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.

Brian Kolin

Was Very simple, BDK Photography is my intention for my name Brian David Kolin :) Read more>>

Shari Bihms

I absolutely love planning, executing and mastering events and everything that comes along with it. My nickname is “Ri” so I named my event company “RiEvents Etcetera”. Read more>>

Hiroaki Takeda

I operate Japanese food truck: Ninja is from Japan and everyone knows the name of Ninja. I thought it would be easy for people to remember the name Read more>>

Miya Parker

CHANTE’ is actually my middle name. I wanted my brand to represent me so I thought it was perfect. Read more>>

Nite + Day

Deborah and Rebecca are sisters who have many similarities, but are complete opposites- some might even say they are like Nite + Day (night and day). Read more>>

Angela Kang

Nabi (NAH-bee) means “butterfly” in Korea A transformation of raw materials through imagination and labor into forms of beauty and color that come alive as one-of-a-kind fascinators. Read more>>

Calandra Cumby

Joi is part of my middle name. Hair & body butter is self explanatory lol. Read more>>

Deshundria Lee

8-Twenty represents the day that my husband and I became a couple; August 20th Read more>>

Falisha Benson

My mother named my business Goodies for the treats Jell is short for jellybean. Jellybean was a nickname from I was younger . Read more>>

Londun Allen

My sister and co-owner Fatima Jones came up with the name HyperFem. I fell in love with the name instantly and our journey began. Read more>>

Tavares Goode

TavGo Entertainment was created by combining letters from my first and last name. Read more>>

Stephanie Ayler

When I first decided that I wanted to make creating products my business I had written down and used a name completely different then Nourish & Love, but as I progressed along my entrepreneurial journey that name really didn’t make any sense and it didn’t fit what I had set in my mind that I wanted my brand to do for its customers. I wanted to give my customers (or curl friends as I call them) the information they needed not only grow healthier hair but move into healthier mindsets about their hair and their hair journey. I wanted my curl friends to love their hair and I wanted their minds to be nurtured as well. Read more>>

Kimberly Smith

I love telling the story of our name. It just came to me in such an organic matter. I was trying to think of descriptive words that described myself and my Mom (she and I launched U + R together). What kept popping up was upbeat, since my mom and I tend to have a positive outlook on things and are very peppy! :) We changed the spelling of beat to beet so that it played on our vegan brand. Read more>>

Kelly O’Donnell

A little over a year ago I decided I wanted to change my business name and brand. I wanted to move away from a brand name that was so centered on my name. There were a few reasons for this. First, I felt like my work was beginning to expand out. Over the past few years I have begun to work with other creatives in a collaborative process and so I wanted my brand to reflect that. Second, I wanted my brand to reflect something bigger. Read more>>

Sarah Rucker

Full Gallop works as a business name for my event production services because it’s the approach I take to any project, however there is a longer story involved in my choosing this name. Most of my family members are/were either artists or teachers and very empathic and emotional souls. It was said that my great-grandfather could see art in anything to the point that a horse in full gallop would bring him to tears. I chose this name to honor my family who has alway supported my artistic career endeavors. Read more>>

Hanna Denham

Art in Flexion was named with the idea of bringing an anatomical aspect to the artistic industry. We are Artists and we are in Flexion. Creatives in motion. Read more>>

Megan Rosman

In April of 2020, I earned my most favorite title yet—Mom. The little girl who gave me that title is named Reese. We chose Reese’s middle name after my grandma. It’s arguably the most common Greek name there is, but in all honesty, Greeks have repeated the same 7 names throughout the last 200 years so they are all common. My grandma’s name happens to be my favorite though. Her name is Toula, which means light in Greek. Thus the name Radiant Reese—a name derived from the two most special women in my life. Read more>>

Rebekah Brumfield

The name JeanEllen comes from my grandmothers WillieJean and Gloria Ellen. I took their middle name and smashed them together. Read more>>

Corliss Gilmer

This story is actually funny to me every time I tell it. So one day I was talking with my branding advisor and she had told me to come up with a chicktionary, which is my own vocabulary for my brand for the girls to use. I had a hard time coming up with some catchy words so I called my bestfriend Drea and asked her to describe me in one word by making up her own word. Right off the top she was like uhh… Read more>>

Glenn Harrell

People ask me this question all the time and it always makes me laugh because if they don’t know me the assumption is that my name is Rodger Williams. However, the name of the company is actually a portmanteau of sorts in that it’s a blending of two names based on personalities I believe represent the essence of what my company stands for. First, we have Rodger who was inspired by a character from my childhood “Mister Rogers” from Mister Rogers Neighborhood. Read more>>

ASHEQUKA LACEY

I came up with the name Baby Bays Natural’s because it’s my sons last name and the brand was created because of him Read more>>

April Nickleberry

When I started my business, I wanted to find a name that people would remember and that was catchy, unique and different. Read more>>

Richa Patel

This is kind of a funny story with some layers to it. The name of my company stems from a nickname I received from my cousin. She has always come up with weird nicknames for me, but “Reach Peach” was always my favorite and has grown to fit my personality over time. A lot of people refer to me as “peach” or some variation, so when I decided to start this company, I thought of Peach’s Corner. Read more>>

Dawn Charleston-Green

The name of my company is Dawn of a New Day 365, LLC. Of course, a portion of this was taken from my actual name, Dawn. I said if I ever had a mission of any kind, I would name it Dawn of a New Day. However, Dawn of a New Day is a common term that most people have heard. Every NEW DAY has a DAWN – a beginning. That’s the reality of it. Read more>>

Sam Bazoria

It was not hard at all, My company had to have my last name. My brand and mark in the industry. Read more>>