What’s in a name? A lot apparently, as entrepreneurs, artists, and makers of all kinds spend enormous amounts of energy searching for the right name for their business, project, organization, or creation. Below, you’ll find the stories of how various successful brands, creators and entrepreneurs came up with their names.

Brittany Garman

Finding the perfect company name for our brand was quite a challenge. My co-founder, Anita Rajendra and I knew we wanted something simple yet meaningful and that could grow with us. Also, we needed a name with an available url…ha! We first started looking at some of our favorite words in other languages, key words that related to our product and our basic mission as a brand. After weeks of scribbling on post-its and white boards we had it. “Mina” meaning love in German and “Vine”, a slang term for clothes. Read more>>

Jennifer Jones

Fifteen years ago, all my dreams fell apart. My marriage was over. I carried so much shame. It was messy. I lost any feeling of having control of my world. That’s when I ‘met’ Hagar for the first time. I read about her trial. She carried so much shame. And anger. It was messy. I connected with her story. I was now not alone. Then four years ago, I left (what I thought was) my forever calling – education. I had lost my passion and my purpose. I didn’t know who I was. I felt I had nothing left to give in this world. Read more>>

Tuyen Chau

Broken rice are grains of rice that get fractured during the milling process or transportation so it ends up getting packed into a separate bag to be sold as broken rice. It is often consumed by the poorer community because of its cheaper price due its “lesser” quality. This signifies not allowing circumstance to determine the journey, as a specialty dish was formed and popularized within the Vietnamese culture today. I resonated with this feeling because of her upbringing in a low income community which inspired me to be creative when having to find solutions to my problems. Read more>>

Kylie Fagnano

Strata was named as a bold acknowledgement of all the different layers we all bring to the table when we are working on healing. Food, supplements, past trauma, family/friend dynamics, feelings of deservedness and self worth, actual physical pain, mental/emotional pain, etc… We are all built from these layers and they are unique to us. This is why those who have felt failed by conventional methods thrive with this approach. There is an expectation of being heard, listened to, knowing that you matter and you are cared for. There is room for that with Kylie’s approach and practice! Read more>>

Ahmad Kilani

Clutch City Cluckers name came from Houston, a city I like to consider home. The food truck was part of my mission to give back to Houston, the city where gave my career a major boost. Hence, the “Clutch City” name is inspired by the Houston Rockets. The “Cluckers” is from our main entrees: chickens! Read more>>

Surya Hernandez

This is such a great question! Have you ever felt that your greatest memories of childhood do not truly reflect who you are? Does a picture of yourself as a child make you feel like you can’t really remember what that stage of your life was really like? As a result, The Missing Sock aka TMS was born, with the challenge to provide every person we photograph with the value of those memories that never come back, captured in such a way that we can all experience the essence, the genuineness, and the naturalness of the child by simply looking at the photograph, and we can relive them every time we look at them again. Read more>>

Keisha Bussey

Fierce6 Elite Dance & Fitness comes from being FIERCE! One of my dance friends started calling me FIERCE, You are so FIERCE! and the number 6 is my Line number with my Line Sisters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. Dance & Fitness comes from moving your body and taking control of it. Read more>>

Tiffany Bivins

I came up with the name of my company by tapping into my family history. Maddox & Co started as a dedication to the Legacy of my Grandfather, so I decided to use our family surname as the company name. Read more>>

Emily Glankler

People ask about Anti-Social Studies and if that means I am, in fact, against the teaching of social studies. Definitely not. For one, I thought it was a funny play on words but the bigger meaning is that I’m opposed to the traditional way we approach social studies education. Almost every adult I meet who finds out that I’m a history teacher respond in one of two ways: “I HATED history class in high school,” or, “I wish I had paid more attention back then.” Read more>>

William Lewis

Sugar Daddy Cookies is a play off of Will and Mimi’s relationship. Will is 15 years older than Mimi! One day after days of trying to find the perfect name, Mimi came home and said, ‘William! I got it! Sugar Daddy Cookies!” Read more>>

Christina Sun

Sunchild began as a collaborative project between me and my dad more than 10 years ago. He encouraged me to follow my dreams and then joined the ride. We did almost everything together, from building the website, to meetings with designers. Our shop name, Sunchild, is a tribute to my dad, because without him, it wouldn’t exist. Fast forward a couple years, I moved forward with Sunchild on my own and it has continued to be everything I hoped it would be. Read more>>

Luisny Constant

I came up with the name CrownedQueen by Lu after going through a period in my life where I needed a reminder to wear my crown and not give up. Read more>>

Veronica

Credit for our name, Rainbowlicious Deelites, goes 10000% to my mom, Vivian Soto! She originally started this business years ago doing cantinas year-round and rum cakes during the holidays. A forever optimist, I recall my mom first coming up with the name. She wanted to evoke feelings of happiness, that joy of seeing a rainbow after a storm, and tie it in with the joy of eating something extraordinarily delicious. Read more>>

Robert Chan

This was relatively simple. We wanted to create a place where people from all walks of life could sit at a dinner table and create new relationships. When I was growing up, I remembered helping my family preparing dinners when my parents were at home. When having dinner, we would talk and discuss about everyone or things that had occurred. When I met my wife, she had also done similar dinners, thus we wanted a name that signifies “dinner at the table”. Read more>>

SmokePhi Apparel

Our story begins with a group of young college students who were looking to make a name for themselves. These like-minded individuals shared a bond/friendship that exemplified a brotherhood, so they had to come up with a group name to exemplify the same. Searching for a name, the creator of the Group: Brian Minor was given a suggestion by a family member to use the name “Smoke Phi”. The word Smoke would represent the idea of being “smoking hot” or “on fire,” Read more>>

Michael Ramos

Years ago when we first moved into our current home, I immediately started working on my new studio. Shortly thereafter, my wife had a nasty-looking wound on her leg. As it turned out, the doctor said it looked like a brown recluse spider bite. A few months later my wife asked what I was going to name my studio. I said, “Brown Recluse.” She said, “That’s perfect, that’s exactly who you are!” I said, “ No! It’s because of your spider bite!!” Read more>>

David Rodriguez

I started making home videos with Special effects of my daughter. Once I got good enough at shooting/editing and knew I could charge for my services I needed a name for this new creative business venture. One day my 3 year old daughter had my phone and was showing my grandmother a video I made of her, and when asked who made the video she said “daddy film it.” Read more>>

Eric Thompson Jr

My company is Eternal Royalty Publications. I came up with the name because I wanted to highlight, publish, and promote positive images and stories from my community. Too many negative perceptions are promoted by the mass media, so Eternal Royalty is creating a proper narrative. Read more>>

DeMarcus Morrow

The name Dreamaholic Agency was created by me and my brother Michael actually. I’ve always been a overachiever as far as dream chasing goes and if we’re being honest, I find a lot of enjoyment in working which would make me a workaholic. We merged dream and workaholic together and Dreamaholic Agency was created. The meaning of the name in my opinion is a dreamer that hustles to get to where they want to be. Read more>>

Dr. Janelle “The Curvy Doc” Simmons

The name of my company is The Curvy Doc Collective. “The Curvy Doc” was conceived in the bathroom (I lot of my deep thoughts take place there). I wanted a catchy nickname; being that I am plus sized and have a doctorate in Higher Education and Adult Learning, I thought “The Curvy Doc” (which I have since trademarked) was perfect! Read more>>

Desirae Torres

I love this question so much because it’s so fun and personal and I love how the name of my brand embodies what my mission is. So, most people automatically assume that my name is Moxie which sadly it isn’t my name but it’s a fun word and means a lot to me, so in some way I really do wish it was my name! Read more>>

Jasminne White

I decided on the name Therapy Sessionz for my business because doing makeup is definitely therapeutic for myself as well as my clients. Sitting in my chair gives my clients their “woosah” moments, especially the mothers. Some may just want to vent, give or receive advice, cry or take a moment to rest. It’s kind of like I’m their therapist from the time they sit down up until they leave. I love the feedback from my clients, even if it’s a simple as a “thank you for listening”. Read more>>

Sherry Eichberger

The name of my company is, Central515 Consulting. When I was thinking about what to name my company I wanted it to reflect who I am, where I came from and my journey. I decided on Central515 because that’s the address of my childhood home. I grew up living at 515 Central Street in a suburb of Detroit Michigan. My family still owns that home and it’s a place I visit often. It’s the place I go to get centered, to feel gratitude and to remember where I came from and my journey. It’s a special place and I’m so glad I paid homage to it by naming my business after it! Read more>>

Irina Bilka

Being in the hair industry for 20 years, Ive heard a lot of my clients use the word “hate” when describing their hair issues. Its either ” I hate that my hair is not shiny, or not healthy. ” I hate how may hair has been looking or feeling lately, or simply ” I just hate my hair”. I wanted to reverse their feelings towards their hair and make them fall in love with their hair again and that is how I came up with my brands name ” Be in Love” . Read more>>

Melinda Spurling

I get asked a lot, How did you come up with your name of your salon. Well this name was planted by God through my gift and talent of what I do. Unleash Me is what all My Beautiful Queen Clients say before they sit in the chair. It’s also how they feel when I give them that sassy hair-cut, that color that wows them, that beautiful creation of a hair style that thought they couldn’t Rock. It was only befitting to use Unleash Me as my Salon -Boutique name. “Unleash Me Hair Boutique” where we Freely Create U. It’s just we do! Read more>>

Tequila Gooding

So when I was deciding on a name I wrote so many different names down that sounded good to me, I would ask my husband what he thought and of course he said no, I asked a few close friends their options and just decided I needed to choose what I wanted because it was my business. I know it’s no such thing as perfect But my job is to provide the the best experience to my clients and their guest so Perfect Pour just sat well with me and what my end plan was. To give each and every cup I pour the perfect pour Read more>>

Lauren Kellison

It took me awhile to settle on something. I really wanted a name that would encompass and fit both the event planning as well as the marketing management sides of my business. The first part of my business name initiated from thinking back on events that I had previously attended. I wanted a word that represented the celebratory nature of the events that people plan. I kept coming back to that core feeling of merriment that coincides with parties, so I picked ‘Revelry’. Read more>>

Cory Herweck

The name Terraform came out of a place of wanting to make sure peoples homes feel not only the way they only want but need it to feel. The word terraform means to transform (a planet) so as to resemble the earth, especially so that it can support human life. Why shouldn’t your home feel the same? Read more>>

London Hester

The KALM Collective is a joint venture between my best friend, Kai and I. We wanted a name not only represented us well but would have staying-power and speak to how we wanted our customers to feel. We started off by trying to combine our names into one word, but that just didn’t fit the vibe and energy we were looking for. We wanted something easy for customer to remember. The business isn’t just about – it’s about our customers and our community too. I started to scramble the letters in our names and KALM jumped out at me. It stands for Kai Alisha and London Monet – our first and middle names. I added “Collective” to highlight the collaborative-nature of our partnership. Both Kai and I loved it! Read more>>

Demeatrie Funderburk

The name of my company is The Starving Gypsy and it was inspired by many moving portions of my life. Being a military brat and veteran myself, I have never really felt like there is a specific place I can name as a homebase. It often made me feel like a transient, moving from place to place. When I started my culinary journey, I found a sense of community within the people that I had met but I still found myself being much of a wanderer in the efforts of advancing my career. Later, I realized that all of those experiences have greatly influenced my not only one how I cook but the why of my cooking. Read more>>

Alyssa Garrett

Previously, I wanted to name my business after myself, Alyssa Garrett & Associates but as I started thinking long term I realized that yes, having a team or brokerage named after myself would be nice but it’s not about me. So one day, as I was speaking with my business coach we were discussing my goals & jokingly I said I wanted to operate my business like a prestigious university – and my coach responded by saying, like the Ivy Leagues? And from that conversation, Ivy League Realty Group was formed. The Ivy League Realty Group offers elevated buying and selling real estate experiences. Read more>>

Rebecca Driscoll

Conscious is defined as, “aware of and responding to one’s surroundings; awake.” When I started my business, the feedback I was getting from clients was that their current accountants were not communicative and were very hands-off. One day, one of my clients said to me, “You’re not like most accountants. This feels like CONSCIOUS accounting.” Then she said, “Hey, that should be your business name!” Read more>>

Traveon Westbrook

I came up with the name of my company from my own name which was passed down from my grandfather . There’s so much greatness in the name Alexander and I wear it proudly . I juggle so many hats I’m a man in ministry and a man in business who is preparing to expand my brand & company . Read more>>