I need a great name quickly and inexpensively. What's the best way to do it?

I know how frustrating that question can be—I’ve been trying to answer it for almost 40 years!

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By Mike Carr, CEO & Co-Founder at NameStormers

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Back in 1986, I helped write the first PC name generator, complete with an AI-like model before AI was even a thing. People laughed – software for naming? Ridiculous! They weren't entirely wrong. We soon discovered that generating names was the easy part.

That revelation led me to become a professional naming consultant. I helped create names like Carmax, Angry Orchard, Power Shot, Cherubs, Tru by Hilton, and thousands more for both tiny start-ups and massive corporations.

And you know what I learned?

The biggest naming challenge in 1986 is still the biggest challenge in 2025.

Can you guess what it is? Drum roll, please… the biggest naming challenge is…

• Guessing how to create your name quickly and inexpensively?

• Guessing if it’s legally available?

• Guessing if it will spark the excitement and sales you need?

Yes, the challenge is guessing.

So please—stop guessing!

And to stop guessing, you must understand a few fundamental truths:

1. What you think of your new name doesn’t matter

Not even a little—unless you plan on selling only to yourself.

2. What your prospective customers think of your name doesn’t matter either

Now, I know this may sound weird. I’m not saying to ignore your prospects or customers. I am saying to ignore (stop guessing about) what they think of your new name. Ultimately, how they think about your name is irrelevant. What matters is how they react to it.

People react before they think. If your name doesn’t catch their eye (or ear) instantly, they’ll never invest mental energy pondering it. You’re dead in the water. Game over.

You might argue you have a big budget to turn that name into an amazing brand. Irrelevant. If your name can’t stop them upon first impression, you’re finished before you begin. With today’s digital noise and vanishingly short attention spans, your name must trigger an immediate reaction.

 3. AI generates great names… if you’re okay with sounding like everyone else

AI loves you and wants to please you. The more details you feed it—about yourself, your product, your company—the happier it gets. It will follow endless prompts and produce names aligned with your criteria. It’ll even claim these names are legally available and will offend no one. What’s the problem? AI is guessing, often incorrectly.

Yes, it will confidently assure you there aren’t any legal issues, when in fact there may be plenty. Or it’ll provide names that offend no one—yet also fail to excite anyone. AI hides its guesswork because it knows you want certainty. But that certainty can be an illusion.

4. The best names usually make you uncomfortable

The best names aren’t safe. They don’t resemble your competitors. Most names these days are plain boring. They generate zero brand loyalty.

Mark Schaefer, in his book Audacious: How Humans Win in an AI Marketing World, cites a McKinsey study: “90% of the categories we study show no customer loyalty… More than half of customers—58%—change brands from one purchase cycle to the next.”

He goes on to note that “most marketing is boring, intrusive, and desperate.” And guess what? Most names are boring, boring, boring!

How can you avoid that snooze-fest? Don’t chase a name that sounds or looks like everyone else’s. Yes, everyone wants a short, simple, easily spelled name—but that might be the wrong focus. Instead, aim for a name that sparks immediate reaction, real engagement, and fosters a well-thought-out strategy that piques genuine interest.

5. To create a great name, focus on one thing

Turn off your computer and phone. Take a breath. Now, zero in on what truly matters: being human.

You’re not developing a name solely to improve SEO, secure a URL, or beat an algorithm. Those might have been valid hacks in the past, but today it’s about connecting with real human beings.

Ask yourself: “What name has true stopping power?” Don’t sweat if it raises eyebrows or triggers a few negative comments. Instead, shoot for strong emotional impact—love or hate—because emotion drives conversation. People talk about interesting names; they spread organically across the digital universe.

You may have to offend some to captivate others, and that’s okay. Trying to please everyone often means you end up pleasing no one. A name that fuels passion—whether positive or negative—will get you noticed.

That said, “attention for attention’s sake” can backfire. You need a strategy behind the edginess, a backstory that resonates once you’ve caught someone’s interest. Consider these two examples:

Angry Orchard

Boston Beer wanted a name to expand the hard cider category, especially among women who didn’t care for the taste or alcohol content of Sam Adams. Their original “Hardcore Cider” name sparked a reaction, but it was mostly negative, particularly with women.

They landed on “Angry,” a strong, negative word for many consumers, yet it fit because it hinted at both the hard-alcohol bite of the cider and the fact that the best cider apples are gnarled and bumpy (they look angry!). Boston Beer initially worried “Angry” was too negative, but then they embraced it, commissioning whimsical graphics of a twisted apple tree to match the brand name. “Angry Orchard” took off.

Death Wish Coffee

Mike Brown came up with this name all on his own. He recounts the story of sitting in his apartment at night, drinking a Four Loko in a koozie emblazoned with a mean dog and the tagline “Death Wish.” It caught his eye. It conjured images of poison, something so edgy and shocking you couldn’t ignore it.

Soon after, Good Morning America heard about “Death Wish Coffee” and came to interview him—unaware that his business was on the brink. The day after the show aired, orders poured in. Mike had no employees; he ended up asking customers to help fulfill orders. He was so overwhelmed, Amazon and eBay kicked him off for a while. Despite the chaos, the business thrived, bolstered by such a disruptive and controversial name. The name resonated with MMA fighters and other fringe groups, grew Death Wish into Amazon’s top grocery brand, and perfectly suited the brand’s high-caffeine positioning.

Of course, even at this stage, there’s still some guesswork in picking the name. If you genuinely want to eliminate guessing, you need to:

1. Test your name with actual customers and prospects the right way.

2. Vet it for legal and linguistic landmines.

How to Stop Guessing?Test Your Top Names the Right Way

Hint: asking your spouse, kids, or a few friends is not the right way. You need a large enough sample of potential customers to yield statistically valid findings. Crucially, you should observe their behavior—how do they react?—rather than simply asking what they think.

Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, in Thinking, Fast and Slow, introduced System 1 (rapid, reaction-based) versus System 2 (slower, rational) thinking. People respond to names with System 1 first—fast, subconscious, evolutionary survival mode. But you can’t just ask someone how quickly they react; you have to measure it without tipping them off.

One tool for this is Mapprio (mapprio.ai), though there are others. The key is to test names in a real-world context—on a product mockup, or a prototype webpage—and watch how people engage.

Vet Your Name for Legal Issues

Successfully registering your name with your Secretary of State or county means nothing when it comes to trademark infringement. Likewise, owning the dot-com URL doesn’t guarantee legal usage.

Trademark law is about “likelihood of confusion.” If your new name is “confusingly similar” to an existing trademark in the same space, there’s potential conflict. We’ve had clients using a name for over a decade before receiving a dreaded cease-and-desist letter—only to discover someone else had used and registered that name first. They had to abandon 10 years of brand equity and start over. You do not want that happening to you!

You can begin your search at the USPTO website (tmsearch.uspto.gov). Their free search is straightforward, but don’t assume “no hits” means a green light. You still need to check for state trademarks and do broader web searches for similar names in your industry. Ultimately, I recommend using a trademark attorney for a final opinion and to file for registration. Yes, it might cost $1,000–$2,000, but consider it an insurance policy for your brand. Just like you insure your home against catastrophe, you want to ensure your name can’t be challenged out of the blue.

Check for Linguistic Pitfalls

Of the three checks, this might be least critical if you’re operating only in the U.S., but it can also be the easiest. If you have a friend or associate who speaks Spanish, ask them to flag any unintended vulgar or offensive meaning. If you’re targeting communities where English isn’t the primary language, it gets more complicated. AI might help a bit here, but we’ve found it doesn’t always catch the nuances of sound and dialect. In that case, consider a professional linguistic screening firm such as Language Solutions (langsolinc.com) or Traveling Brand (travelingbrand.com).

Final Thoughts: You Get What You Pay For

If you’re tempted by “naming services” that promise amazing names for $99 to $199, be cautious. Every week, AI seems to roll out new features, and new naming firms pop up online. I use AI daily, testing the freshest models and agents. It’s becoming frighteningly good at seducing you into believing it has come up with the perfect name. But once we investigate further, we usually discover it’s not so perfect after all.

And yes, we get calls from folks who tried the bargain-basement naming options—only to be disappointed.

So, stop guessing about what to do and how to do it. I hope the guidance above helps. If you still have questions, feel free to contact me directly at mike@namestormers.com.

Remember: It’s not about what you think or even what your customers consciously believe they think—it’s about how human brains react to your name in a split second. Stop guessing, test properly, and protect yourself legally. Then, watch your brand thrive.