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.

Geneva Taylor

My business is Tellis Executive Search. I like to jokingly tell people, “I couldn’t put the business in my ex-husband’s name”. But honestly, I chose my maiden name to honor my family, my parents in particular, as we came from really humble beginnings, from a blue-collar, lower class suburb of Chicago. Read more>>

Julia Cochran

When I started my company I had four children (now I have six) and I named the company using their initials. J. Elm stands for Joey, Emmie, Logan & Milo. I did this so I wouldn’t ever forget the reason behind starting this company – family. It is so easy to get lost in the weeds of the day-to-day and forget why you decided to embark on this entrepreneur journey in the first place. For me, it was to remove the limits I perceived I had encountered working for others, and to set my sights higher in order to better provide for my children. Read more>>

Tieashia Lewis

The name Heavenly Scented Candles LLC came from the idea of creating a candle that would make one think of heaven. We wanted to create a candle that would give every-one the most pleasurable experience possible with a candle, what’s more pleasurable than Heaven? Nothing. We all could use some heaven on earth, we believe we have done that with our candles. Read more>>

Kristina Trim

This was the biggest and hardest decision in opening, and i went back and forth but i knew I wanted to include Spa in the name and thought it would be a cute idea to include the suite number as well and Spa 43 was created. Read more>>

Ore-Ofe Iluyomade- John

Umoja is a Swahili word that means oneness or unity. At UmojaFit, we firmly believe in the synchronicity of all dimensions of life. We believe that fitness goes beyond just physical but impacts various areas that helps determine the quality of our life. Read more>>

Joe Borreson.

My company name originated from a band I was in during my college years up at Humboldt State University beside the redwood trees and rocky wind swept coast in Arcata, California. The singer and songwriter in the group was pretty obsessed with the band U2 at the time, and we took the line “dust cloud disappear” from a lyric in a well-known U2 song on the well loved album Joshua Tree. Read more>>

Micahla Flori .

I am definitely a believer of the spirit realm and once I did some digging on my family tree, Lula started popping up. Lula was my grandmother’s sister who passed away as a baby. I had never heard of her, but found her death certificate just before I relocated to Charlotte and had almost forgotten about that discovery at the public library in 2019. Then there were random calls from Lula, GA and scripting her name while painting to create a loc texture in a woman’s hair made me feel like she could be a significant being. Read more>>

Domy Thomas

The name of my of company is The I-10 Klipper King. I made this the name of my business because I would travel from my hometown of Lake Charles, Louisiana to Houston and all parts I’m between doing mobile haircuts. Read more>>

Vera Melissa

My studio name is Studio Kho. The name Kho came from my father who passed away back in 2019 from cancer and other health related issues. He is a Cambodian refugee who came to America in the 70s from a genocide that occurred. When my father passed away that was when I started my professional photography career and opening up my studio in 2020. Read more>>

Mendey Nabie.

The name of my company is unique to the tribe my family is originally from in Sierra Leone, West Africa. My family was born and raised into the Mende tribe and the Mende language is their first language. I have visited Sierra Leone a few times and love my culture dearly. Because I focus on natural products, and source them from Sierra Leone I decided to bring light to my family’s home country. The best part is that Africa truly is the motherland and I am grateful that I know my direct heritage and love it so I want the world to also know of the beauty of Africa. Read more>>

Eboni Johnson.

Well, Ebonis Gifted Hands came about of course using my first name. I used “Gifted” because according to the Bible we are all born with gifts, and it also says that “your gifts will make room for you”. I used the word “Hands” because I simply work with my hands. Read more>>

ReShawn Wilder

There’s this huge food blogger/influencer that had given my some advice before starting my brand. He said “whatever you do, create a name that will stick!” Read more>>

Sketch Gamble

I came up with Immortal Rose Tattoo & Art Gallery from my mother when I was child. She used to always say she wants her roses before she dies. While I’m a kid I didn’t have any money to keep buying roses to give to her so I would draw them. Everyday I would draw her a rose and she would critique it. Every day I would get better and better at drawing her roses. Once I got to the point of deciding I would become a tattoo artist she told me if I was serious about it she would be my first client when I got into a shop. Read more>>

Tracy Charbatian

I like this question! My business is named Rosie Tot Baby, and this name comes from my daughters middle names. I have two daughters- aged 8 and 10- with the middle names Rose and Sophie. I wanted to incorporate them in my business name, but I didn’t want it to be very obvious, so I combined their middle names – “Rosie”. I really want to build something for them and show them that it can be done as a woman, even with children and a family. Also, give them an opportunity to help me build the business and maybe continue it when I’m done! Read more>>

Paloma Culver

“Cultivating” is a verb which means it’s an action. The definition for “cultivating” is trying to acquire or develop (a quality, sentiment, or skill) or apply oneself to improving or developing. Our mission is to be an outlet that helps you break up all negative “clutter” in your life! Whether it’s clutter that we store in our heads, physical spaces, or body. We collect all sorts of negative stuff through life from either ourselves, others, and our environment. Negative stuff sticks like a magnet and we have the power to detach from it, but it takes time and support to cultivate it. Read more>>

Patricia Desert

I had a dream. This feels like the beginning of Martin Luther King’s speech, but every aspect of my entrepreneurship journey started as a nightly dream. I think this is because, as an overthinker, deep sleep is the only time I can listen to God and review my ideas with clarity. Read more>>

Matthew Martin.

I got the nickname “Ten Four” from my grandfather. My birthday is on October 4th (10/4), so every time I’d see him he’d greet me by saying “ten four good buddy!”. When it came time to pick a name for my video work “Ten Four Visuals” felt like a very natural choice. In fact, I don’t think I even considered any other names. I love it because it has a personal meaning for me and it’s just got a nice ring to it! Read more>>

Keiona Allen-syms

I remember like it was yesterday, I was working at my previous job and I was trying to come up with a concept that not only would embody my brand but make it personable for my every day life. I know I needed something that would ring a bell and also something that wasn’t just one sided for one particular item i would curate over time. Read more>>

Ryder Visuals.

I attended Columbia College Chicago where I majored in creative writing. I developed a love for the camera early in my life but it was around the time I first started in school where I decided to go the professional route. Since I was transitioning into something new, aside from my writing, I wanted to pay homage to my other creative side, since I knew that it could go hand in hand with my business. Read more>>

AunnaMaria Cooke

Blaque Magik Healing was born Messages Of The Ancestors. But I changed the name due to me wanting to expand from a solely service based business to a service provider business with products to sell. I also wanted the name to cover all of the services that I offer while being fitting of me and who I am. Black being my favorite color. Healing being what I do and Magic being what I am. I had a convo with my spirit team & my Egun. Read more>>

J’La Scott

I came up with the name “Rebel Life” for three different reasons. One, after years of not feeling like it was okay to be my true self and feeling like I had to be like others to fit in, I finally chose a different path. I went on a journey of self-discovery and self-love and realized that it took what felt like me being a rebel to ultimately lead to my happiness and the most fulfillment I had ever felt in my life. This period of time seemed to happen around the same time I got heavily into fitness, which I also felt contributed to the amazing journey of finding myself. Read more>>

Allison Paschal

My business partner and I wanted something that was simple but made sense for a salon. We didn’t want to do anything with our names and wanted something to do with hair color. Daily the word “tone” or “shade” gets thrown around when talking with clients, but we just kept going back to HUE. We are very passionate about coloring to enhance the natural beauty of our clients. Hue Hair Studio just clicked for us! Read more>>

Jamerica Jeffries

I remember when I first started my spice line & having no idea what to call it. I racked my brain for days trying to think of something catchy and unique but still urban and off the wall. I knew like my own name “Jamerica” I wanted something that would catch anyone’s attention no matter race, gender, age. I wasn’t opposed to using my nickname, “Jam” in my business’ name either— as long as it was catchy. There’s so many successful funky names on the market, owned by people of all different races so I knew I could have one as well. Read more>>

Sydney Harp and Rodney Harp N/A.

Our company, 4té is a new mobile social media app. The name 4té is a play on the word forte, meaning “a thing at which someone excels.” Our app is dedicated to showcasing an individual’s specific talent(s). Read more>>

Denise Reese

During a beach vacation in Summer 2019, just before I started a new position, I was reading an article in O, The Oprah Magazine where Melinda Gates was interviewed. She said something about grace that struck me. She was talking about the work the Gates Foundation was doing and mentioned the grace we have to extend to others when we’re telling their stories. I remember how profound that seemed. And there was something about that word — grace. It lingered in my mind, but eventually vacation ended and I went back to work and my day-to-day life. Read more>>

Julie Sales

The story behind my business name started from my family’s roots. I am mixed with Hawaiian and wanted my legacy with my business to pay homage to my heritage. My father has raised my brother and I on the mainland so I have never had the privilege of experiencing everything my culture has to offer. Finding different ways to include my culture in my business model has given me opportunities to not only educate myself but also my clients as well! Read more>>

Kayla Cherry.

I love my last name and, I’ve always wanted to incorporate it into my business name somehow. At first, I was thinking of using my initials and naming my company “K.M. Cherry’s”, but I spoke with a branding expert, and she suggested I just change it to “Cherry’s” to keep it simple. I eventually decided to change it to “Cherry’s Products” When I was first thinking of the logo design, I immediately thought I should use three cherries to represent me, my brother, and my sister. Read more>>

Jan Myers.

The name Stone Soup ISC stems from the childhood story of a traveler enticing a poor village to work together to produce a meal everyone could enjoy. The traveler had mentioned how much better the soup would be if only it had potatoes. A villager contributed potatoes. This continued until a wonderful pot of soup was created through individual contributions from what little each home had in their pantries; potatoes, carrots, corn, etc. Read more>>

Jerrilynn Thomas

I landed online in the mid ’90s when it was merely a series of bulletin boards, listservs, and less than 30,000 websites with a dream to connect with like-mind women from across the globe while bringing in additional income for my family. It was a Godsend for me since I was extremely introverted. Some of the same women I met at the start of my journey on the Digital Women listserv are still a part of my networking circle. Read more>>

Charissa Grant.

I’m in an entrepreneurial business savvy FaceBook group for women that’s based in the UK. I’m not even sure how I ended up in this group but I stayed in it because they were very supportive, business minded and fun. I posted that I wanted to open a selfie studio, provided pics for example and they loved it. Apparently they don’t have them there so it was new & exciting to them. When I started scouting locations I knew I needed a catchy name. Read more>>

Marquita Moten.

My goal as the owner of Crown to Sole Naturals has always been to highlight the indelible connection between the mind, body and spirit. All of my products are natural, original recipes that can be used from head to toe. I wanted the name of my business to incorporate those aspects, so Crown to Sole Naturals was born. Read more>>