INDEX
Abbreviations, 71
Acronyms, 60
Age limits, names should not have, 42
Alexandra (name), 1
All caps, names in, 57, 58. See also CamelCasing
Alphanumeric brain-bender names, 50. See also Numbers embedded in name
Amazon.com, 2, 30, 41
Annoying names, 43–46
B2B (business-to-business) companies, 30–31, 47
Backward, names spelled, 45–46
Band names, 96
Banijamali, Leila, 31
Beaner’s, 51–52
Bedrock, 31
Bezos, Jeff, 41
Bitcoin, 66–67
.biz extensions, 70
Book titles, 95–96
Brainstorming names, 84–87. See also specific topics
the right way to brainstorm, 85–86
Brainstorming sources, 100–101. See also specific sources
Brand experiences, desired, 79–80
Brand name changes, 114–115
cons of, 115–116
examples of successful, 117–118
pros of, 115
Brand name(s). See also specific topics
easy to understand, 2
essential qualities of awesome, 8–9
how to make sure you choose the right, 124–125
name style likes and dislikes, 82
rules for reviewing, 121–124. See also SMILE & SCRATCH name evaluation test
self-assessment tool for evaluating. See SMILE & SCRATCH name evaluation test
that resonate most with consumers, 2
tips for reviewing, 120–121
unrelated brands with the same name, 39–40
Brand personality, 9, 15, 24, 26, 46, 76, 80, 107
Brand positioning, 78
Brief. See Creative brief Business-to-business (B2B) companies, 30–31, 47
Cafeterias, company, 107
CamelCasing, the case against, 58–59
Canadian Tire, 40–41
Capital letters
in the middle of names, 58–59
names spelled with all, 57, 58
Catchy names, 26–27, 54–55, 69, 96
“Cloud crowd” and overuse of the word “cloud,” 25, 46–47
Club names, clever, 109
Clunky coined names, 43–44
Coined names, 8–10, 43–44. See also Suggestive names
.com extensions, 70
Company X, 73–74
Competitors, 79
names similar to competitor names. See Copycat names
Compound coined names, 10
Conference room names, 103–105
Consumer insights (section of creative brief), 79
Copycat names, 37–38
copycat trends to avoid, 38–39
an exception to copycat rule, 39
Country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) extensions, 71
Creative agencies, in-house, 108
Creative brief, 76–77, 87, 121. See also Zenyo creative brief
keeping it handy, 87
starter words in, 87–88
Creativity, inspiring, 103–105
Curse of knowledge
defined, 48
examples of names with the, 53–54
only insiders get it, 48–49
thinking outside your bubble, 49–50
Diacritical marks, 59–60
Dictionaries, 92–93
Diseases, names associated with, xi, 52–53
using an obscure domain extension to spell your name, 71–72
Domain name modifiers, 66–67, 71, 81–82
Domain name secrets, 62–66
Domain name suggestion tool, using a, 67–68
Domain name(s), 61–62
first settle on brand name, then get, 64
Google eliminates the guesswork, 63–64
ideas to steer clear of, 70–75
it pays to make an offer on a, 64
making it a call to action, 69
not owning the exact match, 62–63
number of, 65
short isn’t necessarily better, 64–65
strategies to get good affordable, 66–70
Eat My Dust, 95
overview, 139–140
service packages, 24
theme of food at, 24
www.eatmywords.com, xv, 24, 139
Emotion
moves people, 27–32
used to increase sales, 29–30
Emotional names. See also Emotion
examples of, 32
Etsy, 102
Familiarity. See Memorable names
Families of names, 25–26
Film titles, 94–95
Focus groups, reasons not to use, 125–126
Foreign language, make sure your name is not cursed in a, 51
Fused words. See Portmanteau
Generic top-level domains. See Domain extensions
Glossaries of terms, combing through, 91–92
Goodbit, 66–67
“Googlestorming,” 93–95
Grammatically challenged names, 45
Groupon, 104
Groups, how to present names to, 119–120
Homophones. See Spelling-challenged names
Hooters, 26
Hoy, Lynette, 23–24
Imagery, 18–20.
names with, 22
supercharging your imagination with images, 90–91
when you don’t want to imagine that, 21–22
Impossible Burger and Impossible Foods, 7
In-house creative agencies, 108
Innovation, 84–85
Insiders, names understood only by, 48–54
examples, 53–54
Job titles, meaningful, 110–113
Kitchen Sink (blog), 24
Lawn Love, 41
LeapFrog, 12–13
Legs, names with, 22–24
can be monetized, 26–27
legs can help names work as a family, 25–26
wobbly legs, 24–25
Make-A-Wish Foundation, 111, 113
Meaningful names, x. See also specific topics
Meat substitutes and analogs, 7
Meeting room names, 103–105
examples, 18
fake it to make it memorable, 17
forgettable/meaningless short names vs. long, 14–15, 64–65
personal names and, 15–17
Memorable phrases, 68–69
Mental picture, creating a. See Imagery
Millar, Glenn, 14, 17, 18, 47, 144
Misspellings. See Spelling-challenged names
Modifiers, domain name, 66–67, 71, 81–82
Movie titles, 94–95
Mozilla, 104
Music, 96–97
Mysterious names, 45
NameStudio, 67–68
.net extension, getting a, 70
Norcal Waste Systems, 21–22
Numbers embedded in name, 36. See also Alphanumeric brain-bender names
Obscenity, 26. See also Provocative names
Open-mindedness, 86, 122. See also Thinking outside your bubble
.org used for for-profit businesses, 73
Pappas, Janice, xv
Peanut Butter & Co., 62
Personal names, 1
how memorable they are, 15–17
used as business names, 23–24
Phones and phone use, 46
Phrase Thesaurus, 97
Pillow Fight, 103
PlentyOfFish, 74
Prefixes, 67
Profanity. See Obscenity; Provocative names
Pronunciation. See also Spelling-challenged names
hard-to-pronounce names, 33, 54–60
names commonly mispronounced, 56–57
words that can be pronounced two ways, 59
Provocative names, 10–12, 26, 53
Puns, 97–98
Racial terminology, 52
Religion, 11–12
Restrictive names
examples, 42
lock you in and limit growth, 40–42
Richman, Olivia, 11
Riverbed Technology, 104
Search engine optimization (SEO), 64
Search engines. See Google Search
Self-assessment tool. See Brand name(s): rules for reviewing
Sexuality. See Provocative names
Siri, 36
Smile, names that make us, 5–6
SMILE & SCRATCH name evaluation test, x, 3, 86, 121, 124, 139, 194. See also specific topics
names that pass the, 97–98
overview, 6
qualities of a super-sticky name, 3–4, 6–32
Song titles, 96–97
Spelling-challenged names, 21, 33, 35
examples, 37
getting a name you have to spell out, 70–71
getting cute with numbers, 36
names that could be spelled many ways, 35–36
not spelled like they sound, 34–35
testing to see if name is spelling challenged, 36
Spoon Me, 98–99, 120–121, 126, 140
Starter words, 87–88
Stock photography websites, 90–91
Stock symbols, clever, 106–107
Stocks with hard-to-pronounce names, 54
Suffixes, 67
overused, 44
Suggestion, power of, 7
Suggestive names, 7–10
Sweet Jesus Ice Cream, 11–12
Tame (flat, descriptive, uninspired) names, 46–47
descriptive names don’t have to be, 47
examples, 48
Thesaurus websites, 88–89
Thesaurus.com, 88–89
Thinking outside your bubble, 49–50
Ticker symbols, clever, 106–107
Toastmasters International, 109
ToiletTree, 21
Top-level domains (TLDs), 70–73
Trademark attorney, 85
Trademark experts, 130
Trademark infringement, 37, 38, 40, 73–74, 79
Trademark screening, 98, 120, 124, 125, 130
domain names and, 73–74
registering, 126
Tribune Publishing Company (formerly Tronc), 116
Ultimate Dream Job Challenge, xv
Universal resource locator (URLs). See Domain name(s)
Urban Dictionary, names in, 51–53
Veggie burgers, 7
Weight Watchers (WW), 116
Wells Fargo, 20
Workplace, the power of names in the, 102–103
Writing down name ideas, 87
Yellow Fever, 52
Zamboni, Frank, 7–8
Zamboni Company and Frank
Zamboni, 16–17
Zenyo, 78