How to name a business, without the guesswork.

The complete method behind our 99 industry naming guides: what a name has to do, the five patterns that keep working, a process you can finish in an afternoon, and the checks that keep you out of trouble. Free to read, free to use.

A new owner standing in his freshly painted shop, notebook in hand, thinking of a name

Start with what the name has to do

A business name has three jobs, and most bad names fail because they only do one. It has to be sayable: a stranger hears it once, over a phone, and can type it into a search bar. It has to be ownable: the .com is available, the social handles are free, and no one in your industry already holds the trademark. And it has to be true: it should sound like the business you actually run, at the price you actually charge, to the customer you actually want. Clever is optional. Those three are not.

Before you brainstorm a single word, write one sentence about the business: who it serves, what it does, and how it should feel. “A mobile dog-grooming van for busy families in Austin, warm and dependable.” That sentence is the brief, and every name you consider gets measured against it.

The five patterns almost every good name uses

Across the 99 industry guides on this site, the same handful of patterns keep producing the strongest names. You do not need all five; you need the one that fits your brief.

Descriptive with a twist. Say what you do, then add one word with feeling: Gentle Paws Grooming, True Line Construction. Easy to search, easy to trust, hard to make distinctive without the twist.
Founder or family. Your surname plus the trade: Halvorsen Heating & Air. Reads established, is usually easy to trademark, and is awkward only if you plan to sell the business.
Place and landmark. A ridge, river, street or county: Riverbend Hall, North Fork HVAC. Wins local search and feels like it belongs; limits you if you expand far beyond the place.
Evocative image. One concrete thing that carries the feeling: Paper Lantern, Ironwood Builders, Nightjar. The most memorable pattern and the easiest to build a logo around, as long as the image matches the business.
Coined or compound. A made-up or fused word: Groomly, Haulwell. Most ownable, most modern, and the most likely to sound like an app when you did not want one.

A working method, in an afternoon

Write the one-sentence brief. List twenty words the business owns: materials, feelings, places, tools, outcomes. Combine them into thirty candidates without judging. Say each one out loud as if answering the phone. Cut anything you stumbled on. Cut anything that names one product you will outgrow. Cut anything that sounds like the market leader. You will have five or six left.

Now check them, in this order, because each check is cheaper than the next. First the free Name Check: it checks .com and .net availability live, and adds a quick preliminary trademark screen when one is available. Then the social handles on the platforms you will actually use. Then your state’s business registry. Then, for the finalist, a trademark attorney; a preliminary screen is a knockout test, not clearance.

No name yet? The free name generator turns your one-sentence brief into three starting points with the .com checked, six rounds a day. It uses a lighter engine than a paid order, and it is a good way to feel which of the five patterns is yours. Prefer paper? The whole method, with a worksheet, is in the free 15-page handbook (PDF).

Mistakes that cost real money later

Initials. “JMK Services” cannot be searched, remembered or trademarked, and it tells no one what you do.
Puns everyone else made. If the joke came to you in ten seconds, it came to a thousand other founders. Check before you fall in love.
A geography you will leave. “Austin” in the name is a gift until the second location is in San Antonio.
Borrowed fame. Anything that echoes a national brand invites confusion and, eventually, a letter from a lawyer.
Buying the domain last. Check the .com before you print anything. It is the cheapest check and the one people skip.

Domain, trademark, handle: what each check actually tells you

CHECK	WHAT IT MEANS	WHAT IT DOESN’T
.com available	You can register the exact address today.	That the name is free to use; a domain is not a trademark.
Preliminary trademark screen	No live federal mark with that name was found in the likely class.	Similar-sounding marks, design marks, state and common-law rights. Talk to an attorney.
Social handle free	You can be @yourname on that platform.	Anything about ownership; handles are first-come.
State registry clear	You can file the entity under that name in your state.	Anything about other states or federal marks.

Naming guides by industry

Each guide walks through the patterns that work in that trade, forty or more example names you can check with one tap, the mistakes specific to the field, and the questions founders ask most.

When you would rather have it built

SparkMyName runs this whole method for you, most in under 10 minutes: six names with the reasoning behind each, a live domain check, a preliminary trademark screen across U.S. and international registers, a premium logo and a 2K photo per name, colors, voice and launch posts, the full identity for the one you pick, all on a Brand card you keep. Founding price $39 one time (regular price $49). It is also honest about being built with AI, down to the metadata in every image.

Get my 6 brands — $39 Try the free generator first

How to name a business, without the guesswork.

Start with what the name has to do

The five patterns almost every good name uses

A working method, in an afternoon

Mistakes that cost real money later

Domain, trademark, handle: what each check actually tells you

Naming guides by industry

Home & trade services

Food & drink

Beauty & personal care

Health & wellness

Retail & shops

Hospitality

Professional services

Community & education

Creators & media

When you would rather have it built