What are the Different Types of Brand Names?
Considering renaming your business? Starting a new company and brainstorming brand name ideas? It’s helpful to understand the various types of brand names out there to guide your brainstorming.
Here are the types of brand names as we see it:
Real-Life Brand Names: Otherwise known as descriptive names, these guys lean on the more traditional end of brand name types. They might be inspired by a product benefit (Whole Foods), historical reference (Tesla), geographic region (American Airlines) or founder’s name (Kelloggs). This is a popular approach for blue-chip, conservative brands as well as family businesses.
Evocative Brand Names: True to its title, these names are meant to pull on the heart strings. Oftentimes abstract or metamorphic, evocative brand names are built for emotional impact. Nike is the most famous example in this category, taking inspiration from the Greek goddess of victory who goes by the same name. Others include brands such as Amazon, Dove, Greyhound and Patagonia.
Lexical Brand Names: These brand names are all about wordplay, tapping into a variety of techniques to stick out in their audiences’ minds. Lexical names are catchy, compelling and typically fun to say. They may be compound words (Snapchat), puns (Lord of the Fries), alliterative (Dunkin Donuts) or onomatopoeias (Zoom).
Acronym Brand Names: As the name suggests, these brand names are defined by acronyms. This is a popular approach for B2B or highly technical brands looking for a shorter, more marketable iteration of their original, more wordy business name. Examples include GEICO, BMW and IBM.
New Word Brand Names: A name type that’s gained popularity in recent years as there are less and less real word brand names available for registration, invented brand names are often defined by misspellings and abbreviations or are portmanteaus. Examples include Flickr, Groupon and Kodak.
With these brand name types in mind, remember there’s no right or wrong approach when it comes to picking a type of brand name. Testing different options is the best way to see what sticks. More questions on business naming? Visit our resource center.
