Starting your own business is exciting. You have taken that step to set up your own company and now you are pinning down the specific details to make your dream happen. In order to register your new company with Companies House, you need to fulfil a number of criteria, one of which is to have a company name. But how do you do this?
How do I come up with a catchy business name?
While there are many tips for how to come up with a catchy business name, here are a couple of suggestions to help you in the process:
1. Mash-ups Choosing two or three words that are meaningful to you and your business and mixing them up to form your companies name. Examples of this include Lego (from the Danish “leg godt”, which means to “play well”) or Groupon (Group + Coupon). 2. Acronyms Another way is to use the first letter of every word in a phrase or parts of words or names. For example, 3M, the multinational conglomerate corporation, used to be known as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. 3. Get inspiration from mythology and literature Greek and Roman mythology are a great option to help you choose your company name. For example Nike is derived from the Greek word meaning Winged Goddess of Victory.
What are the rules for business names?
Once you have the creative ideas flowing there are some general rules of thumb for choosing your business name
1. Give your business a name that people say pronounce and spell. Business names that no one can say or spellToday, over 90% of online searches are done using Google’s search engine, but the business wasn’t actually intended to be called ‘Google’ at all.In fact, the business was supposed to be called Googol, the spelling of the number 1 with one million zeros after it, but it was found that the name was difficult for people to understand and the company’s founders changed it to Google, registering it in 1998.In January 2001, cleaning product ‘Jif’ changed its name to ‘Cif’ in the UK, giving the company reason to invest millions in advertising to ensure their customers weren’t confused. The name Cif was originally used across Europe as it was felt it was easier to pronounce.
When choosing your business name, it makes sense to test it with your target market to ensure it’s easy for them to say and spell. You want your target audience to be able to remember your name and recall it whenever they need your product or service. Getting it right at this stage will make your job a lot easier (and cheaper) further down the line.
2. Check the translations of your proposed business name before you commit Remember the Vauxhall Nova? One of the automotive brand’s biggest sellers at the time of launch back in 1983, the Nova was extremely popular despite its name, which literally translated into ‘no go’ in Spanish.In another example of branding-gone-wrong in other languages, KFC’s iconic ‘finger lickin’ good’ slogan became ‘eat your fingers off’ when translated into Chinese.
If you anticipate trading internationally, check common translations of the name you’ve chosen using a simple tool like Google Translate. You can also run a search of your chosen name through Google to find any potential negative connotations of the name in the search results.
If yours is an international business looking to move into the UK, be cautious of translating your name directly into English without
first checking the meaning of that word locally. A useful technique to use is localisation, whereby you have your content
localised to account for colloquialisms or slang meanings. Ask a native English speaker to check your chosen name before you register it.
3. Choose a name which is unique and does not infringe trademark laws or appear too similar to another name
In 2007, Facebook launched its game ‘Scrabulous’, quickly becoming the most popular game on the platform. The company was
forced to rebrand, however, when a legal dispute was raised claiming the name was too similar to ‘Scrabble’. It was a similar story
for Microsoft’s cloud storage system ‘SkyDrive’ which, in January 2014, rebranded to ‘OneDrive’ following a trademark dispute
with BSkyB.
The difference between this huge companies and startups is that startups simply don’t have the funding they need to fight such disputes. When selecting your business name, it’s important to comply with the Companies House regulation that your name cannot infringe copyright or be too similar to another name. Use their company information checker to search for potentially similar names before you commit.
Now that you have chosen a name, let’s look at some guidelines for how to get your business registered:
How do I register my business?
Businesses registering with Companies House are required to fulfil a number of criteria in order to complete the process:
- Have an official business address (which cannot be a residential address)
- Have registered for HMRC for tax purposes
- Have selected a business name
Take a look at our advice for registering a business as a limited company. You can also check your chosen business name isn’t already taken using the Government website’s company information check.
published under Starting a Business
