Naming: Products and Babies

My husband and I are currently working on naming Baby #2. If you’ve ever tried to name a child, you’re familiar with the painstaking process.

You refer back to that list in your phone you’ve been tweaking for the past 12 years (that one you started before you even met your significant other); you scour borrowed baby name books; you search and re-search the same website lists day after day.

So many names… so many objections. That one just sounds like an adult—can you picture a baby with that name? But what about the initials—no way! Uh-ah… I once went on a terrible first date with a Joe, John, Jason, Jay, etc. That one reminds me of car part, an animal, a Disney character, a backwards town in West Texas with a population of 37.

You move on to consider family names. More objections. That one’s already been taken by my sister; but we already used a name from your side of the family; I’m not a big fan of that name; I’m not a big fan of that family member. Well, maybe for a middle name?

Slowly, you start to narrow down your list. But you spontaneously decide to check last year’s list of top 100 baby names online and see a few of yours made the list. Is number 88 on 2017’s list of top baby names too popular? Oh no, my sister’s friend’s cousin just named her son that! Is that name becoming too common? Nope, a chick I went to high school with (that I haven’t seen in 17 years, yet I’m Facebook friends with) named her kid that.

But finally, by some miracle, you determine your top three!

And your partner hates them all.

Throughout my career, I’ve had the opportunity to participate in naming quite a few products, features, restaurants, hotels, etc. It’s a huge challenge, and also one of my favorite assignments.

You typically begin with client input. What is the DNA of the brand? Who is the target audience? What image do we want to portray? Oftentimes, you start with the client’s own list of names they’ve been toying with the past few years.

How does that name make you feel? Does it have any negative connotations?

Should we consider other brands in the family? Could they share certain parts of their name?

Wait a minute, there’s a hotel in Austin that already has that name! Oh no, there’s an Asian fusion restaurant in Hoboken that kind of sounds like ours. Ha—there’s a chain of laundromats in Alaska that have already claimed that one.

Finally, your team determines your top list of recommendations.

And the client hates them all.