The five name types, and when each one is wrong

Descriptive, suggestive, coined, arbitrary, founder. A working map of which category survives contact with a category leader.

Every name sits somewhere on a line that runs from saying exactly what the business does to saying nothing about it at all. Where a name falls on that line decides three things: how quickly a first-time listener understands it, how easily it can be owned as a mark and as a dot, and how it behaves when a larger competitor starts spending in the same space. The five types are the working map we use when we write a brief.

What each type buys and costs

• Descriptive names say what the business does, which buys instant understanding and costs distinctiveness, trademark strength and almost every good dot.
• Suggestive names hint at a benefit without stating it, keeping some meaning while leaving room for a mark and an address.
• Coined names are invented words, which cost explanation at launch and give the cleanest route to a mark and a .com.
• Arbitrary names borrow a real word from an unrelated field, which is memorable but rarely available on the obvious dot.
• Founder names carry a person, which reads as craft and accountability but ties the brand to someone who may one day leave.

When each one is wrong

A descriptive name is wrong in a crowded category, and wrong for any business that expects to outgrow its first product. It describes what you did, not what you will do, and it competes for the same generic words as everyone else in the market. A suggestive name is wrong when the suggestion is the one every competitor already chose. If five companies in your category are hinting at trust, the sixth is not hinting at anything.

A coined name is wrong when its phonetics are weak. An invented word that nobody can spell after hearing it once has none of the benefits of a real word and all of the costs of a new one. An arbitrary name is wrong when the borrowed word is held on every dot you would accept, which for short, common words it usually is. A founder name is wrong if you plan to sell the company, or if the surname is hard to spell or already crowded in your class.

Surviving a category leader

The test we apply is simple. Imagine the largest company in your category launching a product with a name right next to yours. A descriptive name is now one of two similar descriptions, and the one with the bigger budget owns the words. A suggestive name survives only if its suggestion is its own. Coined and arbitrary names survive best, because there is nothing generic in them for the leader to claim. That is why, in crowded categories, we usually brief toward the invented end of the line.