How To Create Great Brand Names: 8 Inspiring Inspirations
While creating brand names, O Copywriter, simply draw thy inspiration from the city you live in.
Inspiration No. 1.: Name the brand after one of the owners. Just like Delhi landmarks are named after - wait for it - wait for it - politicians! Mahatma Gandhi Road, Sardar Patel School Vidyalaya, Indira Gandhi National Open University Road...the list is endless. The caveat here is, all cities in India have a Mahatma Gandhi Road - so make sure your client ain't on the Board of Directors for another brand.
Inspiration No. 2: Onomatopoeia (sound effects, for all you non-Wren & Martin types) makes for great branding. Take Patpatganj and Karkardoom for starters. The former was obviously named after the sound of old Vespa scooters. Whereas the latter was named after the sound of heavy machinery operating in the vicinity. And Powai derives from the sound effects of a famous battle fought many millennia ago...sounds that could obviously still be heard by the person who gave the place its name.
Inspiration No. 3: Disguise an insult as a brand name and hope the client won't notice. Saket, for example. Note the similarity to the cuss-phrase, "Suck it!" Here. Now you try it. How did the name Phuket originate?
Inspiration No. 4: Perhaps your name could evolve from the function your product fulfils. Kalina sounds like it was named after the many cleaners who lived there. Cleaner, Kalina...you get the picture.
Inspiration No. 5: Name your brand after something it's famous for. Kandivili was obviously an onion market in royal Maratha times. Andheri was dark and dingy. Bandra probably had a famous orchestra performing there - at Bandstand, most likely.
Inspiration No. 6: Pick a geological landmark. Charni Road derives from all the Gujjus exhorting one another to, "Char ni!" as they struggled up the hill that once rested there.
Inspiration No. 7: Can the most irritating thing about your brand become its name? For example, a place that was VERY FAR away soon came to be called...that's right, Virar!
Inspiration No. 8: And finally, when all else fails, add an arbitrary word like, say...'sarai' to let's say, anything at all. Just like you have Nebsarai, Yusufsarai, Ladosarai...