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.

Katie Harmon

BUSINESS NAME: HawkDigital How did you come up with the name of your company? Like many of us, the name I chose for my business was not the first, and likely will not be the last. Not to mention, the name I REALLY wanted was not available as a URL. #21stCenturyProblems So my latest rebrand took place in 2017. I attended a videography conference with a group of bad a** women known as The POSH Collective. These women are literally the coolest people ever. Read more>>

Jason Hevelone

We originally wanted to name our company after a Roman or Greek Goddess because we loved classical art depictions of females. Unfortunately, all the good Goddess names were already trademarked. So then we decided to combine two words in a unique way, and that was how we came up with CopperMuse. We chose Copper because stills are typically made out of copper and Muse because we want our distilling works to bring us and our customers inspiration. Additionally, CopperMuse wasn’t already trademarked and little things like the URL was available. The name is easy to say and spell over the phone, which sealed the deal. Read more>>

Nadya Ramos

The name of my company is MRK, pronounced mar•ka. In Spanish the word has two meanings–brand and mark. There’s a play on the spelling of the word that calls attention to the use of Spanglish in Hispanic American culture. I came up with the name after conducting months of research on the marketing and advertising industry for my master’s thesis. That’s when I learned about the huge diversity gap in the industry. Read more>>

Dora & Lemar Griffin

What’s in a name: “Timeless Visionaries” evolved from what was originally “Timeless Wedding Stories”. However, the more we discussed who we wanted to be as a company and what we wanted to be remembered for, the more we realized…we could never fit in a single box! Read more>>

Albion Sabani

AV Films is a great play on 2 major concepts. Everyone is familiar with the terms Audio and Video being represented as AV. And although I run a video production company that produces marketing films, the AV stands for something else. It’s actually the initials of mine and my wife’s names: Albi + Vanessa. Since we started the company together, it only made sense. So it’s very near and dear to my heart! Read more>>

Dr. Lynda Mubarak

I named my first book STATIONS because of a discussion I had with my grandmother when I was six years old. She told me everyone I will ever meet is occupying a different station, level or position in life filled with lessons. She reminded me to never make fun of another person’s station in life because I could be in their position at a moment’s notice. Read more>>

Chelsie Aiono

“The Mane Room” was something I thought about for a long time. I wanted my salon to be the main place for everyone and anyone. I also needed to have it relate to hair as well, hence “mane” like a mane of hair. But I specifically wanted our name to represent every person who wanted to get their hair done and feel beautiful. I wanted someone to see the name on social media and realize that they fit in here and always have a seat at the table. It’s the “main” place for everyone. No matter what you look like or who you are. This is the main place you want to be. Read more>>

Kari Presley

Naming a company can be a bit of an exhausting task. You want it to express a part of who you are and you want it to be unique. I had a long list of names in my notebook. Names like KB Photos, Kari Presley Photography, Desert Rose Photography, Bluebonnet Photography and more. I really wanted something that would be something I would want to keep forever. So I started thinking about when my love of photography began and who had the biggest impact in my early years. Read more>>

Jessica McKee

Oh this is a good question! Growing up I always loved the movie Happy feet, you know the one with the penguins. And I also REALLY loved penguins. So when it came time to pick my business name it seemed like a no brainer to choose Happy feet photography. It does seem a little silly, but it does fit the broad genre of what I capture. Including newborns, children, milestones & family! Read more>>

Melissa Lane Isaksson

Every idea starts with a problem. Ours was simple: the photography community was starting to feel like a popularity contest and not everyone had a lunch table to sit at where they felt welcomed and comfortable. We became concerned by the lack of support, quality education and encouragement of each person’s unique creative journey. As artists ourselves, we know the indisputable link between great art and free and open self-expression. Read more>>

Psyche Terry

“At Urban Hydration, our motto has always been to help people have happier, healthier lives. We wanted people of all backgrounds and from all neighborhoods to be able to access clean, gentle personal care that was plant-based and felt like It was from an expensive spa. I realized that while having eczema all of my life, I was only able to visit a dermatologist when I was an adult living in Las Vegas. At that time we decided we wanted to help provide clinical like care that was made from the power and formulations of plant ingredients. Read more>>

Taylor Wellman

Our company is called Financial Potion because we truly believe that video is the financial potion for businesses. In our opinion, video is the best way to communicate and educate an audience. People want to watch videos and people will retain the information given in a video more than if they just read the information or heard the information. Video can also come in many forms. It can be highly produced commercial or a simple Instagram reel. It can be script or it can be live. There are so many ways that video can help your bottom line. Read more>>

Linda Anthony Hill

It all goes back to the haunted house. We wanted to name the house after the original owners. The house is over 150 years old, so finding out who was the original owner was not easy. We dug into the record books at the county courthouse to no avail. Read more>>

Cord Stone

Imagining to be a space traveler and superhero as a kid (and even to this day), I constantly found myself gazing up at the stars wondering where life and music would take me. That vast expanse of blackness, illuminated by shining stars always inspired me. The bands that I created or played in during my life often had celestial connotations in the band names – Star Collector, The Space Rockers, Satellite, The Stars, and Supernova. The name Stargazer Productions naturally came to me when naming my business. Read more>>

Cynthia Wunsch

I had hired several marketing people to come up with names for my company, but I didn’t like any of them. My father has an ongoing war with squirrels, and I was looking for ways to keep them off my parents’ property, and it turns out that blue jays don’t like squirrels. I went online to find out how to attract blue jays to my parents’ property, and the first result was “Toronto Blue Jays Strike the Right Note.” I thought, what a great company name for my business! It turned out that the domain name was free, and nobody had registered that name in my county for a DBA, so I jumped on the opportunity. Read more>>

Ronnie Enns

Happy Trailer Sales was founded on the idea that the customer is the hero in our story. I think many people can relate to having a negative experience at a dealership. Either they didn’t trust the salesperson, or they felt like they were getting the run-around, or the paperwork took far too long. We wanted all of our customers to be happy customers. Read more>>

Jason Berv

We’ve started several organizations and have always taken the name very seriously. When it came to our current company, Blue Dot Coaching, we took a more playful approach. The background is that for a while we each had our own solo practice – one in personal and executive coaching, and the other in equine facilitated coaching. We often referred clients to one another. Read more>>

Bailey Moman

Royal B. The logo speaks just to how girls and royal I was feeling when this business was created. I was a rodeo queen at the time, holding my 5th or 6th title at the time. This was just an idea in the basement. A name to play on my royalty years, and the start of this business, doing custom royalty attire and sashes! I think back on it and often times, just wonder why I couldn’t have chosen something else. Read more>>

Melissa Perlman

BlueIvy Communications is the name of my Public Relations agency. Many give the name a double take, or ponder to themselves, where have I heard that before? Yes, BlueIvy also happens to be the name of Beyonce and JayZ’s first child. However, this is the story of how I came up with BlueIvy Communications when I launched the company in 2011…one year prior to the birth of Blue Ivy Carter! Read more>>

Oscar Alci

The name of my firm is Ares Luxury Properties. People often ask me this question. My last name is Alci so I was looking for a name to tie my last name and organically, Alci Real Estate Services was created. I added the Luxury part with the idea that every real estate transaction is a luxury to someone. I even say to clients who mention that Luxury can be a matchstick. Read more>>

Jeff Grant

I grew up in Arizona (‘Sand’) and then moved to San Diego (‘Sea’) right out of college. The word ‘investments’ is included because for most people, their home is their biggest investment. Read more>>

Laurent Yung

Before launching SomMailier, I worked with a fantastic local marketing agency, Ameba, to help me with the critical components of a business before launching it such as Website creation, positioning, marketing and of course the name of the business. For some people, I guess that the name comes very obviously but I was glad I worked with Ameba to help me with this task. Read more>>