My company is named Tetheros, which I think sounds pretty swanky.
It took me a few months to design the name, and I learned a LOT about naming (and marketing) in the process. In this post, I will describe the lessons I learned along the way.
Set clear goals for the name
I was launching new software into a highly competitive market filled with giants like Jira, Clickup, Monday, and Asana, so I wanted my name to feel approachable, trendy, and modern.
Goal #1: Name feels cool (highly subjective).
Some may disagree, but I wanted to own the proper “.com” website for my future company name.
Unfortunately, this requirement took a lot of awesome names off the table because people already owned the domains or they were way too expensive for me at the time.
I didn’t want to settle for a “.app” or a “.io” when “.com” was still normal for products like mine, and I wanted the website to exactly match the company name too.
Goal #2: Website domain ending in .com is available.
Jonathan Bell called out seven naming conventions business names fall into:
- Descriptive, like American Airlines or Armatage Candle Company
- Made up, like Kodak or Rolex
- Non-English, like Lego or Hulu
- Acronomic (better written as an acronym), like BP or KFC
- Suggestive, like Uber or Kleenex
- Based on a name, like Disney or Tesla
- Associated with an idea, like Amazon or Red Bull
I wasn’t interested in creating Fischer Corporation or Kevin’s Cool App, so I stayed away from anything like that. My first few names were usually non-English but didn’t end up working out for a few reasons.
I preferred something unique, smooth, and meaningful.
Goal #3: Use three or fewer syllables and one word that isn’t descriptive or based on a name
The goals built a nice safety net for my ideas to land in. The criterion wasn’t so broad that every idea would be caught, and it wasn’t so specific that I would need to find a needle in a haystack either.
Tetheros met all three criteria as a made-up name with meaning:
“Tether” means a connection.
“OS” usually stands for operating system.
Tether + OS = Tetheros: a connection operating system.
Evaluate the name through three lenses
As a solo founder, brainstorming names is a little like preaching to the choir: there’s only one perspective.
My answer was to seek the thoughts of friends and family through three lenses:
- How is it read?
- How is it said?
- How is it heard?
These questions mattered more for Tetheros since it’s a made-up name. Something like “Tractor Boy LLC” probably needs less scrutiny but could benefit from these questions too.
“Tetheros” didn’t come out of these lenses very convincingly. This lesson came after I chose the name and began building brand materials and product around it, so it’s a more “if I could do it again” lesson compared to the others.
On to the categories:
How is it read?
Think about what the name looks like written down. This impacts a lot of how you would see it on a business card, a logo, or a website.
Are the letters easy to distinguish? Is it easy to “read”?
I’d score Tetheros pretty high in the readability category but low in the next category.
How is it said?
When someone has to actually say the name out loud, is it hard to do? I’m terrible at pronouncing “plague” and “vague” (I always confuse the way the “a” comes out). Shape your name, letters, and potentially acronyms intelligently to make saying it easy.
Tetheros confuses everyone – it’s not evident if it’s pronounced “tether-ose” or “Te-Ther-ohs” or “Tether-ah-s”… and I learned that the hard way.
Should I rename the entire company just because it’s occasionally confusing? I could, or let it take on a life of its own. Refer to the previous lesson: the name matters less than what you do with it.
How is it heard?
If you speak the name to someone on the street, would they be able to look you up later based on the phonetics of it?
I’m not sure how well Tetheros lands, but it doesn’t score well here for an entirely different reason: it kind of sounds like the notorious Elizabeth Holmes company Theranos.
Oops.
Some things are hard to plan for!
Live with it for a while
Before I was Tetheros I was Profectus.
Profectus failed as a name for a few reasons, the first of which was the .com wasn’t available. Second, I tried it on for size, using it on the site, talking about it in conversation, and writing it to others, and it felt… clunky.
I liked the reason behind the name: it was Latin for progress. Unfortunately, the name was a little clunky and confusing.
The letters don’t roll off the tongue that well, and “progress” could apply to anybody’s business, not just mine. There wasn’t anything personal about it.
After ditching Profectus and coming out of the other end of my brainstorming with Tetheros, I did the same thing and settled on using that instead. It made a lot more sense, sounded way sexier, and fit all my original goals of the business name.
Living with the name for a while before settling lets you hear feedback from others and experience the name in practice in ways you can’t replicate in the office.
What you do with the name matters more than the actual name
I found it helpful to spend time designing a name, but what you actually do with the name matters more in the long run.
In my opinion, names are a shortcut to whatever they’re assigned to.
Our heroes’ names make us feel good.
Imhoptep should remind us of the classic remake of The Mummy starring Brendan Fraser (or actual Egyptian history, if you’re interested in Ancient Egypt).
The same rule applies to companies and products. Caribou makes me think of great coffee and pinewood. Depending on who you ask, Amazon, Facebook, or Google can trigger a variety of feelings.
The reputation of the brand, and the feelings it creates, are far more important than the name to me.
It’s easy to get caught up in a whirl of trying to pick the best name, but you’re wasting effort if you don’t do anything with it.
Don’t overthink name design, but don’t leave it to the wind, either.
At the end of it all, your name is a shortcut to your reputation. Will it be weak and feeble, or positive and strong?