Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? So, we asked some very sharp folks to tell us the stories of how they came up with the names of their brands.

Alicia Countryman | Product & Food Photographer

When I was first starting out in photography, I wanted to find a clever name. I thought “Photography by Alicia” was too boring, so I started using “Forever Moments by Alicia.” It was cheesy. I had a friend, who was also a photographer, who used her middle name for her business name. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of using my first and middle name in my business title: Alicia Jeanne Photography. But there is much more meaning to my middle name.My Great Aunt’s name was Jean Ellen. Sadly, she passed away at the age of 11 along with my great-grandparents in a house fire in 1936. My grandpa was the only survivor. Read more>>

Grant Pruitt | President of Whitebox Real Estate

This company was founded to be different. Dallas-Fort Worth has a great legacy of commercial real estate pioneers and entrepreneurs (Trammell Crow, Mack Pogue, John Eulich, Henry S. Miller, Roger Staubach, just to name a few). Most of real estate in this town can be traced back to these men, and most professionals and companies in commercial real estate were operating from the same playbook that hadn’t changed since the 1980s. I wanted to be mindful of this great, rich legacy, and take the good parts, but I wanted to update it a little bit and bring a new type of commercial real estate firm to the market with a new type of agent. Read more>>

Megan Mejia | Owner of Lighthouse Bridal

The first thing people ask or assume is that we are located in Lighthouse Pointe but we’re not! We’re in the heart of Fort Lauderdale and we’re called Lighthouse Bridal because we simply love Lighthouses and the meaning behind them. Lighthouse: a tower or other structure containing a beacon light to warn or guide ships at sea. My husband and I got engaged the most beautiful, scenic lighthouse in Kauai Hawaii nearly seven years ago and got married not to far from our most dear Lighthouse that stands in Lake Huron in Port Austin, Michigan. That is how and why we chose the name Lighthouse Bridal! Read more>>

Anne Billings | Photographer

My first career was a kindergarten teacher. I knew when I named my business I wanted the name to be geared towards children since I have always had a calling to work with kids. Since my initials are AB, Annie Bee was a perfect balance of a child-like name & practicality! Read more>>

Rosi Sanchez | Social Media Consultant & Founder of Mixto Social

Mixto’s meaning is derived from my heritage and culture. In Spanish, Mixto translates to mixed; blended; and stirred. My identity is a blend of cultures, my Mexican-indigenous culture, my urban community culture, my Chicano culture, and my Tejano culture all make me who I am today. My vibrancy, the vibe or the flavor that diversity, and a mix of cultures I bring to the advertising table give me a unique perspective. I named my agency Mixto after my blended cultures. Read more>>

Rosa Flores | Owner Sayulitas Mexican Food

We came up with the name Sayulitas on a trip to Puerto Vallarta where my family is from. We visited a famous beach called Sayulita and ran into a local business owner who was American. Discussing business with him gave us the idea of starting our own business. We already had experience in running a successful business within the industry we were in but were burnt out after so many years of contracts and dealing with hundreds of employees. We decided to go a different direction, my parents previously owned a few taco shops in the 90’s which I helped manage, so we decided to start one on our own and name it Sayulitas Mexican Food. Read more>>

Jessica Wiggins | Birth Doula

The name of my business has brought me smiles and questions. When I first started attending births … one of my first out of hospital births I attended was the 2nd born of my best friend. Myself and another friend attended this birth purely to support and pray over our best friend. During this time we innerceed on her befalf…praying peace over the environment and strength and surrender over her and her mind, body and spirit. There was a birth photographer there that was a blessing from the birth center. We had no idea she would be apart of the team, but our friend found it as a prayer answered. That birth was peaceful, blessed, and without any complications. Read more>>

Michael Caldwell | Yoga Studio Co-founder & Teacher

Amy and I had just returned to the United States after backpacking abroad for three and half years. She got a job working at a great family-run produce distribution company and I became the account manager for a boutique graphic design studio. One of the first client’s I worked with at the studio was Mitchell Repair Information Company. The company innovated “the automotive industry’s first collision estimating guides to include parts illustrations, prices and part numbers.” – https://mitchell1.com/history. During our staff brainstorming sessions, names were offered and debated. Read more>>

Anne Wright-Levi | Plant Shop Owner

Growing up as a descendant of Frank Lloyd Wright, the “Wright” pun was always a “Wright” fit. My great grandfather, grandfather and father had a love for nature and gardening which was instilled in me and my children as well. Drawing influence from all types of gardening from generations of Wright’s – when we decided to expand on our plantscape business Wright in the Garden seemed like the most fitting option for a shop that specializes in the sale of houseplants and a space where we could educate our customers and community on the importance of indoor and outdoor gardening for balanced wellbeing. Read more>>

John Ding | Gym Owner

When I was coming up with the name of my company, I initially wanted to choose something which reflected my Taiwanese heritage by picking something in Mandarin. Mandarin, however, tends to be a very flowing and soft language and I struggled to find a word that I felt had the proper “oomph” behind it. Mandarin also doesn’t necessarily follow the same pronunciation rules that most Roman alphabet languages do. I ended up settling on the word Kinitro, which is the Greek word for motivation. Completely left field, right? But even if you don’t know how to properly pronounce it, you’ll probably get phonetically close. Read more>>

Gina Figliuolo | Studio Manager & Singer

One of our biggest challenges was naming our company when we rebranded in 2020. We were merging 3 locations under one umbrella brand, and man, was it challenging to come up with a name. Should we name it after the owner? Should we name it after a beloved musical act? We bandied about many options, but wanted to be sure that we were original. Anything obvious was out the window. Any name that was already taken by another music school — anywhere in the country! — was also taken out of consideration. We realized that to accomplish our goal, we …well, we’d have to make something up! And that’s how Pirisen Music Lessons was born. Read more>>

Sandra Van Fleet | Retail/Resale Teacher Supply and Pet Store

We are high school Science teachers, and we needed a place to get inexpensive teacher supplies along with classroom pets. We started to think that we could combine our two passions into a successful business. Since we are a teacher supply and pet store, we thought of Teacher Creature. The teacher side and the creature side are well defined in our shop. So the Teacher Creature Store was born, along with a slogan of become a creature of habit to encourage people to shop small with us. Read more>>

Teleigha Peavy | Jewelry Designer

L.Signature Collection by L.Styles means Leigha (me) Collection my styles. I choose a company and brand name that represents me and about me, my style. I want it to stand out. I wanted a name to speak for my jewelry collection. Read more>>

Joseph Ballard | General Contractor / Designer

When trying to come up with the name of our company, we wanted something that we could build a brand around. Typically the construction industry lacks creative branding and we wanted something that would describe what we do as well as draw more curiosity into the name. Constructed Matter was chosen to be both broad in nature to encompass all we design and construct. Read more>>

Ginger Curtis | Interior Designer & Entrepreneur

Becoming an interior designer was a dream of mine that started when I was a young girl. Designing my own bedroom, arranging and using my own money to buy items that elevated the look and feel of my own little place in the world. Fast forward to my adult life and the dream re-emerged as I was battling cancer. I shared the dream with my husband and started building the design firm from my kitchen table. I didn’t want to name it “Ginger Curtis Designs”, I didn’t want the company to be about me. I wanted it to represent a lifestyle, a modern style, and an urban aesthetic. So, as I learned interior design and researched the ins and outs. Read more>>

Sharon Cooper | Hair Salon Owner

It’s kind of funny to me everything I think of it. I opened my first Salon in 2004. I was struggling to find a name I knew I wanted the first part to be Twist. I finally decided on Twist & Moves at the time I was twisting & moving into my new position as stylist & learning to be a owner. Life happened & I had close, revamp & start fresh. I open my second Salon in Tempe Arizona I decided to stay with Twist but the moves part didn’t fit anymore, because I had a different vision and a better outline & plan for this next Salon so I went withTwist & Stylez it’s catchy. Read more>>