So it’s:
– 3 steps
– 5 name categories to choose from and
-7 filters to help decide which name is the best for your handmade shop.
Naming your handmade business is not an easy task – and for some reason, it feels like if you pick the wrong name, you can’t possibly be successful.
Of course, that’s not entirely true but IT IS one of those important decisions you have to make early on and it can feel like an impossible task at times, and it certainly can make you want to pull your hair out.
So let’s not do that and dive into this 3 steps, 5 categories, 7 filters method instead!
Today I want to talk to you about picking a name for your handmade business. As I just mentioned in the intro, we’re going to do this in 3 steps – and as we go along I’ll give you some tips and examples and might even suggest a few things to avoid too…
Here’s our agenda for today:
1 – let’s raframe what a business name is, needs to do and doesn’t need to do for your handmade shop
2 – brainstorming using the 5 name categories
3 – using filters to make the best choice: 7 filters to try
I also want to give credit and mention IgorInternational.com which is a naming agency that kindly put together a really great guide around naming – I will be using most of their teaching in this video but of course they go into a lot more depth in their guide so if you’re interested in diving deeper make sure to check it out.
OK, let’s get started!
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Your business name is just a name, a practicality. It doesn’t define your success and it doesn’t need to explain what you do – that’s not its job. It just needs to evoke a feeling, an emotion and engage your ideal customers on an intellectual and emotional level (if possible). Your name will always be in context – it will never be “on its own” so it doesn’t need to tell the full story of your products or brand.
Don’t let naming your handmade business take so long you don’t move forward with launching your shop – it’s just a pretty way to procrastinate. Let go of the pressure because again, your name doesn’t define your success. There is no exact science to naming your business so let’s breathe in and have fun with the exercises in this video. And speaking of exercises, let’s dive into step 2!
This is a brainstorm, so don’t start filtering and judging your ideas before you put them down on paper. We will do this in the next step. For now, you want to write ANYTHING that comes to mind as we go through the 5 categories of names.
Don’t filter yet, don’t hold back. You WANT to have some not so good names and ideas by the end of it – because the more bad ideas you have, the better chances you also have to find really good ones in the middle.
Category 1 out of 5 is “personal names” and this one is pretty simple – it means using your name as the name of your brand and business.
That’s it. For me it would be “Deborah Engelmajer”, and that’s obviously not what I chose, which I’ll explain when we get to the filtering section – but many brands do make this choice.
Think of Christian Dior, Celine, Calvin Klein, Honda, Ferrari, Tiffany&Co – obviously these aren’t handmade shops but I am using them because we all know them and have heard of them before.
So that’s your first option – using your name. Obviously this does tie your brand pretty closely to your personal brand – so that’s not for everyone but it can be an elegant choice and as the main designer and creator behind your products because well… they’re handmade – it can work to lead with your actual name.
Category 2 is picking a name that is descriptive or functional.
For example, something I see quite often is “JDG Accessories”
or “Jeanine Jewelry” (which is a mix of personal AND descriptive name because it has the world “jewelry” which describes what you are making and selling in it).
The Igor guide I mentioned at the beginning of this article explains why this is, for the most part, “unnecessary and counterproductive”.
Let me show you a part of this guide because I think it’s very well said:
“Names that are descriptive are asked to perform only one task: explaining to the world the business that you are in. This is an unnecessary and counterproductive choice.” – Igor International
There are a few reasons for that:
People will see your name next to images, colours, pictures of your products, or if more of an in-person situation like a craft show, or retail space, you will most likely be there introducing your shop – you won’t just stop at “I run a handmade shop called lilipods” or “I run a handmade shop called Ella&Louis” – your name doesn’t need to explain exactly what it is you do. It’s only a small part of the brand.
More often than not, adding that “descriptor” at the end of your name like “jewelry”, “creations”, “crafts”, “accessories”, “soaps”, or “handmade” is not doing anything for your brand perceived value and for this reason I often recommend to drop it, which makes your name a lot “stronger” instantly.
For example:
… don’t sound as good or as professional as simply “Leaticia Matis”.
Category 3 are names that are invented, completely made up. They’re not actual words you’d find in a dictionary. Usually they are constructed to sound and look good, so that the experience of saying or seeing the name is pleasant.
Examples would be: BUBA, OREO, GOOGLE or ETSY.
That’s what I picked for my business: Tizzit – but it doesn’t mean that what you need to pick, it’s just an option.
The advantages here are that these names stand out instantly, they are often more memorable and more engaging. No one also really knows what that name means so you get to define from scratch the identity that you want to create around it.
4th category is experiential and an experiential business name is a name that – I am quoting Igor International here – “offers a direct connection to something real”.
It’s a known word, it’s not made up like Oreo or Buba but it also doesn’t describe exactly what you do.
Examples could be, if you sell digital invitations for kids parties: Print&Party.
You’re not printing, you’ve nothing to do with the party itself, you just sell digital invites that people print themselves, but the name does offer a connection to what people are really getting and wanting: print and party.
Another example could be – say you’re selling floral decor – Azalea, which is the name of a flower. You might not be selling the flower itself, but the name does offer a connection to what you do.
Finally last category, number 5… are evocative names.
Evocative names are not made up, they are real words that you could find in a dictionary, but they also aren’t describing what you do or aren’t even really connected to it.
You might think that it sounds a bit silly, but it’s all about what those names EVOKE, and you’d be surprised at how many businesses use this strategy.
For example, Amazon – for what I know they have nothing to do with the Amazon forest… not even close. But the name does evoke something exotic, different, thriving, and an idea of something of scale – the biggest forest in the world, the biggest bookstore in the world. (initially, Amazon was just a bookstore)
Another example: turns out you can call yourself APPLE and sell computers really successfully. Apple is another evocative name that’s not describing what the company does nor is connected to it.
Taking this back into the world of handmade businesses – which is why we’re here together today – an example of an evocative name could be, if you’re selling leather accessories for people who love to explore the outdoors, “NORTHBOUND”, which gives a sense of adventure and exploration – it evokes these things, but it doesn’t describe what you do or connects directly to it.
Now that you know about the 5 categories, I recommend you take some time, away from the computer to actually brainstorm ideas within each category. As I was saying even bad ideas need to go down on paper – you want to have a list of ideas by the end of it that you can then.
Once you have your list, you’re ready to move on to step 3 which is filtering down your ideas using 7 filters or 7 questions that will help you decide which name is best.
Here, you might even want to give a grade from 1 to 5 or from 1 to 10 to each of the name ideas you have for each of those 7 filtering questions. This way by the end of it, you can see which name has the best score 🙂
You are going to have to say your name when you introduce your business or speak about it – and, most importantly, your customers will too: “Where did you get this cute wallet from?”… You want people to be able to pronounce your name quite easily. My name, Tizzit, is probably not the best example for this – it’s not difficult but I know I often get asked how to pronounce it. So I might not be the best example here – but it’s much better than my personal name: Deborah Engelmajer, which, let’s be honest, no one knows how to pronounce. That filtered itself out.
Similarly to how it sounds, how does it look in written form? How would it look in a logo? Is it easy to remember and spell?
You want to avoid funny spellings of real words – this is harder than it seems to pull off and often lowers the perceived value of your brand.
With Tizzit – I actually mostly fell in love with the look of it and how it spells because it’s a palindrom, and here again, my own personal name was NO BUENO.
That’s an important question and another reason I picked Tizzit – it stands out, none of my competitors or peers have a name even remotely similar to Tizzit. It’s a bit out there, but people remember it for that reason too.
Are there different layers of meaning and association with this name? And if so, what do they evoke? Is the name vibrant and has energy?
A good exercise here is to ask 5 or so people around you, without giving them much explanation to write down the 10 first thing they think about when they hear or read your name idea. If nothing comes out – it probably lacks depth. This will often happen with descriptive names. If they do have a list of 10 things your name makes them think of, check what those ideas are. If you’re selling luxury earrings and a lot of the associations they wrote down are around animals or kids, you might not be evoking the right emotions for your customers.
This is really important in the handmade industry where brands are expected to have a more ”human” element to them – because you are buying a product made by hand and love, you want to stay away from names that are corporate sounding or cold.
Names with initials, like for example “D.E creations” can, for example, be on the cooler side of the humanness scale – it often sounds a bit more corporate.
Number 6 are practicalities, which is usually where people start, and I decided to put it more towards the end but it’s definitely important. Practicalities are things like: legalities, trademarks, business registration (you want to make sure no one else’s business is named like that), social media handles (can you get the social media accounts under that name?), and probably, most importantly, your domain name as well.
It’s important to have a domain name for your business that is your business name, but I don’t want you to stress over the actual extension. Back in the days it was really easy to get a .com domain and nowadays they’re all kind of taken, so it’s completely fine, you’ll still rank in the search engines and you can have a successful business without the .com – I for example use Tizzit.co because the Tizzit.com URL was taken and it’s not a problem. I’ve seen many businesses do something similar. So don’t completely write a name idea off if the .com is unavailable.
I recommend that if there are a couple of extensions, like .com and .co – grab both so that you can hold on to them and no one else can use them in the future.
Can you grow within this name? This is an important question because where you are right now in your handmade business journey is probably not at all where you’ll be in 5 or 10 years or even 6 months. You may discover that you’re not enjoying the type of products you’re making or you’ll discover a new technique or broaden up your product offering.
It’s quite a normal process of building a business to have those identity crises from time to time. We all have them. I surely had many myself before I started Tizzit.co. I had an array of business names because every time I had to reinvent my brand and my business name because it was too descriptive each time – which is how I learned that lesson the hard way. So it’s important to pick a name that you feel you can grow into so you don’t have to change it if you change and pivot your business.
Of course there is no real right or wrong choice here – these filters are here to help you pick between different ideas once you’re done with your brainstorm, but as I was saying earlier – your name doesn’t define your success – so don’t put too much pressure on yourself and try to have fun with this process.
Starting a handmade business is an exciting and rewarding journey and I am certain you can turn your handmade skills into a profit to be proud of, no matter what your name ends up being.
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Wished I had this on hand 10 years ago when I was naming my business! Excellent tips.
Thank you so much, Mary! I’m glad you liked it!
Very good tips here on your article. Thank you. I have my actual business name, but I am thinking on to change it, due to the future proof rule 🙂