What Makes a Good Brand Name: 7 Criteria

A good brand name scores well on seven criteria: memorability, pronounceability, spellability, domain availability, distinctiveness, emotional resonance, and scalability. Names that check all seven are rare — aim for at least five.

The 7 criteria

1. Memorability Can someone recall the name after hearing it once? One-word names and two-syllable names win here. "Stripe" sticks. "DigitalPaymentSolutions" doesn't.

2. Pronounceability Is there only one way to say it? Names with ambiguous pronunciation create friction in word-of-mouth — still the most powerful marketing channel. If two people would pronounce it differently, it's a problem.

3. Spellability (the radio test) If someone hears the name on a podcast, can they type it into a browser correctly on the first try? Creative misspellings ("Lyft," "Tumblr") worked in 2010 but now create more confusion than distinction.

4. Domain availability A .com is ideal for consumer and B2B products. A .io is fine for developer tools. Having your exact name as a domain — without hyphens or prefixes — signals legitimacy.

5. Distinctiveness Does it stand out from competitors? If every company in your category ends in "-ly" and yours does too, you'll blur into the landscape. The best names sound unlike anything in their category while still feeling appropriate.

6. Emotional resonance Does the name make you feel something? "Notion" feels clean and thoughtful. "Basecamp" feels sturdy and reliable. "Figma" feels creative and modern. The feeling should match your product's personality.

7. Scalability Can the name grow with you? "InvoicePro" caps you at invoicing. "Wave" (which started with invoicing) can mean anything. Names that describe your current feature set become constraints.

Scoring your candidates

Rate each name 1-5 on all seven criteria. Total possible: 35.

| Score | Verdict | |-------|---------| | 30-35 | Exceptional — register immediately | | 25-29 | Strong — check one more time for trademark conflicts | | 20-24 | Decent — consider if nothing scores higher | | Below 20 | Keep searching |

Names that break the rules and still work

Some great names violate one or two criteria but compensate elsewhere. "Google" wasn't a real word and was hard to spell initially, but it scored so high on memorability and distinctiveness that it didn't matter. "Salesforce" is three syllables and somewhat descriptive, but the emotional resonance of "force" carries it.

The criteria are a filter, not a formula. Use them to eliminate weak candidates, not to algorithmically select a winner.