business owners - how did you come up with your company name?

[aloser]

My suggestion is not to over think your name. Just keep it simple and make sure the name says what you do.

This.

Software Consulting (or Consultants) LLC/Inc (as appropriate)

Now, whom shall I contact for royalty payments?

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I am the world's biggest cynic according to friends and family. By that token, I find most small business names are poor, idiotic and convey nothing of the nature of their business.

White Tale Electrical. Pt a buck illustration on your white van as if HUNTING has in any way to do electrical service. Sure, you hunt for a root cause of an electrical failure, hunt for a way to install a new circuit, etc., but when do you employ tactic used in hunting bucks?

I would be very wary of an electrician coming to my door with pliers, tape and a hunting rifle.

Point I am trying to make is ... be the cynic and ask yourself if this company name can be interpreted in another way. In a bad way.

 

[bzb_Elder]

Just be sure to Google whatever you come up with - a friend of mine (Brad) and a buddy came up with Briss Consulting a few years back. If you don't know what it means, look up the word Briss. Needless to say, he decided to change the name as soon as he could, but he had already started the paperwork using it... hilarious to think back on now.

 

[purbeast0]

yeah i'm googling everything beforehand. mainly to see if the names are taken already. it's really annoying how people just squat on domains too. there will domains that don't resolve to anytihng, but they will not be available and people are just holding onto them.

 

[Red Squirrel]

"tech" or any form of it is something i really don't want in the name. it just screams generic to me. i get it that you used that a while ago, but i now it just seems like everything is "blah blah tech".

but yeah i am going to search the trademark db for stuff once we do figure it out.

Yeah that is true. I actually kind of want to come up with a better name myself TBH. I need to decide what direction to take it first. Being a "tech site" is a dying trend. You have the big ones like AT, [H], Tom's Hardware etc but the small ones tend to be left in the dust. I still get a decent amount of traffic from old articles I wrote though but not enough to generate lot of income. I get a hundred bucks every couple months from ads, which is actually not bad considering most people use adblock now days. You can't profit off ads alone these days though.

That's probably another tip, avoid using generic terms like tech. On the other hand, if you can come up with something very generic yet unique at same time that's a bonus. Take Microsoft for example. It basically means Software for micro computers. Two rather generic terms put together makes a name that everybody can easily remember and is unique. But now that that's taken, anything that starts with micro or ends with soft is generic but yet not unique anymore. You probably don't want to try to be funny with that one either. Megahard does not sound too good lol.

And yeah domain squatting is a pita. Think up of a cool name chances are the domain is parked to some useless garbage page or does not even resolve at all.

 

[BeeBoop]

You're putting way too much thought into a name. A name doesn't make a business, your reputation does. How did I pick my primary care doctor? Because her clinic was within a 10min drive from me. Why did I purchase my Samsung 65in from Amazon last month? Because of their reputation. Who would have thought a company named Amazon even sold electronics?


You are over thinking the name. Ask yourself this question. Why would anyone pick your company as a tech consultant over all others in the area. Put that answer in your name. Done. If you have nothing that makes you special from all other tech consultants, you have no choice but to pick a generic name and build the company off of your reputation like Amazon, Subway, Newegg, Costco, Walmart and etc etc etc... I listed those names becuse we only know what they do by reputation, not the name. At least with a generic name, people will know what you do so you don't have to rely on reputation alone to get started.


This past weekend, I was looking for an electrician. Want to guess how I was doing my google search? I typed in the word electrician. Up popped some names that had a weak resemblance to electricians. I ended up only calling people who actually had the word electrician in their names that were located within 10 mins from me. I picked the generic names to call because I knew exactly what they do for a living.

 

[purbeast0]

You're putting way too much thought into a name. A name doesn't make a business, your reputation does. How did I pick my primary care doctor? Because her clinic was within a 10min drive from me. Why did I purchase my Samsung 65in from Amazon last month? Because of their reputation. Who would have thought a company named Amazon even sold electronics?


You are over thinking the name. Ask yourself this question. Why would anyone pick your company as a tech consultant over all others in the area. Put that answer in your name. Done. If you have nothing that makes you special from all other tech consultants, you have no choice but to pick a generic name and build the company off of your reputation like Amazon, Subway, Newegg, Costco, Walmart and etc etc etc... I listed those names becuse we only know what they do by reputation, not the name. At least with a generic name, people will know what you do so you don't have to rely on reputation alone to get started.


This past weekend, I was looking for an electrician. Want to guess how I was doing my google search? I typed in the word electrician. Up popped some names that had a weak resemblance to electricians. I ended up only calling people who actually had the word electrician in their names that were located within 10 mins from me. I picked the generic names to call because I knew exactly what they do for a living.

the problem is many of those simple names you are talking about, their is no way i could get any web presence with those names because those domains have long been gone.

you finding a doctor and electrician is completely different than a software consulting company. i don't plan to get much business from people googling "web development" in my area. we will get clients by the sales people going out and trying to find them. it's not like this is a service that we do for an hour and it's done, like a doctor or electrician. this could be something that takes months.

and no, i don't think it's overthinking anything. whether i come up with the name yesterday or later this week, the time difference isn't going to make any difference one way or the other.

 

[BeeBoop]

the problem is many of those simple names you are talking about, their is no way i could get any web presence with those names because those domains have long been gone.

you finding a doctor and electrician is completely different than a software consulting company. i don't plan to get much business from people googling "web development" in my area. we will get clients by the sales people going out and trying to find them. it's not like this is a service that we do for an hour and it's done, like a doctor or electrician. this could be something that takes months.

and no, i don't think it's overthinking anything. whether i come up with the name yesterday or later this week, the time difference isn't going to make any difference one way or the other.

So your company is based off of reputation? That's what it seems like you are trying to say by the way you get your clients. Just name it after yourself, the founders, with the tag tech consultant. Done. This isn't a huge problem but you are making it into one.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

The danger in naming a company after their names is if one leaves and then you have this dangling bit called a dingleberry.

 

[purbeast0]

So your company is based off of reputation? That's what it seems like you are trying to say by the way you get your clients. Just name it after yourself, the founders, with the tag tech consultant. Done. This isn't a huge problem but you are making it into one.

404 - making this into a huge problem not found.

 

[BeeBoop]

The danger in naming a company after their names is if one leaves and then you have this dangling bit called a dingleberry.

Would you think Tommy Hilfiger to be a lesser individual if he sold off his company? What about Baskin Robbins?


Edit:
What I was trying to say is, it wouldn't matter if your partner left if your company is doing well.

 

[master_shake_]

vaffanculo inc

 

[bbhaag]

Alright all of you are going to find this lame but all we did was take the name of the city we are located in and applied another adjective after it.
It has worked out ok for us. We've been in business since 1979 and we've been at our current location since 1993.
This was a record year for us because we surpassed 1,000,000 dollars in sales. Our name is generic but the product my brother and I sell is some of the best in our area.

I guess my point is don't focus to much on a name. Word of mouth and advertising will get you farther than any catchy name will. Remember advertising. A lot of small businesses forget just how important this is. You may offer the best service in the world but if no one knows about you you'll go under. We spend 3% of our gross sales on advertising and my brother doesn't think it is enough.

 

[DaWhim]

I've been trying to learn Spanish the past year and was surprised at how many companies/product lines are just Spanish words.

Did you know primavera just means spring, as in the season?

P.S. I love Spanish. So much damn easier than French, especially with the masculine/feminine thing and pronunciation.

of course, i know. i went to backpacking 6 months down in south americas just to learn spanish.

chupa chups, it is spanish/portugese that basically means sucks it.

 

[highland145]

Corp or LLC? Need to check the secretary of state site too.

 

[skimple]

We Haz Cheezbergers, Inc.

 

[manimal]

vaffanculo inc

mannaggia la miseria llc

 

[Thebobo]

Back when I was making bongs in High School.- Basement Bongs

Bak when I was mixing live music for bands it was - Base productions

And up until now PVC TV(Newtek Lightwave) 3D DT work - Base Teck