How to Create a Cool Name for a Hot Tech Company
You’ve got formidable idea, now comes the task of sorting through cool technology company names to find the perfect name that’s as captivating as your startup.
In a recently released 2018 study commissioned by the Brandings® R&D Team, researchers found unique challenges in naming technology startups. The fact is, developing a brand name for a technology company is different than for a non-tech company.
The study found tech startups in the high-growth find it tough to get a name that’s sounds cool and gets noticed. The report found that new tech firms in areas as diverse as virtual reality/augmented reality, robotics, AI/machine learning, nano technology/nano science and more have come up short in securing the right name. Startups in red-hot areas of technology have experienced increased frustration in getting a name as consequential as their disruptive offerings.
How Are Tech Company Names Different?
Unlike most non-tech firms, technology company names need to evoke a sense of “edge.” In particular, a cool tech name needs to convey a forward-thinking sensation in the mind of the consumer.
It’s important to realize that consumers (and prospective consumers) have a heightened set of expectations from innovative tech startups. Simply put, audiences expect that IT startups are at the forefront of innovation in both technology and in turn, naming.
Second, our study found that tech consumers expect that new disruptive services and technologies will exponentially fill a personal or organizational need or want in their life. In short, the study found that consumers have higher expectations of technology firms than they do of companies in non-tech industries.
The study confirms what the Brandings® naming gurus have learned over years working with fast growing tech companies. The research affirms that business-to-business consumers and personal-use audiences maintain a “presumption of innovation.” They simply expect more from disruptive technology companies.
The consumer is turning to your company for a solution. And they expect your product or service to be “ingenious” at some level.
Your Audience Expects More From a Tech Company
Therefore, it’s critical that your technology brand name communicate your distinction. You’ll want to select a brand identity they communicate your “uniqueness.” Think about your startup’s innovation, future-focus, breakthrough service, or cutting-edge technological competitive advantage. That’s quite a lot to ask a name to do.
Cool tech business names are rooted in your unique business mission, goals, objectives and positioning. Our researchers have found that a successful IT names are bold, unique & linguistically evocative. In addition, your name should clearly differentiate your technology from your competitors. Keep in mind, your name must support your firm-specific positioning objectives. (This is central to differentiating your firm from others in your marketplace.)
Research has found, that a strong technology business name should avoid narrow geographic or category references. As a result, the name will work to create a long-term, self-sustaining engagement with your target market. You don’t want to select an IT name that restricts your services or scope of practice should you expand.
Top Three Tech Name Types
Selecting a name that simply “describes” what your tech company does is an uninspired foundation on which to build your brand. For example, names like “Digital Support,” “App Software,” “Cloud Computing,” and “Network Professionals” are all poor tech name choices. These names are descriptive in nature and fail to conjure up excitement or evoke an emotional response. Excitement and emotion are two things that consumers respond to.
There are three name types that you should consider when selecting a brand name for your tech firm.
1. Evocative Tech Names
Evocative brand names tap into consumer emotion. Theses evocative names contain a root word or element that conjures up a particular positive feeling. The sensation should be one of the core messages that you want to communicate.
In the examples below, the root word “sun” in brand name Pyrsun, conjures up a feeling of warmth and optimism. For example, the root word “grow” in the brand name, Xygrow, evokes the feeling of development and growth. And the brand name “Quadrupling” taps into the sensation of exponential benefit.
2. Invented Tech Names
Regardless that many invented brand names have an evocative root element, the message communicated is usually implied rather than overtly stated. Instead of relying on a root word element to express a core message, wholly invented brand names rely on individual letters. These names take into account letter interplay to communicate the message. In addition, invented tech names don’t necessarily have any inherent meaning. These names send powerful cues about a core message and generally have a next-gen cool sound to them.
In the examples below, the “V” and “Y” in Vyeco signal the message of innovation and the “ECO” communicates a message of sustainability and environmental authority. The 5 letter name Oxita, has no inherent meaning by itself. The “OX” element conveys a sense of strength and the vowel-consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel structure have a familiar and powerful cadence.
3. Intriguing Tech Names
Intriguing brand names are provocative and highly memorable. These tech names are designed to stand apart from the crowd because they are so different from all other names in an industry. Sometimes these names can be whimsical, like the brand name Blurped.com, below. Indeed, they can be eye-catching and entirely unrelated to your offerings, like the use of the name FirePup for a technology company.
The key characteristic of a cool and “intriguing” tech name is the jarring and cagey of word elements that causes one to pause and take notice. For instance, using the name CherryGlaze for a technology company is more provocative than its use as a supermarket glaze product.
Factors to Consider in Selecting a Cool Tech Name
Many successful cool technology company names are blended words. Our etymologists research key industry specific words and linguistically combine. Examples of blended tech names include, Anatech (ANAlog TECHnology), Corel (COwpland REsearch Laboratory). Additional examples include, eBay (Echo Bay Technology Group), LG (merger of two Korean brands, Lucky and Goldstar), MicroSoft (MICROcomputer SOFTware).
1. Consider how your tech company name sounds.
We love cool sounding IT names. Say it out loud and listen to how it sounds. Your name should be easy to pronounce and sound comfortable when verbalized. You’ll want to consider the energy and excitement of the company name. A gripping name should be powerful, energetic, and roll off your tongue. And the best names for a new IT company are clear when vocalized and easy to pronounce.
2. Keep Your IT Business Name Short.
In most cases, a successful name for a business, product or service is short in length – usually fewer than 11 characters. (Can you think of cool technology company names longer than 11 characters?) The longer the name, the greater the chance for confusion, mix-ups and misspellings. And because all growth-driven firms must have an active on-line web presence, a typo or misspelling will send a buyer to another website.
3. Consider Texture, Spelling and Vocalization.
Keep in mind how the name will look when it is communicated in written form. A great tech name should be easy to communicate and easy to spell. And you’ll want to consider how the name will look on your letterhead, collateral material, website, advertising and signage.
4. English Means Business.
In our global IT environment today, English has emerged as the clear language of choice. Therefore, your technology business name must be in English.
5. Avoid Special Characters in Your Name.
Special characters like: !@#$^&*()+ pose a unique set of challenges and require careful planning and design to avoid consumer confusion. And a cool technology company or business name should not contain hyphens. One additional point, the use of a number should not be a part of your name and only used if they really make sense. For example, the 9 in 9ineteen.com is logical and makes the name unique and easy to remember.
6. Secure the Matching Dot.COM Domain.
The dot-com domain extension is the domain extension of business worldwide. Dot-net, dot-org and country specific extensions are significantly less desirable for a tech company name and should be acquired only as secondary extensions to the dot-com domain. Don’t build your IT company around anything but the dot-com extension. We have a truckload of horror stories of tech firms that made this mistake. We’ve been called in years later to clean up their naming messes. As a result, the fix (after the fact) is complicated and usually very expensive.
Find a Cool Tech Company Name Now
Your technology company name and the domain name must be identical. As a result, you’ll only want to select a tech company name with a matching dot-com domain extension. Take a moment to think about it. Google owns Google.com. GoDaddy owns GoDaddy.com. Facebook owns Facebook.com.
When creating a cool tech company name for long-run success, consider the degree to which a name can be expanded. In addition, your IT name should allow for growth and change in a marketplace and factor in industry changes and innovation.
We hope this article was useful as you create a name for your technology company. Our naming team is available to help you in your IT company naming activities. So, please give our naming specialists a call if you need help selecting the right name for your tech business. The right cool tech name is just a call or click away.
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To learn more, check out these recent articles: Find the Perfect Company Name, Tech Name Generator
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