A name should be easy to say and type. If people avoid saying it, they will avoid recommending it, and the brand loses momentum.
Most of us do not get many chances to name products or services. But names are important. Any of us stuck with a brand name we hate have at least learned the hard way that once a name exists, it tends to stick. It gets baked into data sheets, websites and internal systems. Changing it later is expensive, so we live with whatever decision was made in a meeting years ago.
In technical sectors, the default is to drift toward part numbers and internal codes. That is understandable. They are precise, and they match engineering reality.
They are also terrible at being remembered.
A part number can be a useful identifier, but it is rarely a useful brand. If we make the part number the public name, we are choosing to be hard to talk about. We are asking sales teams to repeat strings of characters. We are making search harder than it needs to be. We are crippling ourselves on purpose.
Good names are easy to say out loud and are easy to type. If a name requires a pronunciation footnote, it is already in trouble. The moment we say “it’s spelled X, but pronounced Y”, we have introduced friction. Many people will not bother learning it. To avoid embarrassment, they will avoid saying it and quietly replace it with “that thing you do” or “the blue widget”.
Here are a few practical tests:
- Can someone say the name in a meeting without apologising?
- Can someone type it from memory without checking?
- Can a customer mention it to a colleague without stumbling?
If a name fails those tests, it may be a fine internal code. It is just not a good public name.
Note to would-be parents (1): Everything above also applies to your newborn children, assuming you want them to like you.
Note to would-be parents (2): Everything, that is, except for the bit about part numbers, which only applies to Elon Musk.