One of the most creative parts of starting something new is finding a name and it’s also one of the most challenging. Below, you’ll find the stories of how various successful brands, creators and entrepreneurs came up with their names.

Christine Santos

When my husband, a serial entrepreneur, and I decided to bring his family’s award winning green coffee to the US market, we knew we wanted to incorporate our shared loved for travel and coffee. Read more>>

Sean Andres

“Taproot Drums” came after months of prototyping and building the actual business. I wanted to let the companies mission lead the way before attaching any kind of label to it! I had the idea for hemp-based music instruments as a sustainable alternative and knew I had to find the resources to take this idea from conception to reality. I moved to Pittsburgh, PA to develop the idea with the goal of launching the business at the end of that year. Read more>>

Javonna Waldon

So I came up with the name “Nailed By J” well for starters my name starts with a J. So the “Nailed by” came from me always saying “ NAILED IT” after doing a clients nails, especially when they would ask me for something I’ve never done or a inspo set that came out looking exactly like the picture of not better, or even just something I created. I’d be like oh yeah! Cause who nailed it? Oh okay ! Nailed by WHO? Lol I always hype myself up Read more>>

Vinni Scarfo

This was actually one of those moments where we had a long board meeting discussing possible names, but The Painted Mug Cafe was suggested over text 15 minutes after the meeting ended. We are all part of the nightlife performance scene, and many of us are/were drag performers, so we threw out a of names with inside jokes for the Queer community. Some of my favorites were LGBTea and T4Tea, but none of them felt quite right. Read more>>

Matias Barang

My name is Matias, but my family calls me Häsi (pronounced “hay-zee”). I’m half Austrian, half Afghan and born and raised in LA. Like many cultures, Austrians like to generate short version of names; in this case, the short version of Matias, in german, is “Hias”. But, my brother couldn’t pronounce that growing up so he called me Häsi. The name stuck ever since! Read more>>

Zachary Lyons

My product is kind of hard to describe without seeing it. The easiest way to describe it is ‘facial decals.’ But that honestly sounds kind of lame in my opinion so when I was trying to come up with a name, I was thinking about what makes the product most interesting, which is light because they look different depending on the lighting and light is another thing that is hard to describe without seeing it. Imagine trying to describe light to a person that was born blind. Read more>>

Robin Chavis

wanted a small brick and mortar initially but owning a food truck was in my price range. I knew what I wanted my restaurant to be named but I had no idea what to name my food truck.. Most food trucks specialize in a certain type of food and I wanted to do the same. Mac n cheese kept coming to mind more than any other dish. Read more>>

Leah Barnes

The reason why I chose the name “In The Mix With Leah B.” for my podcast name is because it’s a music history podcast and the topics and artists that I discussed are from various genres of music rather it be from R&B, Gospel, Hip Hop, Jazz and sometimes pop music as well. And that’s the name came about. It’s a mixture of all those things. Read more>>

Olivia Carlino

Mudari Creative is named after my grandmother, whose maiden name was Mudari. She was a seamstress who aspired to start a line of high-fashion clothing. She made intricate pieces but was never able to bring the company to fruition as she was raising four children. The name Mudari Creative pays homage to her creativity and ambition. Read more>>

Tamara Davie

I brain stormed for days on a name for my child care and couldn’t come up with anything cute or catchy. One day I was working with one of my students and they said, “ta-da, look why I did”. I sat down later that day and rearranged the letters of my name for a bit and realized that the first two letters of my first name and first two letters of my last name spelled “ta-da”. Read more>>

Allie Lyttle

Lala’s Too is named after me – my brother couldn’t say my name (Allie) when he was younger so he called me Lala. He and my Mom still call me Lala so we felt like it would be a fun & funky name for our business! Read more>>

Kayla Burrell

The choice of the business name “Violet Rose Imperfections” holds a deep and personal significance for me. It’s a name that carries layers of meaning and reflects my journey towards self-acceptance and growth. Initially, I was drawn to the name as a conscious rebellion against my own battle with perfectionism. The juxtaposition of “Imperfections” challenges the idea of flawlessness and celebrates the beauty in embracing authenticity and individuality. Read more>>

Daryl Rembert

It all started when I was working my first job at Universal Orlando as a sales associate, I just finished junior year of high school and took an interest in graphic design. At the time I was doing graphics on my phone and wanted to take it more serious as I started to get noticed on social media so I was brainstorming names and wanted mines to stand out compared to other graphic designers in the business who had way more experience. Read more>>

Marra Avery-Drayton

What significance does Zenith Creative Co. hold for me? In the process of selecting a name for my business, I fought with the choice between a generic identity and my own name. Following months of strategic planning, I discovered the ideal resolution. I recognized the importance of conveying that my brand wasn’t centered around me, but rather around the individuals I aspired to help. Read more>>

Latiya Mckinney

How did I come up with the name behind my business ok so my first name is Latiya my middle name is Shyane so I took the first two letters out of my first name and just kept the Tiya and added Shyane Cosmetics Read more>>

Joyce Workman

I have always loved vintage. And I have always loved the color green. Read more>>

Calvin Moon

In 2022, my husband and I, along with our two rescue pups, would drive around rural areas of Kansas. In the beginning, it was so that I could take photos of some of the antique but warped dolls we had recently inherited from my grandparents house that had been abandoned for over 30 years. Dolls have been an incredible fear of mine and taking staged horror photos with them has helped me conquer my fear. Read more>>

Destiny Johnson

Creating names was always a challenging thing for me. The name ‘DMORJ’ originated from my Instagram username. It consists of letters from my full name. The “D’ from my first name Destiny, the ‘MOR’ from my middle name, and the ‘J” from my last name Johnson. Read more>>

Lexi Collins and Renee Wylder

We put a lot of thought into what we’d like our theater company to be called. One of the ways that we talked about setting ourselves apart from other theaters out there was wanting to make patrons feel like they get a whole experience walking through our doors or hiring us for their events. In thinking about our mission, naming our company after a “climbing vine” seemed very fitting for how we want to impact the community. Read more>>

Demi Rivera

My hair studio, as well as my business, is named Talking Hairs. This is a loving namesake after the post-punk band, Talking Heads. They have been my favorite band since I was a small child. My parents both listened to them, and their music, along with the solo work of David Byrne and Jerry Harrison, was a soundtrack to my upbringing. Read more>>

Tyler Martina

The story behind naming our tattoo and piercing studio Mr. Inkwells is pretty interesting. Read more>>

Mia Hall

I came up with the name ‘Parables From The Projects Productions’ through trial and feedback. At first, my dad and I were going to name our podcast ‘True Tales from the Hood’ but after using it on our first few trial episodes, we wanted something that could be more uniquely ours (as ‘Tales from the Hood’ is a popular urban Thriller.) Read more>>

Sharon Dugger

It was an evolution. Initially, I started with names that included ‘natural,’ ‘naturally’ or anything that described the nature of my business which revolved around naturally based ingredients. My first logo design contained a tree and hair roots. Then, my cousin asked me to create a lotion. I told her I’m just making oils. Read more>>

Erin Thomas

It’s actually my third business lol when I was younger I started a couple where one was travel facials and brow wax. And another was lash extensions. Trying to find my niche and what I was passionate about. So it’s the third! And it feel different it feels right. Read more>>

Hobby Bobbins

One day I was thinking about how I would like to share with the world some of the interesting hobbies I find myself hyper-focusing on and learning how to do. I wanted to create a space where people could join in to talk about their thoughts, challenges and tips when it came to particular things I may be working on. I didn’t want to create a name that would place me in on niche category, as doing the same thing all of the time would drive me nuts! Read more>>

Makida Coulter

Once I decided to open a jewelry business, my daughter and I started brainstorming and throwing ideas out there. I knew I wanted something that would be meaningful, would be part of my legacy, and would encompass my love for fashion. Read more>>

Lily Rakow

The name of my podcast is “80/20”. Like most people who start a podcast – or any new business, really – I tossed around dozens of half-decent names until someone close to me said, “Lily, you can create something better than that!”. Read more>>

Steven Freivogel

When I was first was starting out, I was very unsure of what to name the company and had come up with several terrible names. Some sounded like bk but did not want to sound like the burger company. I wanted it to be unique and came up with Black Knight as there is only one Black Knight. I later added publishing. This was to signify that I did not just create sites but we publish all items related to a one stop shop for tech. Read more>>

Leanne Lawrence

My great grandmother Mable was known for baking and making homemade ice cream around the community in Portland, Oregon. When I first started baking I knew I wanted to dedicate what I do to her, I wanted to keep her traditions strong and one of those ways was naming my business after her. It was only right to do so! Read more>>

Tyler Davidson

TenFold Real Estate… So, for many years, we have been The Davidson Group Realty. We have been a family run business for over 20 years with my parents being the owners/broker of the company. It became my time to take over and one of the things that I wanted to focus on was it being less about “us” and more about “what we offer”. Read more>>