An important part of starting your own business is choosing a catchy business name. Ideally, you want a name that lingers good and sounds good. You also need nowadays to think that the company should do well on the internet.
Follow those rules to get the best business name.
First the three rules governing trade, as determined by the Chamber of Commerce:
- The name must be distinctive: a name like “laundry” or “restaurant” is not distinctive enough. Also, it is not usually permitted only separate letters or numbers, or in combination with other words, incidentally.
- No confusing or misleading name: with a confusing name you should think of a name that is too reminiscent of another company when there is no connection. A misleading name is one that gives the impression that a company is larger or nicer than in reality. A small grocery store may not call themselves e.g “Smith Mega Store” and someone who “Smith” name may not be sporting as “Donald Cyber Cafe”. More about deceptive trade names can be found on the website of the Chamber of Commerce
- No existing brand: a brand is not the same as a trademark, a brand is the name under which you are selling a product or service and the brand name is the name of the company. It is wise to choose a brand name for your company name, the one with the brand name is usually stronger than the one with a trade. About trademarks and trade-names look at SMEs Service desk.
Choose a Business Name
Okay, those are the names that you can not choose, but now how do you choose the right company name? Firstly, it is important that the name is available, duplicate names are not allowed. So check in the Trade Register of the Chamber of Commerce or the name does not exist. Additional fee you can also execute a Trade Examination, there is not only the names that are written the same, but also those who sound the same (and not allowed too), costs around € 90.
The chamber of commerce comes with some tips for a good company name:
- Clarity: make clear the name what the company does and how. As an example, they cite “Construction company Jan de Boer & Son ‘, this name makes it clear that Jan de Boer and his son has a construction company and further its name suggests that you get a personal treatment
- Stand out: make sure people know that you’re a different company than the competitor. The originality does depend on the type of business, a communication can become a more creative name fitting than a notary
- Consider the future: Do not specialize too much in your company name, for example “Business Card Printing The Caps” will always be limited to business cards and never may extend to a complete printing, “Printing the Case” is probably smarter
- Not too funny: humor is very personal, and it is questionable whether your customers share your humor. Also a funny name may suggest that we do not work seriously
- Easy to remember: a good name to the ear is easier to remember
Ask others their opinions, ask anyone around you what they think of the name, people who are in the industry, but also just people who know nothing about
Your business name domain
Another very important tip we want to give you is how the name it does on the Internet, now one of the most important places for acquisition. It is important that the domain name is still available. You want to at least claim the .com domain, but prefers well as many other extensions (remember the .net .org .mobi!).
Do you now devised the perfect company name, but the domain is no longer free? Do not go right invent another name, there are opportunities.
Importantly, the “active” domain is used, there is a website where for years nothing happened to it? Big chance that the owner would like to sell it to you. On auctions.godaddy.com you find out who now owns the domain and thus do offer a takeover. The domain is very active and “scores” well in Google?
Ask yourself whether or not you should choose a different name, it will in fact be difficult to compete on the Internet with a website that has been around longer.
Business name generator
Do you really have no inspiration for coming up with a name? Look for the joke in any of these name generators, mostly in English, but sometimes pretty forth a great word!