Creative direction
Naming: what it is, the types there are, examples and how to create a brand name you won't regret
Updated November 5, 2026
Naming is the process of creating and choosing the name of a brand, product or company. It starts with what you want to convey, continues with a long list of options and ends by checking that the name is easy to say, memorable, free in the trademark register and available as a domain and on social.
What naming is and why it carries so much weight
Naming is the work of giving something a name: a company, a brand, a product, a show. You'll also come across "naming rights" when you search for it, which is something very different: putting a sponsor's name on a stadium, as with Barcelona's Spotify Camp Nou.
Why do we pay it so much attention? Because the name is the only part of your brand that lasts almost forever. The logo gets redesigned, the website renewed and the campaign ends. A customer tells another customer your name over the phone, it appears on your invoices and it stays in search engines' memory for years, and changing it later costs a great deal.
And also because of what it does. A good name saves you explaining yourself, sets you apart from the one next door and sticks in people's heads. A bad one makes you spell it out every time, fight another company in Google results or discover, after you've had the signs made, that someone already has it registered.
It doesn't have to be brilliant: there are huge brands with very ordinary names that became great through time and good work. What it has to do is stay out of your way. In practice, that's the real goal of good naming: having a name you can use for many years with no problems and that fits what you're going to build on top of it.
What are the four types of naming?
Google asks about four types, although every author classifies them differently. These are the most useful for making a decision, with well-known examples.
Descriptive. They say what you do: Spain's Correos post office, Telepizza, General Motors. They're understood instantly, but they're hard to protect and easy to confuse with similar names.
Suggestive or evocative. They hint at something without quite saying it: Amazon, which evokes something huge, or Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. These tend to work best in the long run, because they lend themselves to a story.
Invented. Words that didn't exist, such as Kodak or Häagen-Dazs. They register better and give you a lot of freedom, but at first they mean nothing: you have to invest in giving them meaning.
Person or place. The founder's surname or a city: Ford, Chanel, Estrella Galicia. They're personal and give a sense of origin. Two risks: the founder may leave, and the place may become too small if the company grows.
Other families are used too: acronyms (IKEA, H&M), combinations of two words (Microsoft, Netflix) and metaphors (Apple).
Which is best? It depends on the situation. If you have a very small communication budget, a descriptive or suggestive name will do the initial work for you. If you want to build your own brand over the long term and there's money to get it known, you can take more risk. What we don't recommend is copying your sector's formula: if all the brands in your market end in "-tech" or start with "Eco", that may be your chance to sound different.
How a name gets created, step by step
This is the process we follow when we're commissioned to name a brand.
We start with the strategy. What the brand does, for whom, what makes it different and what personality it has. We write that in one paragraph, because a name can only be judged against what it has to achieve. Without that, the decision comes down to whether the boss likes it or not.
Then we set the criteria. Does it have to work in several languages? Does it have to be short? What words don't we want? Are we selling to companies or to individuals? In Spain and Catalonia it's also worth thinking about how it sounds in Spanish and Catalan, and in English if you want to go abroad.
Next, the long list. A huge number of names get generated without judging: words from the trade, metaphors, other languages, combinations, place names, characters, inventions. Two hundred isn't an unusual number. AI is a great help in opening up paths here, and also in spotting similarities, but what it suggests tends to be what it suggests to everyone, so don't settle for the first thing.
After that we filter down to a short list of eight or ten, with quick availability checks, and then they go through the tests in the next section.
Finally the decision gets made with the name in context: written on a sign, an invoice, an email signature, a video thumbnail, said out loud on the phone. Many names change completely when you see them working. One more recommendation: hardly any name is fully liked at first. Give it a few days and notice which still makes sense once your first impression has worn off.
The checks to do before you decide
Many naming mistakes could have been avoided with an hour's work. Always do these checks, and do them before you fall in love with the name.
Registered trademarks. In Spain, the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office has a free trademark search tool. In Europe, the EUIPO has its own. Check whether there's anything identical or very similar in your sector. Similarity counts too, not just an exact match. If you're serious, ask an intellectual property specialist to review it, because it's a legal matter and the risk is having to change the name later.
Company register. If it's going to be the company's name, also check it isn't taken. Having the company name doesn't give you the right to the brand, nor the other way round.
Domain. Check whether the .com and your country's domain are free, and see who holds the rest.
Social media. Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and LinkedIn. Ideally you get the same name on all of them.
Google. Search for the name and see what comes up. If the first page is full of a big company, a common meaning or a character, it'll take you years to get seen. It can also happen with AI: mistaking your brand for another of the same name is very common, and we see it up close.
And the meaning in other languages. Check it doesn't mean something awkward in the languages of the markets you care about.
Finally, the phone test. Say it out loud to someone and ask them to write it down. If they ask how it's spelled, or write it three ways, you'll be explaining it for the rest of your life.
A real example: Santos Studio
A case of ours, and close to home. Santos Studio is a tattoo and barber studio in Castelldefels, in the Baix Llobregat near Barcelona, which trusted us from day one. We started right here, with the name, and went on with everything built on it: logo, visual identity, stationery, the signage for the premises and the photography of the spaces.
What seems most interesting to us is what happened next, because it shows how a name behaves in real life. It's short and easy to say. It works for two trades, tattoo and barbering, without tying itself to either. And it applies equally to a sign on a street in Castelldefels and to the more than 150 pieces of content we've made for the brand since then. It's a good example of what we ask from a name: that you can build on it for years without it getting in the way.
Not all commissions include the name. For Sunriu.Team, the collective of concert and festival photographers, we made the logo, palette, typefaces and website. And when a brand comes to us with a name that works, part of our job is telling them so: there's no reason to change it, least of all if it already has customers who recognize it.
If your business is in the Baix Llobregat, in Viladecans, Gavà or Sant Boi for example, there's something practical about having us close: in a meeting you can hear how a name sounds better than in any document, and you can even go out into the street and try how it looks on a shopfront.
If you're naming your brand
At Bostak Films, the name is part of the brand work, and it goes along with the image, the tone and what comes next: photo, video, social and campaigns. That avoids a very common problem, which is having a name that sounds good but then doesn't work in any visual format. Albert Murillo runs the creative direction, and the same team that designs the brand is the one that puts it to work afterwards.
If you're only thinking of a name for your podcast, it has its own rules, which we cover in how to choose a podcast's name and cover art. If you already have a brand and feel it's become too small, what a rebrand is may help. And when you want to get everything down in writing, see what a brand manual should include.
We're in Viladecans, and we work with companies and brands across the Baix Llobregat and Barcelona, plus others that call us from further afield. You can see more on our creative agency in the Baix Llobregat page.
Do you have three names on the table and don't know which to choose, or a business about to be born and no name at all? Book a free diagnosis. On a video call, we listen to what you want to build, tell you which names would hold up and which would cause you problems, and explain how we'd approach it if we did it with you. The decision is yours, and you keep the opinion either way.
FAQ
What is naming and how do you create a brand name?
It's the process of creating and choosing a brand's name. You define what it has to convey, make a long list, filter it and check that it's memorable, free in the trademark register and available as a domain and on social.
What are the four types of naming?
The most used are descriptive, like General Motors; suggestive, like Amazon; invented, like Kodak; and person or place, like Ford. Every author classifies them differently, and there are also acronyms and word combinations.
Can you give me an example of naming?
Netflix combines "net", from internet, and "flix", from films. Nike takes its name from the Greek goddess of victory. Among our work, Santos Studio is a short name, easy to say, that works for tattoo and barbering.
How do I know if a brand name is available?
Check the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office's search tool, the EUIPO's search, the company register, the domain and social media. For an important decision, ask a specialist to review it.
Can AI create my brand name?
It can help open up paths and generate a lot of ideas. But it tends to suggest the same to everyone, and it doesn't check registers well. Use it for the long list, not to decide.
Do you do naming at Bostak Films?
Yes, as part of brand work and above all when we're also doing the identity, photo, video or social media. We did it with Santos Studio in Castelldefels. We're based in Viladecans and work with brands all over the area.
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