Since you are reading this article, you probably already know that naming is a difficult process with numerous hurdles and stumbling blocks along the way.

One thing that makes naming much easier is having the right people on your team to properly execute each step of the, often, frustrating process.

After working on 50,000+ naming projects with clients from early-stage startups to renowned brands like Dell, Alibaba, and Nestle, we have concluded that this is the ideal lineup for getting naming done right:

1. Branding Lead

Someone must set your brand vision! This vision will guide the rest of your naming process and help you make your final decision with confidence. Ideally, this person has a strong understanding of brand strategy and naming best practices.

2. Creatives

Next, you’ll need creative people to come up with name ideas. The more diverse perspectives, and the larger the overall list of name ideas you can create, the easier it will be to finalize an excellent name. With this in mind, the more Creatives you can recruit the better!

3. Junior Researcher

While coming up with name ideas is important, ensuring that they are available is just as critical. You’ll need to check to make sure the name ideas you come up with have a matching URL. We also recommend doing a quick check on Google to ensure each name is not clearly being used by someone else in your industry and country (FYI – you will want to perform a deeper trademark check, but this is a good first step to weed out names with clear conflict).

4. Trademark Support

In the ideal situation, you’ll have a Trademark attorney — or three — on hand to review names. If this is not possible, you’ll need to use a quality trademark research tool to help you avoid trademark conflict and a cease and desist letter down the road.

5. Target Audience

You’ll want to have individuals from your target market give you feedback on your names before making your final decision. It’s better that this is not your current customer (if you have any), your friends (if you have any 😊 ), or your internal team (if you have one). What you are looking for is unbiased feedback from your target demographic.

6. Customer Research Specialist

At this stage, it’s also helpful to have someone on your team who understands customer research best practices, as certain survey structures can be more confusing than helpful. For example, a simple and intuitive question (which so many of our customers have used before consulting with us), “Which names do you like,” is actually so problematic that it would take another article to explain all the reasons why this question should never pass through your lips throughout the naming process.

7. Decision Makers

Finally, you’ll need at least one person to make the final decision (often times this is a team decision). This person or these people need a deep understanding of the venture’s direction, as well as familiarity with brand concepts and naming best practices.

Next Steps

Now that you know who needs to be on your lineup to create the perfect name, it’s time to jump in and recruit your team 🙂

Alternatively, Atom has all the people you need, including highly experienced Branding Leads, 300K Creatives, tools for instantly checking URLs and trademarks, Trademark attorneys, and audience panels for every venture. Learn more now.