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.

Ebonie Mbeteni

The name of my company has taken some interesting twist and turns. We started off as First Class Africa. A company name that I wanted to embody the level of service that we provide in a country that unfortunately doesn’t always have the reputation of 5 star service and accomodations. However, as the company progressed and the vision of the company did not align with all the partners, I had to make the hard decision to start over and create a company that I could fully execute the vision, operations, management and financial investment without feeling like I was making all these sacrifices alone. Read more>>

Dao Au

KOI CHA – Tapioca Drinks & Snacks was founded with an inspiration from the Legend of the Koi Fish. An ancient tale tells of a Koi Fish swimming upstream a waterfall. God recognized the Koi Fish for its perseverance and determination and turned it into a golden dragon, the image of power and strength. I just love the tale so much that I want the KOI fish to be the logo of the company. CHA is a slang word for tea. I combine the two things that inspire me to come up with the name KOI CHA. Like the Koi Fish, I want KOI CHA to earn the reputation and recognition for the high-quality beverages and services among many existing bubble tea brands. Read more>>

Michelle Thompson

“Love Michelle Photography.” My business name was a practical solution, as well as a philosophical one. I was very limited as far as domain and business names, as “Michelle Thompson” is a pretty popular name. “Love Michelle” solved the practical domain and business name problem, while also conveying some of the intrinsic value of photography – it’s like a love letter, from one family member to another. If a picture is worth a thousand words, an entire session’s worth of photos are a treasure trove of words and meaning. Read more>>

Tracy Ward

I’ve always loved it when companies have a creative play on words and give meaning to a name. I came up with Forward Talent Strategies because it has my name “Ward” incorporated in “Forward,” and we partner with companies to develop forward-looking talent strategies so they may attract and retain their key talent. Often this will include making sure that there is a strong employer brand, building an engaging onboarding program, focusing on a comprehensive total rewards strategy, and implementing touch points for employees to discuss their performance and development. Read more>>

Ashley Duffy

Part of my identity growing up and during my early adulthood had to do with my initials, AAA. My maiden name was Ashley Anna Akerman, and many people would refer to me as triple A, Ashley Anna or Akey, and sometimes I would even sign off as “AAA”. So when it came time to hammer down a name for my business I wanted to keep some of that identity that I had lost when I married and took my husband’s last name, Duffy. With that in mind, I also wanted to keep my craft in focus without having a naming convention consisting of my full name followed simply by “photography” like so many other photographers use. Read more>>

Chef LaToya Larkin

When I told people I make tamales or go to the store and get supplies to make tamales. I would always get the strange looks. I got so used to the looks that I eventually would just say what they were thinking. Yes, I’m a black girl and I make tamales. I took some leftover collard greens from a brunch and rolled out a dozen tamales and history was made from there. Outside, of the traditional chicken and pork tamales are in the box. Read more>>

Roz Robertson

Even though the majority of what I do now is painting furniture, I’ve always been a collector at heart and I love old things but the fun of those old things is to make them new or into something different entirely hence the name New Old Finds, this also applies to furniture and making it into an item that will be enjoyed for many more years! I appreciate the time to tell my story! Read more>>

Denise Grant

The name of my company…. What does HACTAC mean? So funny when I started in this industry, I was the cake decorator and my company was name after my mother and it was name “Here A Cake, There A Cake” (from the Old McDonald nursery rhyme). When I decided to become a full service wedding and event company, I expressed that I would be changing the name and my mother was not happy that I was taking the little piece she gave to the company away. So to make her happy, I used the acronym to “Here A Cake, There A Cake” and we became “HACTAC”. Read more>>

Clint Dunlap

I worked closely with someone very experienced in Branding and Design who’s done some work for very close friends and businesses in the Tampa area. When brainstorming a name, I wanted something classic, yet classy and possibly one word. We came up with MATERIAL. When using MATERIAL as an adjective, the dictionary defines it as: important; essential; relevant. I think those 3 things encompass exactly what I was going for with our quality of work, brand, salon and just hair in general. Read more>>

Katrice “Zion” Smith-Hampton

It’s because of her…that we’ve got our folding chair out ready to have a seat at the table. Our brand name is inspired by Shirley Chisholm’s mantra “Unbossed and Unbought”. Shirley Chisholm was the 1st black woman elected to Congress and the first woman and African American to seek the nomination for president of the United States. UnBossed Apparel is a very personal brand to me. It was important to me that the name of my business truly be a reflection of myself and what I represent. Shirley Chisholm was an independent, outspoken, advocate for marginalized groups and liberal causes. I have brought those same attributes to life in the form of a t-shirt brand. Read more>>

Ashley + Lauren The Little Gatherings

The Little Gatherings was a Covid baby that we named with the idea that people could still “gather,” even if at the time the number of people allowed in any given space was only 6. Ashley had hosted a surprise birthday party for Lauren in September, and had the idea to make it a picnic. Lauren had put together a picnic a few years before to celebrate her birthday, and Ashley thought it would be a great idea to celebrate her in the same way all over again! Read more>>

Elyssa Swann

When you hear AwareWolf, we would bet money that ‘yoga studio’ doesn’t come to mind. AwareWolf started as a play on words. Our tag line is “A Space to Transform” – so if you think of the thrilling creature that haunts us in Halloween stories, you would think of a werewolf, and they transform. But as we thought about, more and more the name made sense. We are a space that encourages transformation, whether that be through a yoga practice, event, or community gathering. Read more>>

Sofia Martinez

Oh Hell Yeah I AM was born as a declaration, the declaration I made when I started learning to love myself and I declared: “Oh hell yeah I am beautiful!” It was the response I had to someone posting on FB about how they were not feeling beautiful. I felt compelled to say something because this topic hits close to home. I thought that maybe I could say something that would change the way someone thinks about themselves. I needed to express what I felt about this. Read more>>

Raven Forrester

My mother and I co-own OdeliaDesign. Odelia is the first name of my grandmother, although she went by her middle name. We were trying to think of a great name for the business before we launched, and I felt that that was a way to honor my grandmother and it fell in line with our mother & daughter owned business. Read more>>

Vanessa Flores

When Andrés (my business partner) and I decided to join forces, we were looking for a name that reflected what we do, but not in a typical boring way. We wanted it to be clever, memorable and easy to remember; while also having somewhat of a double entendre, and not limiting to a specific niche or type of design. Andrés came up with the name, and then I had to come up with the visuals for it. I loved it from the Gert go, because it encompassed our both areas of business—graphic design and digital marketing. Graphic design is the HOOK, it’s what catches your eye, and keeps you looking. Digital Marketing is the BRIDGE, it’s how you connect that brand/product/service with it’s end consumer. Read more>>