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.

Surbhee Grover

This was an answer that came to me after a lot of soul-searching as well as developing a deep understanding of not just the market and a sense for the category and trends, but also truly understanding who we were, and what we wanted to be. The Indus is one of the world’s most storied rivers. As the Nile was to ancient Egypt, the Indus was to the 5,000-year-old Indus Valley Civilization. The river also gave name to the land (the Indian sub-continent), country (India), people (Indians) and religion (Hinduism). Read more>>

Cris Miller

Our name, Burnt and Salty, came to be quite organically. On social media, Bob was sharing pictures of things he would cook: charred ribeye, roasted vegetables, blackened tuna, etc. and tagging them #burntandsalty. When we decided to start the business, one of the first questions I asked him was “What do we call it?” When he suggested B&S, there were very few names like that: X & X. Now, they are a dime a dozen! So it just made sense; the words burnt and salty connote big flavor, bold tastes, and strong ambushes on the palate. It seemed to fit our brand.  Read more>>

Parker Loudermilk

The name of our company comes from the country motto of Belgium “L’Union Fait la Force” which translates to “Strength in Unity.” We are primarily Belgian inspired with our beer, so we knew we wanted to have somehing in our name as an ode to this. But also we wanted our brand to represent a fusion of two worlds: Oldworld, farmhouse style beer in a modern and urban setting. And also create a space that is welcoming and inclusive in an industry that can sometime be very homogenous and gate-kept. So the idea of strength in unity was a perfect fit for our brand, while also paying homage to our Belgian inspiration. Read more>>

Nicole Gaines

As a creative, I have always been drawn to anything that gives me inspiration in a way that I can then outwardly express it as it means to me, The essence of being within a space where I feel free and expressive has always given me an outlet amidst any life obstacles that may come about daily. I came up with the name Clarity to give me a space that allowed me to create and inspire with the feeling of just being clear and intentional. As I also work in an executive corporate setting, my ability to create and to think/ dream freely became boggled down. Clarity allowed me to escape to find a clear vision and purpose to just create and be free. Read more>>

Michelle Barone.

The name, “Moksha Grace”, came to me in two separate gifts from the Universe. The first gift was during my daily meditation. Each day I’ll pick a different meditation based on my mood, energy, or what I am working on. The meditation I chose was a teacher I deeply resonate with. He always includes a mantra and reviews its meaning before we get started. On this particular day it was a word I had never heard of before, “moksha.” By the time the meditation was complete, I knew that “moksha” was the key to something amazing. I could feel it in my bones. Read more>>

Ranell Manigo

I came up with The Garden Party Atlanta name by combining some of the things I love most. Which includes flowers, nature, family & friends. We love creating beauful picnics at parks, backyards, homes, and venues. There’s nothing more perfect then unplugging and connecting with family, friends, and nature. Read more>>

Rachel Hagene

The name of my company is Montgomery Jane Kids. I chose this name because my middle daughter is named, Montgomery Jane, and she is the reason I started this business. When she was a baby, in order to fall asleep she had to rub the tag of her Old Navy coat. After a few years, it was time to start looking for a new tag, since there wasn’t much left of this one. I searched online for a tag blanket that was both functional and stylish and had no luck. Thats when I decided to start making small lovey blankets with tags on one side, and Montgomery Jane Kids has grown from that point on. Read more>>

Charlee Black

Good Friends Studio really sprouted from creating with my friends. In 2018, When I founded Good Friends Studio, I had been producing my own small scale shoots. With a team of friends that ranged from other photographers, hair stylist, makeup artist, etc – we would create visuals purely for our own enjoyment. After a few years of producing, and 6 months of freelancing, in a college study room, I created Good Friends Studio. Read more>>

Quiana Agbai

My company, Trifecta Media Group, came out of the areas of expertise the me and my sisters each have. I have a background in marketing, having worked both agency and client side, and one of my sisters is a publicist and the other is a graphic designer. Over the years my sisters and I would send one-off projects to each other, and one day my dad suggested we form a business. It was my husband who described as a “trifecta” and in 2014 Trifecta Media Group was born. Read more>>

Chanara Herbert

I have to tell people all the time God gave me my business name Flourish Luxé. it was not me it was all him. I remember just brainstorming in my room at the time just really thinking of a name and I just remember looking up words and their definitions. I came across flourish and it just stuck to me. To flourish is to grow and to thrive and that’s what I saw my business doing for the future. And the Luxé just popped in so quickly I knew I wanted to sell attractive products, with a luxurious quality I knew I wanted to provide nothing but the best service and that’s how Flourish Luxé was born. Read more>>

Destiny Jordan

Coming up with a name for my business was basically the easiest part of starting a small business. My grandmother who raised me her middle name was Mae, and I always knew that no matter what I did in, life from having children to starting a small business I knew I wanted to keep her memories alive by incorporating her name some how. So first came my daughter Ariya Mae I knew for sure if my first child was a girl her middle name would be Mae. Fast foward to me starting a business I went through a few names and Ibwas originally going to call my business Mae’s Seamoss but I didn’t want to limit my brand that way, next was Mae’s Moss and More and to methay just sounded cheesy. Read more>>

Ari Uberti

AriUberti is the name of my business and my signature as an artist it is something that I have always wanted to explain since sometimes people tend to get a little confused. Arianna Cristina Leon Uberti is my full name, Ari is Arianna’s dimuntive, and Uberti is my mom’s family name. I have always been very close to my family, both on the part of my father and mother but for reasons of living in different cities, I grew up being more close with the family on my mother’s side: the Ubertis. Read more>>

Tyler Morey

When I started coaching in 2017, I always wanted to brand my business. I came up with hundreds of names over the next few years and wrote them down in a notebook to remember. One day during a business trip to Duluth, Minnesota, commonly referred to as the North Shore, I came up with North Coast Running. Then I thought more broadly about the upper midwest being the north coast of the United States and I loved the way it sounded and how well it represented our geographical area. I started using it subtly in conversation or on social media and it stuck. Read more>>

Vanessa Johnson

The dictionary definition of de facto is: 1. ACTUAL, especially: being such in effect though not formally recognized.
2. exercising power as if legally constituted. 3. resulting from economic or social factors rather than from laws or actions of the state. We are a de facto publishing company and book club sponsor serving incarcerated humans in Texas prisons out of a need we saw in our community. Read more>>

Sam Mullen

When I first started my business back in 2015, a friend suggested “Weddings by Sam”. And I responded, “Sounds good!” If I had to do it over again, I would pick any name but that!! I was so new to officiating and the wedding world, that I honestly didn’t know any better. I loved what I did as a ‘side hustle’ on weekends while serving as a full-time hospice chaplain. Organically, my officiating business grew. I began to get more referrals from my ‘friendors’, and family/friends of couples. Read more>>

Keisha Bowman

It’s a funny story on how I created the name ‘Brows and Beauty Room’. During the brainstorming phase, I could not see my business outside of renting a salon suite.— hence, “room”. It was hard to see things far beyond my expectations. I look back on things now and I don’t regret a single thing or wish I would have done anything different. Every step I took, brought me closer to where I am now. I’m glad that eventually, I did see the bigger picture. Read more>>

Ashley Avila

When the idea for my boutique first began, I knew I wanted to find a bible verse that was both relatable to my business name and still kept God as the foundation. Just like everything else in my life, keeping Him at the center was so important to me. Proverbs 16:24 was the verse I chose, “kind words are like honey, sweet to the soul…” Living our daily lives, as He would live, and want us to live, by loving others and making the world a better place. So the name “honey bee” was born and then later, my initials, “A. M.” were added to the beginning of it Read more>>

Angela Hill

Photography being my first love and being a documentarian at heart I often kept My DSLR camera on me and would take pictures of my close friends who are community organizers. I also have always loved T-shirts so I had the idea to merge the two, taking images of my friends and putting them onto t-shirts. “My friends are amazing, “they are Public Figures”, I thought, they just don’t have a platform(this was before the height of social media). Public Figure Brand was formed. Read more>>

Claude Langley Jr.

I originally started my business under the name Visuals By Capo. After missing out on lucrative opportunities due to the meaning behind the name and taking heed to advice from some mentors in the photography game, I decided to change to Visuals By Claude. I received new opportunities almost overnight and moved to the more corporate route with my photography work since then. Read more>>

Dianna Torres

Paradox by definition is a situation, person, or thing that combines contradictory features or qualities. I named my company Paradox because the goal is to provide a service that changes you but simultaneously doesn’t change you. We are style and lifestyle architects but what makes us stand aside from other companies is that we NEVER want to change the ESSENCE OF YOU!! You don’t have to change anything about your personal aesthetic to hire a stylist or a closet curator. Paradox will never change who you are we just elevate it. You can be goth, preppy, adrogenius, whimsical, hobo chi etc etc and Paradox will never aim to change that because that is who you are and as humans, we are the happiest when we can be our genuine selves. We will just ensure that we curate the best of the best according to your personal style and aesthetic. Read more>>

Jillian Lewis

When I was younger I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I got older. All of my friends seemed to have some clue on what their trajectory path was but I felt lost. I’ve always felt like a wanderer in this life, 9-5 jobs bored me and I always quit after a year or two. Nothing really fulfilled me. I had taken a couple photography classes in high school and I really enjoyed it— so much so that I begged my parents to buy me a camera so I could go around photographing my friends. I had totally forgotten about it until I got home from college one day and found my camera as I was cleaning out my closet. I started taking pictures again. Read more>>

Amyra Reyes

I came up with the name for my Company when I was working on a magazine design project in college. I knew what I envisioned the magazine to be and its tone so then it just came down to figuring out the name. I wrote down a list of words that matched the tone and married the idea of gaming pop culture with femininity. Suddenly the word Bombshell came to mind and I knew immediately it was perfect. When I think of femininity, I think of my idol Marilyn Monroe who was the ultimate Bombshell. For the gaming part, I thought about how in shooter games, you typically have grenades or “bombs” as well as bullets therefore shell casings. For me, everything sort of natural fit together with the name I had chosen. Read more>>

Risa Jenkins

Once, I was told I was unable to conceive and I held on to that truth for many years. In 2011 on Valentines Day I found out I was pregnant. It was a girl and immediately I begin to change my life. Fast forward years later Rhianna is six and I’m in yet another abusive relationship. My fight was with self to find a reason to get out and I was determined to win no matter what! Read more>>

Christopher Mathieu

The brand idea was always something I wanted to create, but I was unsure what I wanted to name it, and I wanted the name to be meaningful and have longevity as my brand grew. Me and my girlfriend at the time were brainstorming one day when she asked what the word consistent translated to in Haitian creole. I’ve always lived by the word consistent, and because my previous Instagram handle included the word, it made sense for it to remain a part of the brand. Konsistan Brand was birthed shortly after. So, shout out to Shellon for helping to materialize my idea. Read more>>

Jill Ecker

When I started my business, I was working full time in healthcare, married with two children, and all that a busy life entails. I decided to offer angel sessions in the evenings to supplement my income. As Angel Guide on the Side began to grow from just a hobby, I wondered if I should change the name. I’m glad I didn’t, because I envision my business as an important aspect of my life path and spiritual path and, as I move forward on this path, it is my intention to help others as they move forward on theirs. Read more>>

Tiffany James

The name of my company is currently CAAB Customs, but it wasn’t always that. When I initally started my business 9 years ago, it was called Cute As A Button. The name was fitting at the time because I made accessories from buttons. My mom called some of my creations cute as a button and the name stuck. As the business evolved, I started not only making custom accessories but also custom apparel. Some of the phrases I added to my tees were a little risque’ and my mom made the statement, “it’s not that cute anymore”. After rebranding I kept the initials from Cute As A Button and changed the name to CAAB Customs. Read more>>

Duane Joseph

Maranatha Educational Services, LLC (MaranathaEd) is actually named after my daughter Maranatha Joy Joseph. Her name means, bring your Joy quickly Lord. My ex-wife and I ask one of my teacher friends, Truela James, to name our daughter since she wasn’t able to have kids. One of the names she came up with was Maranatha Joy. We were super excited to know the meaning and fell in love with the name. Maranatha was a natural teacher straight out of the womb and Math was her thing. When I started my first company it was called Maranatha Math Institute, LLC and we focused on helping students get to grade level in Math, Read more>>

Alexandra Henry

My documentary is titled Street Heroines, which I came up with to recognize the heroic work female street artists are doing to beautify communities around the world. Being that they are very underrepresented in the street art movement, making a film was my way to raise awareness of the art work they create and the impact it has on society. They are heroines because they have made something from nothing and contributed positive messages to the world all the while overcoming obstacles like sexism and gender-based discrimination. That type of perseverance takes a heroic feat. Read more>>

Colton Hulgan

Coming up with Cloutshot has been a journey. I had plenty of other names before this one, for example I used to be “ItsGaingo” or “HulgansHUB” Just to name a few of them. But this time I actually came up with a good one that meant something a little more. I used to and still watch Matthew “NadeShot” Hagg on Youtube and Twitch. He has a incredible story and I loved his content. Thats where the name orginated from and have no plan to rebrand anytime soon, Cloutshot to stay! Read more>>

Victoria Ford

Almost every job that I thought I wanted to do was music related. With the exception of my love for sneakers. So, at one point I was going to start a blog under an alias. The aliases name was Sneaker Lancaster –have no idea why I chose that name but it stuck, needless to say I scrapped the blog idea when I started taking photography more serious. In 2011, when I started shooting more, I didn’t want to use my given name because of how women photographers were treated. So, I chose to create Sneakshot –which combined my love for sneakers and capturing that “shot”. And I didn’t show my face or my real. name for years. Read more>>

Stef Salcedo.

I am a mother to 2 kids and 2 bonus kids. Out of those children 3 of them are girls, when I started to think of a business name I knew from the very start that I wanted something to do with my daughters names. Nothing came to mind at first, no names that went together, even abbreviations that would spell out their initials or names. I stayed up one morning until 4am and it came to me, it all of a sudden flowed in the manner I hoped. Ojos de Gitana, ODG, Ocean, Diamond, Gianna. Read more>>

Carrie Wilkerson

Sessionz was birthed during a transitional period in my life where I learned to appreciate being “in the moment’. Sessionz is the most simple form of therapy. It’s the peace you need after a long day. Each candle is created to fit a different mood or situation, whenever you need it. When I say it’s lit over here, I really mean it!! Read more>>

Tamesha Coleman

Mesha The Hollywood Fashionista stemmed from people calling me Hollywood growing up because of how I carried myself and how I dressed. The Fashionista part came from me adding elegance and because I’m big on fashion. It all just came together and was elegant because it represented who I am and how I have always carried myself my entire life. Read more>>

Todd Mullins

The idea flowed from vintage gas station road maps that my grandpa collected. When I took my daughter out to Colorado for her first year of college, we took some of the old maps with us. I wanted her to get a better understanding of the land we were covering on the way. Somewhere out on the drive, it occurred to me that we were connecting the generations by traveling the same “Old Roads” that my grandparents had traveled many decades ago. Hence… Old Road Brand was born. Read more>>

CAMEO NICOLE

I have always had the ability to maintain a positive outlook and disposition during adversity . I came up with SunnyNite Designs when pondering about the true purpose of my energy and the purpose of my company’s energy as well. SunnyNite Designs and I are here to assist humanity in growth and expansion in all areas of life. To be a beacon of light in the darkness, of you will. Crystals and Copper are a wonderful mediums as they provide a natural energetic boost to overcome life’s obstacles gracefully. Read more>>

Desiree’ Williams

Desire Beauty Studios came to me the moment I decided I wanted to be a beauty business owner. Being a constant lover of all things skin, beauty and wellness, I learned to love myself in every season I experienced. From having glowing, clear skin to the times I had a horrible break out of acne. As a teenager, I learned to appreciate every step that transpired in my beauty journey. This made me want to help women desire their own beauty and make their own beauty standards! From there DESIRE BEAUTY became a thing! Read more>>