Ever hear of Thirty Mile Zone, maybe not. However, you’ve may have heard of the entertainment conglomerate TMZ. Didn’t know that TMZ even had a meaning behind it? Well, you’re not alone, most people don’t. It just sounds like a really cool business name and the name grabbed your attention, right? When you’re launching a new business or product, you need just that, a cool name. And, that’s what an acronym can do for a business, grab attention and tell the world that your new startup is as cool as your name.
Check out Some Huge Businesses and Products Using an Acronym as their Business Name
The name Thirty Mile Zone didn’t mean anything to me when I first heard it. In fact, I still didn’t put the name to the entertainment company until someone sat me down and explained it. T – M – Z, Thirty – Mile – Zone, get it? I didn’t at first even though, the program was one of my favorites.
It’s not a proud admission but…
The subject came up recently in a company naming meeting. It got our team thinking, what other business are using acronyms as their business name and are they a good option for a startup entrepreneur?
What is an Acronym?
about how an acronym can be a really exciting choice for a company name.
Before we get too into the subject, let’s start at the beginning, what exactly is an acronym.
According to the Merriam-Williams dictionary, an acronym is:
– a word (such as NATO, radar, or laser) formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term.
– also : an abbreviation (such as FBI) formed from initial letters.
Two examples pop to the top of my head, OPEC and Scuba. While we may know it as OPEC the organization is really Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. A more familiar example, is SCUBA. SCUBA actually stands for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.
What can an Acronym do for my Startup?
If this isn’t the first post of ours you’ve ever read (please say it isn’t for my ego), you’ll know we’ve always promoted that the shorter the domain name the better. That said, which of these two options would you remember easier, SCUBA or Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus?
Now consider between these two, do you think your customers will continue to type correctly into the browser?
Considering all of that, which name do you think will make the better business name?
Let me add, the research all agrees, the longer a business or startup name, the more likely someone is to misspell or incorrectly type the company name.
The Business Naming Acronym Takeaway:
We love acronyms but there are a few things you need to note:
- Create Something New – If you’re an entrepreneur just starting out, it’s best to create your own new acronym. Furthermore, try to follow the rules of words. This means including both vowels and consonants. TMZ is an example that didn’t follow the rules however, all three letters are strong. If you can do put strong letters together like TMZ, great, do it.
- Get That Domain – As always, the Brandings Team mantra holds here, if you can’t obtain the domain, you must rename; in duplicate with acronyms. In the case of acronyms, you should really obtain the exact match dot-com domain for your business name in the acronym form and completely spelled out. That would mean, TMZ should own the three-letter domain and the long format version.
- Acronyms Don’t Have to Be Just About the First Letter – While the two acronym examples we gave you, use only the first letter of each word, it doesn’t have to be that way. Nabisco, started off as NAtional BIScut COmpany. In this example, Nabisco chose to use the first two and three letters from each word. Furthermore, you may have noticed that OPEC doesn’t incorporate the “o” of “of” into their name. However, SONAR does incorporate the letters from the conjunction and preposition. Just for the record, SONAR stands for SOund Navigation And Ranging.
Well enough of us talking, we want to hear your favorite acronym business names. Would you consider an acronym for your startup business name? Heck, we want to hear if you hate the idea. Please feel free to comment below with any acronym fails, or names that simply don’t sound right, we’d love to hear them?
You may have noticed that we’ve sprinkled in some of the available business name acronyms above. These are just a few of the available startup names from our site and we’d love to hear what you think about them.
As always, let us know, post your thoughts below! And, thanks for reading!