Helpful words

Descriptive Names: Wasting Space Since 1900

A name shouldn’t tell people what a business or product does. These names—descriptive names—are everywhere: Microsoft, General Electric, Carfax, Jacksonville Sports Store. The business version of occupational names like Smith, Carpenter, and Miller, they’re united by their flare for generic description. They do little to help the businesses and products they describe. “But that’s counterintuitive!”…

Naming Contests and You: A Cautionary Tale

Before you start that naming contest, take a deep breath. Choosing a name is a bit like choosing a spouse: you aren’t locked in forever, but it’s better for all concerned if you are. It’s a hell of a lot better to get it right the first time than it is to change midway. That’s…

How Company and Product Naming Shapes First Impressions

First impressions are pivotal. In one-tenth of a second, we decide how we feel about a person—we form a mental image to build on in the future. That image is unusually tough to change. It takes some doing to override millions of years of biological circuitry. We use that same circuitry when we think about…

Empty Vessel Company Names: The Fortune 500’s Secret Weapon

Cigna, Avnet, and Alcoa are all Fortune 500 companies. Each has what we call an “empty vessel” name—a moniker with little meaning for a given audience. Empty vessels are extraordinarily popular with large companies in most industries. Names are an opportunity to tell the world who you are. Why, then, would anyone choose an empty…

Eli Altman discusses URL strategies with Inc.

“No one inputs URLs directly anymore. A magic search bar takes care of that for you,” says Eli Altman, creative director of A Hundred Monkeys, a branding and naming firm. He suggests putting an industry phrase in your URL–recall that Elon Musk’s Tesla is still online at TeslaMotors.com. Or a customer prompt: Dropbox.com was originally…

Show and Tell

Let’s translate a few common phrases: “You can trust me” means “Don’t trust me.” “This is going to be fun” means “This will definitely suck.” “We care” means “You are a number to us.” Say these, and you’re sending a message that’s the opposite of your intent. Sometimes, saying it outright isn’t enough. You have…

The Frozen Pea Problem

  • About: Naming

It goes like this: Have you ever named food? Yes. Have you ever named frozen food? Sure. Have you ever named frozen peas? No… We’re really looking for someone with specific expertise here. A fictional version of a conversation that’s happened countless times: cookie shops, new-age health products, luxury cruise lines, whatever—people are looking for…

Don’t Call It Anything: House Bills and Hurricanes

Even without Katrina and Audrey, hurricanes with female names are twice as deadly as their masculine counterparts, according to a recent study. The theory: potential victims aren’t as threatened by feminine-sounding storms, don’t prepare as diligently, and suffer the consequences. If a clearer case for the power of the name exists, we’ve yet to hear…

Surfin' URL.

How to Find a URL

So you found a name you love. Then you tried to find a URL. You wanted nameyoulove.com, but the person who parked it is MIA. Now you’re banging your head on the keyboard, digging for a random group of letters and numbers that’s also an available domain. Stop. Save yourself a headache—let us help you figure…

Don’t Click That: The Clickbait Virus

On a bad day, the website Upworthy attracts some 1.5 million unique visitors. Good days see 5 million visits. That’s a hell of a lot of ad revenue without much overhead—the site just writes a bit of copy and hosts other people’s content. So, you know, good for them. They’re making money. Because Upworthy gets…

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