Product naming is the discipline of deciding what a product will be called, and is very similar in concept and approach to the process of deciding on a name for a company or organization. Product naming is considered a critical part of the branding process, which includes all of the marketing activities that affect the brand image, such as positioning and the design of logo, packaging and the product itself. Product naming involves the application of creative and linguistic strategy and results in a brand name that becomes a product’s shorthand.
The process involved in product naming can take months or years to complete. Some key steps include specifying the objectives of the branding, developing the product name itself, evaluating names through target market testing and focus groups, choosing a final product name, and finally identifying it as a trademark it for protection.[1]
A key ingredient in launching a successful company is the selection of its name.[2] Product names that are considered generally sound have several qualities in common.
Brand names typically fall into several different categories[3].
Names created from the initials of longer names: AFLAC, IBM, M&M (for Forrest Mars and Bruce Murrie).
Names created by taking parts of words and putting them together: Nabisco (National Biscuit Company).
Fun to say, and particularly memorable: Nutter Butter, YouTube, Piggly Wiggly.
Use the idea for one thing and apply it to another: Caterpillar, Reebok.
Descriptive names ascribe to the product a characteristic: Toys R Us, General Motors.
Invoke a vivid image that alludes to a brand benefit: London Fog, Amazon.
A completely new made-up word: Kodak, Verizon.
Use a foreign word or phrase as a brand name: Volvo for "I roll".
Use the name of a founder of founder family member: Hewlett-Packard, Wendy's.
Use a founder's nickname: Adidas aka Adolf Dassler, Kinkos.
Base the name on ingredients: Clorox for chlorine plus sodium hydroxide, Pepsi for the digestive enzyme pepsin.
Chose a name associated with company/product location: eBay for East Bay, Fuji for the tallest mountain in Japan.
For a name with personality: Yahoo!, Cracker Jack.
When two companies merge into one, sometimes both names are kept: ExxonMobil, Rolls Royce.
Use alternative spellings for common sounds: 2(x)ist, Krispy Kreme.
Create a character or adopt an existing personage: Green Giant, Midas Mufflers.
Use a sound associated with a product function or other brand idea: Twitter, Meow Mix.
Names don't have to be just a word or two: Seven for All Mankind, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.
Linguistically, names are developed by combining morphemes, phonemes and syntax to create a desired representation of a product.
Morphemes differ from words in that many morphemes may not be able to stand alone. The Sprint name is composed of a single word and a single morpheme. Conversely, a brand like Acuvue is composed of two morphemes, each with a distinct meaning. While "vue" may be able to stand as its own word, "acu" is seen as a prefix or a bound morpheme that must connect to a free morpheme like "vue."[4]
Phonemes are minimal units of sound. Depending on the speaker’s accent, the English language has about 44 phonemes.[5] In product naming, names that are phonetically easy to pronounce and that are well balanced with vowels and consonants have an advantage over those that are not. Likewise, names that begin with or stress plosive consonant sounds B, hard C, D, G, K, P or T are often used because of their attention-getting quality.[6] Some phoneme sounds in English, for example L, V, F and W are thought of as feminine, while others such as X, M and Z are viewed as masculine.[7]
Syntax, or word order, is key to consumers’ perceptions of a product name. Banana Republic would not carry the same meaning were it changed to "Republic Banana." Syntax also has significant implications for the naming of global products, because syntax has been argued to cross the barrier from one language to another.[8] (See the pioneering work on Universal Grammar by Noam Chomsky)
Some specific product naming techniques, including a combination of morphemes, phonemes and syntax are shown in the graph below.
| Method | Brand |
|---|---|
| Alliteration | Coca-Cola |
| Oxymoron | Krispy Kreme |
| Combination | Walkman |
| Tautology | Crown Royal |
| Theronym | Mustang |
| Mimetics | |
| Eponym | Trump Tower |
| Description | Cinnamon Toast Crunch |
| Synecdoche | Staples |
| Poetics | USA Today |
| Metonymy | Starbucks |
| Allusion | London Fog |
| Haplology | Land O'Lakes |
| Clipping | Fed Ex |
| Morphological borrowing | Nikon |
| Omission | RAZR |
| Acronym adaptation | BMW |
| Acronym | KFC |
| Founder's name | Ferrari |
| Classical roots | Pentium |
| Arbitrary | Apple |
| Reduplication | Spic and Span |
A consideration companies find important in developing a product name is its "trademarkability." Product name trademarks may be established in a number of ways:
In addition, protecting a trademark is just as important as the initial process of registration. Trademark rights are maintained through actual use of the trademark, and will diminish over time if a trademark is not actively used.
Companies need to consider whether they can own a name in the digital realm. Owning a dotcom is critical for some companies, as is owning a brand name on Facebook, Twitter, and other types of sites. In modern communication, the trademark is just the start of owning a name.
Because English is widely viewed as a global language, with over 380 million native speakers, many international trademarks are created in English. Still, language differences present difficulties when using a trademark internationally.
Many companies have stumbled across the importance of considering language differences in marketing new products.
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