By Mehdi HassanWhat should you check before choosing a startup name?
Before choosing a startup name, check that you can legally use it, that you can own it online, that people can say and spell it, and that it fits where the company is going. Those four areas break down into the 12 tests below. Run them on every finalist, ideally with your co-founders scoring separately.
The checklist is the screening stage of our wider process for how to name a startup. If you're still generating names, use the quick versions of these checks on every batch. If you have a shortlist, use the full checklist and the scorecard at the end. It's built to stop two things: picking a name you'll have to abandon, and picking a forgettable one because it was the least controversial.
Group | Tests | Type |
|---|---|---|
Legal | 1. Trademark search, 2. Company registries, 3. Confusing similarity | Pass/fail |
Digital | 4. Domain, 5. Social handles, 6. Search results | Pass/fail, then scored |
Sound | 7. Radio test, 8. Sentence test, 9. Translation and meaning | Scored, except negative meanings |
Strategy | 10. Room to grow, 11. Distinctiveness, 12. Brief fit | Scored |
Legal tests: is the business name available to use?
The legal tests tell you whether a business name is available to use without a likely conflict. They're pass/fail. A name that fails one of them is out, however much you like it, because the cost of a forced rename after launch is far higher than the cost of choosing again now.
- Test 1: Trademark search. Search the national trademark database in your main market for the exact name and close variants, filtered to the product and service classes you'll sell in. Look for live marks, not just exact matches. Our walkthrough on how to check if a business name is trademarked covers the free tools step by step.
- Test 2: Company registries. Check the company or business registry where you'll incorporate, plus a web search for the name with words like inc, labs or software. An unregistered company using the name can still have rights from use.
- Test 3: Confusing similarity. Compare the name against your closest competitors for sound, spelling and meaning. A name that sounds like a rival's, even with different letters, invites buyer confusion and legal letters.
Digital tests: can you own the name online?
The digital tests check whether you can own the name where buyers will look for you: the domain, the social platforms and the search results page. The first two are mostly pass/fail; the third is a judgment call about how hard you'll have to fight to be found.
- Test 4: Domain. Check your preferred extension and a fallback such as a get or try prefix. You don't need the exact-match .com on day one, but you do need a domain you're proud to put on a deck. Our opinion piece on whether you need a .com domain gives a verdict by stage.
- Test 5: Social handles. Check the platforms your buyers actually use. A clean handle is ideal, a simple modifier like hq or app is fine, and a handle owned by a competitor or a famous account is a fail.
- Test 6: Search results. Search the name and read the first page. If it's dominated by a large brand, a common word or something embarrassing, you'll struggle to rank for your own name. Names that return messy but unrelated results are fine; names that return a famous namesake are not.
Search is worth more weight than founders give it. As your company grows, people will search your name to find you, check reviews and read news. A name that's yours on the results page makes every bit of word of mouth convert better.
Sound tests: the radio test, the sentence test and translation
The sound tests check whether people can hear, say, spell and understand the name, which is how most names actually spread. Referrals, podcasts, sales calls and conference intros are spoken. A name that fails out loud loses customers you'll never know about.
- Test 7: The radio test. Say the name once to someone who's never seen it and ask them to type it. If they misspell it, or ask how it's spelled, score it down. Two different spellings means you'll need to buy both domains, and you'll still lose some traffic.
- Test 8: The sentence test. Use the name in the sentences customers would say: 'have you tried X', 'we switched to X', 'I'll send it from X'. Some names look great in a logo and are awkward in speech.
- Test 9: Translation and meaning. Check the name in each language of a market you plan to sell in within a few years, including slang. A negative or rude meaning in a key market is a fail; an unknown word is fine.
How to run the radio test properly
Use five to ten people outside your team, ideally a mix of native and non-native speakers of your main language. Say the name once in a normal sentence, at normal speed, as if you were on a call. Don't spell it, don't repeat it and don't show it written down.
Ask each person to type the name into a note. Count how many spell it exactly right, and note the wrong spellings: those are the misspelled domains you'll want to buy if you go ahead. Then ask them what they think the company does. You're not looking for the right answer, just for anything negative or confusing.
Strategy tests: will the name still fit in five years?
The strategy tests check whether the name fits the company you're building, not just the product you have today. They're scored, and they're the tests that separate a usable name from a good one.
- Test 10: Room to grow. Imagine the company with more products, more customer types and a bigger market. Names tied tightly to one feature, one city or one technology trend tend to need replacing later.
- Test 11: Distinctiveness. Put the name in a list with your competitors' names. If it blends in, it'll be harder to remember. Our guide to the types of brand names explains why invented and metaphor names usually score higher here than descriptive ones.
- Test 12: Brief fit. Score the name against each line of your naming brief: what you do, who it's for, the personality you want. This is where a name that tests well everywhere else can still be wrong for you.
One more consideration sits outside the checklist: how the name will look. A name with strong letter shapes or a natural symbol gives a designer more to work with. That's not a reason to pick a name, but it can break a tie. When you reach the identity stage, a brand identity checklist helps you carry the name into a full system.
How do you use the startup name checklist as a scorecard?
Use the startup name checklist as a two-part scorecard: first apply the pass/fail tests, then score the survivors from 1 to 5 on the remaining tests and add them up. Have each decision-maker score independently before comparing, so the loudest voice doesn't set everyone's numbers.
Test | How to mark it | Name A | Name B |
|---|---|---|---|
Trademark, registries, similarity | Pass or fail | Pass | Pass |
Negative meaning in key markets | Pass or fail | Pass | Pass |
Domain and handles | Pass or fail, then 1 to 5 | Pass, 3 | Pass, 5 |
Search results | 1 to 5 | 4 | 3 |
Radio and sentence tests | 1 to 5 each | 5, 4 | 3, 4 |
Room to grow and distinctiveness | 1 to 5 each | 4, 5 | 4, 3 |
Brief fit | 1 to 5 | 4 | 4 |
Total of scored tests | Sum | 29 | 26 |
The figures above are a hypothetical illustration of how to fill it in, not a benchmark. The point is the structure: Name B had the better domain, but Name A wins on the tests that affect every conversation. Without the scorecard, the domain would probably have decided it.
What happens after a name passes the checklist?
After a name passes the checklist, it moves from screening to securing. Committing money to design before legal clearance is the most common way founders end up paying for an identity twice, so work in this order:
- Get legal clearance from a trademark attorney, with a written risk opinion.
- Secure the domain, the main misspellings from your radio test, and the social handles.
- File the trademark in the classes and markets you will trade in.
- Start the identity: logo, type, color and voice, designed around how the name sounds and looks.
If no name survives, that's useful information, not failure. It usually means the brief is too narrow or the name type you picked is crowded in your category. Revisit the brief, change one constraint and run another round. If you're short on time, our comparison of a naming agency vs DIY naming covers when it's worth getting help. For a sense of what the identity stage costs once the name is settled, see our guide to startup branding cost.
