How to come up with a name for a new company and what is a business name?

Are you starting a new company and don't know what to call it? And what is a company name? We will tell you all about it! First, we will look at the company name from a creative point of view and then from a legal perspective. A suitable name will set your company apart from the competition and help you to be memorable.

How to come up with a name for your new business and brand?

You can come up with the company name yourself or outsource this task to professionals, either a creative agency or an individual. It is important to stress that the company name does not have to equal the brand name. For example, the Rohlík.cz e-shop belongs to Velká Pecka s.r.o. So, if you don't want to think long and hard about naming your company Ltd. or Inc. (i.e. a trading company) and you need to set it up quickly, it's not a problem. Feel free to come up with a suitable brand later.

Brainstorming is essential

The brand name doesn't have to accurately describe the subject of your business. On the contrary, a sufficiently vague name allows you to expand your product range in the future. If you don't use the services of experts, discuss your choice of name with other people and ask how your idea strikes them.

Coming up with the right name is a creative process, so a form of brainstorming where no idea is nonsensical is appropriate - the important thing is to have something to bounce ideas off of. Write down all your ideas. Budding entrepreneurs usually involve a future business partner, family or friends in the brainstorming session. Do you know your target audience? Great, try to find out what they think of the name, or create a questionnaire to rate the alternatives you came up with.

And how do you know if a company name is good? That's subjective, of course, but there are still a few basic attributes that a quality brand should meet. The ideal name is:

• Simple,
• short (5-12 letters),
• pronounceable in the Czech Republic and abroad,
• memorable,
• unique.

Once you have chosen a company name, we definitely recommend registering a trademark for the company name. You will prevent someone from parasitizing on your brand.

Techniques for coming up with a company name

So how exactly do you come up with a new company name? Here are a few methods that can help you brainstorm:

• Wordplay. Start with a list of words that you want your company to be associated with or that describe its business. Then start mixing them up, adding letters or prefixes. An example of a successful brand name created using this method is Slevomat.
• Acronyms. Take the initial letters or syllables of words that are relevant to your business and combine them into a pronounceable acronym. It can be the first syllables of products or your child's initials. You can also use generators such as Acronymify. This method is how IBM (International Business Machines), for example, got its name.
• The name of the founder or place of origin. In the ranking of the 100 most valuable brands in the world, 37 of them contain the name of the founder, so it is a popular technique. It was used by the Bernard brewery or the Kunín dairy. But ask yourself if you are planning to expand abroad; not all Czech names or village names are easy to pronounce abroad. The person must agree to the use of the name. And beware, if the ownership structure changes in the future, the name may no longer correspond to reality.
• Foreign word. You can get the original company name by taking a term or phrase from a foreign language. Rather, look among lesser-used languages; you'll have more confidence that you'll differentiate yourself. For example, the company name Hamé, which translates from Irish as "home", came about by translation.

Whatever technique you choose, it's important to determine a reasonable amount of time to spend coming up with a name. There is no point in getting stuck on a company name for months; price and quality of product or service will always be more important to customers. Spend no more than 14 days on this task. If you are still dissatisfied after that, don't despair. In the early days, you can easily change the name. Even Amazon was originally called Cadabra.

Research competitors and trademarks

While you're thinking of a name, research the names of companies that offer similar or identical products or services. You can find inspiration while checking if there is a registered trademark on the name you are considering. However, you won't discover all collisions by checking company names; a trademark may only be registered for a product, for example.

If you want to make sure that your brand is original and that you won't discover a letter from lawyers in your mailbox after a while, order a professional search. We will be happy to do this for you as part of the trademark registration process.

Check for available domains

Before you decide on the final form of the name, check the available domains. Don't underestimate this step for any company, not just an e-shop. You'll definitely want to create your website or emails on your own domain. If you check availability early and preferably purchase the domain right away, you will save yourself a lot of trouble.

Are you planning to do business only in the Czech Republic? Even so, get a foreign .com version of the domain as well. The investment is not high, and if you decide to expand, you can be sure that the domain is yours. Then you don't have to deal with any disputes or buying from a third party. You can check the availability of the domain on the CZ.NIC website or, in the case of foreign variants, on the Instant Domain Search page.

What is a business company?

We've covered how to choose a business name and creativity is definitely an important part of the process, but to do this you must also meet the legal requirements. A company name is referred to as a trading name, which according to the Civil Code is the name under which a company is registered in the commercial register. The "business name" is usually the same as the name under which the company appears in public, but this is not the rule.

All companies in the commercial register must have a business name, and each company can only do business under one name. A statutory addendum indicating the legal form of the company (e.g. Ltd. or Inc.) is a mandatory part of the business name.

Need help registering a trademark or starting a business?

You should protect your unique name. Use our trademark registration service and become the true owners of your brand.

Are you planning to start a business and don't want to deal with the paperwork involved in setting up a company? Contact us. We will prepare a company completely online exactly to your liking and advise you on how to choose a company name. And if you have any questions, fill out the contact form and we'll get back to you.