Should You Care?

A friend of mine is almost set to launch his brand new online store, his dream for a long time. I still remember how he stumped me with a simple question: What should I name my store?

Sounds simple, but this may get really tricky. Although I couldn't suggest him something instantly, but as days passed, and I continued to think, some thoughts came in. I am jotting them here:

At first, based on the plot (online store), my mind was focused only on that theme. My key takeaway in that exercise was: Don’t limit yourself to only “online store” names. Even if you have an online store, that doesn’t limit you.

Think about Amazon — this is a fabulous name and it really doesn’t address the fact that it is a commerce company in the title. But it does present an image of something gigantic and exotic. It works great!

Apple: So simple, and apples are a sign of vitality and intellect — “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” and “give your teacher an apple at school”.

Chegg: A portmanteau of “chicken” and “egg”. It doesn’t explicitly address what the company offers, but it is memorable and requests questions about the origin of its name.

Beard King: This company sells beard products online like brushes and oils. They profess to be the king of this market. Beard King. Doesn’t get much simpler than that.

So what did I learn? Names that are inherently catchy, generally monosyllabic or bisyllabic, and often don’t explicitly reference the products that are being sold or the services being offered.