a mint is also where money is made. Facebook - that’s how the paper version is called.

that’s how the paper version is called. Dell - simple but still good enough last name.

simple but still good enough last name. Skype

Spliced Together

Genentech - genetics and technology.

- genetics and technology. YouTube - quite descriptive and it rhymes.

- quite descriptive and it rhymes. KickStarter - name tells you what they do, and it sounds fun.

- name tells you what they do, and it sounds fun. Pinterest - pin your interest.

- pin your interest. PayPal, Wikipedia, Techcrunch, Salesforce, …

Misspellings

Google - according to a myth it’s a misspelling of a googol.

- according to a myth it’s a misspelling of a googol. Digg - dig.com was already taken.

- dig.com was already taken. Flickr - flicker was also taken, they rolled with it.

Sounds

Yahoo! - exclamation.

- exclamation. Twitter - chirps from birds.

Name equals function