Asking me for business name ideas

If you don't love your business name, or you're still deciding, just ask me — "can you suggest a business name?", "I need name ideas", "what should I call it?". I'll come back with a suggestion built on what I already know about your business, so you don't have to explain yourself again first.

How it goes

I suggest one name at a time. If it doesn't land, say so and I'll come back with a different one. I won't pad the answer with extra names I made up just to look like a longer list.

I'll tell you what I based it on. If a name came from what you offer, or who you serve, I'll say so. That matters: if I've built on something that's wrong, you can correct that instead of just rejecting the name.

Steering helps. Tell me the feel you're after — friendly and local, premium, plain and clear — and I'll fold that in alongside everything else I know about you, not instead of it.

Sometimes I come up short. If I can't produce a name I'd actually stand behind, I'll tell you that plainly rather than hand you a weak one, and I'll ask for the one detail most likely to help.

Suggesting isn't renaming

Nothing changes until you pick a name and tell me to use it. When you do, two things are worth knowing: your web address stays the same — it's fixed when your business is first set up and doesn't follow a rename — and your published website keeps showing the old name until we actually update it. I'll offer to do that; see "Asking for changes to your website".

If I don't know enough yet

If I have nothing at all to go on, I'll ask what you offer rather than invent something. The more of your Business Identity profile is filled in, the better the suggestions get — a name built from a clear sense of your offer and your customers beats one built from a blank slate.