Want a Strong Product Brand? Start With a Stronger Product Name

Product naming is often the last thing on the checklist — crammed into a Friday afternoon brainstorm or handed off to a coworker who has “a way with words.” But let’s be real: if you’re building a product brand and you’re not treating the name like a strategic asset, you’re making it even harder for your product to succeed. 

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By Scott Milano, Founder and managing director of Tanj.co 

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Naming is mission-critical. It’s not just a label. It’s the story starter, the first impression, the invite to your product experience. In crowded markets with short attention spans, it might be your only chance to grab someone before they’re gone.

So why does product naming matter so much for product marketers and brand builders? Let’s break it down with best practices and real-world inspiration.

1. The Name Is the Front Door to Your Brand

Before someone uses your product, sees your UI, or even visits your website, they’re often seeing or hearing the name. That means it’s doing the heavy lifting of first impressions. A great product name:

• Sparks curiosity

• Sets expectations

• Communicates vibe or utility (ideally both)

So make your name welcoming and intriguing to draw people in. 

Slack, for example, is clean, modern, and just edgy enough. It also ironically reclaims a word with negative connotations and flips it into something useful and buzzy. You can’t forget it. Now imagine it as “Team Messenger.” Yawn. 

2. The Name Carries Strategic Weight

A name can do more than simply describe the product. It can signal what market you're in, who you're for, why you exist and how you're different. It's your product positioning in action.

Use your name to stake out territory — category-wise or emotionally.

Tesla Powerwall does it right. “Tesla” carries future-forward electric energy. “Powerwall” tells you exactly what it is and makes it sound clean and modern. Compare that to something like “Tesla Home Battery Module System.” No one wants that. 

3. The Name Affects Discoverability

In a digital world, if people can’t remember your name, spell it, or Google it, they won’t find you. 

So consider phonetics, SEO, autocorrect, and domain handles from the start.

Venmo is unique, short, snappy, and 100% searchable. Same with Figma. Meanwhile, try finding info on a product called “Plan” or “Work.” You’ll be buried in search results and App Store noise.

4. The Name Should Grow With You

When a product launches, it’s usually just the first version, with more to come. But naming only for what the product is today can lead to growing pains as it evolves.

Name to what the product is and what it could become.

Notion didn’t go with “Note-Taking App” for good reason. Such a descriptive name would have boxed it in. The name “Notion” is broad enough to now cover docs, wikis, project management, AI, and more—without a rename. Strategic stretch is built into the name. 

5. The Name Has to Fit in the Portfolio Puzzle

Your product name doesn't live in a vacuum. It needs to make sense within your broader company ecosystem — especially if you’re a multi-product brand. Consistency, clarity, and hierarchy all matter.

So when you know you’ll have more than one product, try to define your portfolio naming architecture before you name. Or at least give some thought to the impact your first product name will have on subsequent new products. 

Apple has nailed this for years. The logic is clear: iPhone, iPad, iMac. It’s modular, repeatable, and flexible across generations. Contrast that with Microsoft’s scattershot approach (Teams, Microsoft 365, OneDrive, Azure, etc.). Yes, Microsoft has its fair share of iconic names and brands—but cohesion? Not always.

6. The Name Must Stand Out in a Crowded Market

Every brand is fighting for eyeballs, clicks, and mindshare. If your name blends into the crowd — or worse, sounds like a knockoff — gaining momentum just got harder. 

So don’t be afraid to zig with your naming when everyone else zags.

Take e-commerce as an example. Shopify is top dog. Other smaller e-commerce brands like Printify, Dropified, Sellfy and more clearly mimic the Shopify name, trying to nip at its heels. But no matter how successful they become, they’ll always live in Shopify’s shadow.

7. The Naming Process Itself Is a Minefield

Naming is deceptively hard. Trademarking. Domain squatting. Internal alignment. Linguistic weirdness. Everyone has an opinion — and it’s all subjective. This isn’t just creative work; it’s strategic navigation.

Build a naming brief, align your team early, and follow a clear, creative process that includes:

• Naming territories (thematic directions)

• Style options (descriptive, evocative, invented, etc.)

• Vetting for conflicts, clarity, and culture

Once you have a shortlist of viable options, run them by people outside your team. If it takes more than a sentence or two to explain what you’re going for with the product and name, your names might not be ready for prime time. 

The Product Name Is Your Product’s Edge

Naming is a business decision. It’s not just a creative exercise. The best names capture imagination, tell a story, and help people remember you. The worst? They get forgotten before they’re ever used.

So don’t save naming for last. Don’t “just go with what’s available.” And please don’t crowdsource it from the intern Slack channel.

Give naming time. Take it seriously. Try your best to get it right so your product brand punches way above its weight from day one.