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We have a saying at Northbound, "an effective name is 90% strategy." It is true. Names are the first way your customers engage with your product, service, company, feature (the list can go on). That's why its so important to make sure it lands the way you intend it to and you think through your names in context of your portfolio. But, how do you craft a name from a strategy first perspective? Let's give you a sneak peek into it.
There are four primary ways of describing different types of names
You can look at naming with different lenses and Northbound is publishing a series of articles that explain four of them: legal, structural, creative, and linguistic. This article covers the legal lens – how a trademark lawyer may evaluate different types of names. It’s one of the most common lenses to view naming.
When you apply to trademark your name, it will be evaluated according to a naming spectrum. The spectrum for naming has five categories: generic, descriptive, suggestive, arbitrary, and fanciful. The spectrum is helpful shorthand for knowing the implications you face with your name choice. It can help you understand:
• How well your name likely eases customer wayfinding
• To what extent you can really own your name
• How differentiating your name will be
• What level of investment is likely needed
• And the list goes on
When you begin a naming exercise, it’s good to keep this spectrum in mind so you can consider a range of options that have various legal, marketing, linguistic, and financial implications. Let’s go through each type of name and what to think about when creating across the spectrum, using the naming of AI chatbots as examples.
Generic Names
What are they: Generic names are common terms shared by all in an industry – words that don’t distinguish one source from another. The name is simply what the product is. If you’re creating a chatbot, a generic name would simply be AI chatbot. It doesn’t differentiate you from the other chatbots, but it does allow for customers to know what you’re talking about without any added investment.
Microsoft took this approach when creating the name Copilot. They intentionally did not seek a trademark on the name to encourage its genericization – a process by which a brand becomes synonymous with the generic type of product itself and is freely used by all, as seen in the name of Salesforce’s Einstein Copilot.
There is no real way to own a generic name in terms of trademark. It’s up for grabs by everyone – this isn’t necessarily a bad thing because it also has low risks associated with it. And as seen in the case of Microsoft, you may be signaling your leadership by creating a new category for the industry.
Descriptive Names
What are they: Descriptive names are words that literally describe what it is, what it does, or how it works. When you look at the name you should know fairly quickly what it’s all about. An example descriptive name for an AI chatbot would be ChatGPT. You can see subtle differences between the generic “AI Chatbot” and the descriptive “ChatGPT.” Here we are starting to get more into the specifics of how the product works, in this case the product combines a chat functionality with a generative pre-trained transformer (GPT).
For a descriptive name to land, you really need to understand the product, what it does and how it works. Without a clear understanding of its purpose, it is hard to describe it to your customers. It is also easy to make your names long when naming descriptively – you can see how OpenAI went with an acronym to solve that. The challenge should be to be as concise and clear as possible. While you can’t always prevent competitors from using part or all of a descriptive name, you can still create some uniqueness. There are other possible GPTs out there, but only one ChatGPT.
Suggestive Names
What are they: Suggestive names are real words that can evoke an idea or benefit and have multiple, layered meanings. They are right in the middle of the naming spectrum. These kinds of names must be trademarked, and they create implied customer understanding, and really begin to differentiate the offering. They are easy-to-get names that evoke a related benefit or metaphor. A good example of a suggestive name for a chatbot is Manychat. It uses “chat” as a grounding term, while suggesting a benefit of reaching many customers via automation.
If you are working with a complex product portfolio, it is important to start thinking about the idea of “hero brands” as we move into the suggestive, arbitrary, and fanciful side of the spectrum. If you have three products: Sales Chatbot, Customer Service Chatbot, and Manychat, you are – whether you like it or not – creating gravity around Manychat because it’s so different. It’s going to stand out as a hero (if it’s a good product). That could be a great thing, but you need to know that you’re doing it. When creating suggestive names, try to consider benefits, use metaphors for your product, or think about what your product can do for your customers. These can help spark creativity for a great suggestive name.
Arbitrary Names
What are they: Arbitrary names are common words that are used in an unrelated context. Without added support, they quite literally describe something else. Take for example, Gemini, Google’s AI brand. Without investment in the name Gemini you may think I am talking about the astrological sign. While Gemini could be using a metaphor (more on that below), it’s not obviously describing an AI chatbot.
Arbitrary names are great for differentiation and ownership, but they do need investment for customers to make the connection to what you’re offering. These types of names also offer high ownability via a trademark. When creating arbitrary names, you must understand how the name makes people feel and any distant associations it presents. Perhaps for Gemini, it was about sounding advanced and scientific with the astrological, outer space associations, or that the experience is so naturally human it's like speaking with a twin.
Fanciful Names
What are they: Fanciful names are coined words for which meaning needs to be established. In other words, they are invented words that don’t exist in any natural language. A chatbot example is Sora from OpenAI. Fanciful names are sometimes the most challenging to market, but also offer the most opportunity to say something new.
When creating a fanciful name, consider how the word looks, and how easy it is to say and spell. These can help guide some of your decisions: Try to avoid letter combinations that can be pronounced multiple ways – think: tear (crying) v. tear (rip). Whatever hinders easy searching or sharing via word of mouth won’t help your brand growth. Also, like mentioned above, fanciful names signal heavy differentiation in your portfolio and should be used wisely. If everything in your portfolio has a fanciful name, does that really help customer understanding? Or is it a confusing mess? Consider creating as few of these types of names as possible (if any) when working within a complex portfolio.
Hopefully now you understand why we say naming is 90% strategy. It takes a lot of forethought: big picture and little picture thinking. Remember, there is no one right answer to naming and you should pick a name that is right for you and your company. Once you’ve mastered naming 101, consider checking out our post on the three elements of a successful name. These can help bring your name to the next level.
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