We’re taking a break from piling up information this week and, instead, we thought we would have a bit of fun by playing our all-new Business Name Game. The rules are simple; just read the examples below and decide if these business name origins are genuine or just the overactive imaginations of our editorial team…
Play the Business Name Game: True or False?
Simply answer with a choice of true or false. Write your selections down on a piece of paper and no peeping at the answers on the bottom of the page Goblin-King Name:
- 3M – The three owners of the company struggled to come up with a suitable business name and decided to market themselves as just “three men doing business”. The 3M brand is simply an abbreviation for “Three Men”.
- Arby’s – The business name is a play on alliteration to represent the initials of RB. The RB actually stands for Roast Beef, one of Arby’s most popular menu items.
- Atari – The gaming pioneers took the Japanese word used for the imminent capture of pieces in the game of “Go”. The term is very similar to the use of “Check” in Chess.
- Bridgestone – The tire industry giants chose their business name to represent the most challenging part of their testing track for new products. The stone bridge on the track has a hard and unique gravel layer that stretches tires to their limits.
- Coca-Cola – The name was decided upon because the popular refreshment originally used coca leaves and kola nuts in the recipe.
- eBay – The global online marketplace chose their business name to represent an acronym of “Easy Buying at your Leisure” but they shortened it to eBay because customers regularly misspelled the original “eBay” name in web browsers.
- Lego – The perennially popular children’s building bricks are named after the Danish expression of “leg godt” which means “to play well”.
- Mattel – Another company synonymous with toys and children’s entertainment, the business name referred to the early metal die-cast toys they sold. Unfortunately, a spelling error on their company registration leads to “Metal” being spelled as “Mattel” and the name stuck.
- QVC – The shopping channel uses the three letters of the business name to refer to the “Quality, Value and Convenience” that their service provides.
- Sharp – The electronic giants originally started out selling innovative products from many different sectors and the business name refers to their first-ever product and an ever-sharp pencil.
Let’s take a look at how you did. Good luck!
- False – 3M actually stands for the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company.
- False – The RB actually represents the name of the company founders, the Raffel Brothers.
- True.
- False – The business name stems from the company owner, Shojiro Ishibashi, which literally translates to Bridge of Stone.
- True.
- False – The eBay business name relates to the original Echo Bay Technology Group but the full Echo Bay URL was already taken.
- True.
- False – The business name refers to Harold Matson and Elliot Handler, the original founders of the company.
- True.
- True.
- Are you in the process of naming a business but don’t quite know where to start? Unfortunately, nobody can give you a definitive answer on the best choice of name for your business but by sitting down and asking yourself a series of key questions, you should be able to formulate a more suitable set of ideas that help to eliminate the definite non-runners Goblin Name Ideas.
Naming a Business – The Big 30 Questions
- What do I want to achieve through naming a business?
- What is the nature of my business?
- Can my business name convey the nature of my business?
- What solutions are my customers looking for that I could use when naming a business?
- What emotions do I wish to promote every time a customer hears my final choice of name?
- Who are my customers and how do I present my business name to them?
- Who can help me with naming a business?
- Should I hold a business name brainstorming session?
- Is the name I prefer easy to spell?
- Are any potential misspellings I should be concerned about?
- Is it easy to pronounce?
- How does my identity sound when it is spoken over a telephone?
- Is the domain for my business name available?
- Does my name contain confusing acronyms or abbreviations?
- Is there good alliteration with my favorite choice of identity?
- Does the name clarify my business message?
- How do my team feel about the identity I have chosen?
- Have I named my business too generically?
- Could my business name be confused with similar identities used by my competitors?
- Does my preferred name invoke any negative feelings?
- Can I build a brand on my choice of name?
- If I need to, can my business name go international?
- Is there any component of the name that could cause offense in other languages?
- Is my location important enough to be included when naming a business?
- Will naming a business using my location restrict my future growth?
- Is my business name already registered?
- Is my business name already trademarked?
- Have I tested my business name by presenting it to my prospects?
- Will the name grow with my business?
- Will my choice of identity be outdated if trends or fashions change?
When naming a business, these questions should be used many times over. Naturally, some questions will only be relevant once you have a shortlist of names available but others should be considered before the process even begins. Always have them available and refer to them as often as possible.
Not every question will be relevant to your own operation and some will have no definitive answers anyway. The important thing is to ensure nothing is taken for granted when naming a business because any mistakes you make today could be expensive to rectify at a later stage.
Read more: ragavan-sreetharan-tells-4-reasons-why-sport-is-more-than-just-a-game