What’s in a name? A lot apparently, as entrepreneurs, artists, and makers of all kinds spend enormous amounts of energy searching for the right name for their business, project, organization, or creation. Below, you’ll find the stories of how various successful brands, creators and entrepreneurs came up with their names.
Brynn Snyder

Absolutely, naming a business can be a huge challenge! For Slate, Dr. Snyder initially considered calling it “Pulse” because of the vibration feature in the flosser, which aligns with that idea of pulse-like movement. But I wanted to go beyond something so literal. I was focused on the real purpose of our product—giving people a clean, fresh start for their oral health. So, I suggested “Slate.” The name captures that feeling of a “clean slate” for your mouth, and our tagline evolved naturally from there. “Your Mouth. Slate Clean.” felt like the perfect fit—an invitation to start fresh with your oral health every day. It’s simple, memorable, and aligns with our mission to empower people to take control of their health in a meaningful way. Read more>>
Caitlin Locascio-king

When my business partner, David, and I decided to formally join forces earlier this year, we knew that our name had to be perfect. We have been working together for sometime on branding, marketing and social media for our clients so our brand had to be spot on. We spent many working sessions together before we came up with one of our best collaborations: Magenta Fusion Brandworks. This is a division of my longtime company, Modern Marketing Legal, and we crafted a complimentary and cohesive logo to bring MFB and MML together. Read more>>
Oli Hoskins

My partner and I created SoftBoysClub as I was coming into my own Trans-masculine identity. We noticed an overwhelming pressure in our community to appear stoic and tough. It felt like this pressure was seeping into every aspect of life including physical appearances, expression through clothing, the roles we should take on in relationships, and the way we should and shouldn’t express our emotions. As a very soft person, this pressure had made it hard for me to come to the conclusion that I was Trans-masculine in the first place. I began to understand why Cis-men felt so stifled by their upbringings, too. I wanted to break down the toxic masculinity that was making it’s way into our community of beautifully gentle and kind-hearted trans men, non-binary people, and trans-masculine folks. Read more>>
Vee M

When I think about how Sita and Sarah came to be, it all starts with two women who were the heart and soul of our family. Sita, with her rich knowledge of Ayurveda, taught me that true beauty is not just skin-deep—it’s about balance, harmony, and treating your body with respect. Sarah, with her natural remedies and homemade concoctions, showed me the power of simplicity and how to use what nature provides to heal and nourish. I grew up surrounded by these rituals, watching them carefully blend oils, herbs, and flowers to create the most healing, nurturing products. Read more>>
Mekhi Terry

“Human Target” originated from the events happening in my own life during the pandemic around late 2020. During that time I was enrolled in at Georgia State University for my freshman year. Shortly after only enrolling a couple of months into school, would I end up losing both of my jobs, along with other unforeseen circumstances. My vision for my future quickly started to come into question as to how I would support both myself & my education. I was extremely distraught, confused, & frustrated with life. It felt as if I was being punished or that I was cursed. After seeking out insight & guidance from my father, as to what steps I should take next in order to get back on my feet. When I got off of the phone with my father, with the mix of emotions I was going through it came to me. I grabbed my notebook and started sketching around the idea of being a “human target”, the world was throwing whatever it could at me. I gained inspiration through my own life struggles and built a canvas using my own two eyes. Read more>>
Marcus Davila

Branding in the social media age is something you generally want to only do once. Coming up with something that embodies our vision as filmmakers, our staff as a whole, and a name people will be interested to learn more about was a difficult choice but my wife Sabrina and I felt that the Film and Entertainment industry is a jungle and we want to act as the King of the Jungle would. LionsAct Productions is the brand we chose that we felt had an impressionable name befitting our no nonsense attitude about our work. We act as a Lion would act, in every day, meeting, and set we work on. It’s always all business and getting the job done with our best efforts given every time we attach ourselves to a project. LionsAct Productions takes immense pride in our films, commercials, and projects we produce and are competitive in our approach. Read more>>