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Startup Naming Trends For 2022

“See if your brand name is up to the Universal Naming Trend”




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Trending is all about timing. To select the most up to date brand name to your startup or business, you have to follow the naming trends.

Unlike in the past, we, humans have a big relationship with brand names. There is so much to choose in the market and we have the freedom to select which product or service is going to satisfy our needs the most.

To become the selection of the majority of your target customers, you should exactly know what startup naming trend to follow and how to shape your brand name.

How Do You Name A Startup In 2022?

Our brand name specialists have analyzed the naming trends of the past few years and predicted the following naming trends for the year 2022. If you are planning to start a business in 2022, do not forget to consider the following naming trends.

  1. Short names- Most of the brand names of the startups of the last few years, the brand names consist of 4 to 6 characters such as Brex (2017)
  2. Unique names- Most of the entrepreneurs from the last few years have chosen names that are unique as their brand names, for example,  Meesho (2015).
  3. Generic words – This is also a naming trend a considerable amount of entrepreneurs selected generic words for their brand name. Although these brand names are generically worded, they do not represent the core of the business. Our brand name specialists point this out as a special feature. For example, Cameo (2017)
  4. Updating logos-  In modern days, having only a physical store is not enough; online presence is also important. The logo is a very important marketing tool in an online store. So our brand name specialists have figured out updating logos as a related trend for startups. Popular companies like Toyota, Chanel, Coca Cola, and Gucci continuously update their logos and maintain a strong relationship with customers. An attractive logo promotes strong brand recognition.
  5. Visual brand promoting- It is said people remember what they see 60000 times better than what they read. The same goes for your brand name. Make sure to add (naturally not forcefully)  your logo and brand name whenever you share a photo, post, or video.
  6.  Using social media- most of the businesses in the world are active in social media. Social media is a very effective promoting tool for businesses. So being active on social media sites is also a brand naming trend.
  7. Customer-focused marketing- you need to promote your brand name as a customer-friendly brand name. First, discover your target customer crowd and shape your product or service according to their needs, suggestions. With this, you can market your brand name naturally, through the customers. So consider this trend also when you design your brand name.

With the results we extracted from the previous brand naming trends, we developed the universal brand name trend that will never get outdated and secure your online presence among your competitors.

The Universal Startup Naming Trend For 2022

Whatever the naming trend you follow, ensure these factors are included in your brand name. This trend will keep your brand name stand out for decades. Your brand name should be,

01. Not Too Lengthy

If your brand name is too long it won’t be easy to remember for your customers. The latest research results have shown that short brand names are more catchy and memorable than long brand names. So make sure your brand name is limited to 4 to 6 characters as it is the ideal character count for a brandable brand name. For example, Google, Amazon, Visa.

02. Easy To Pronounce And Remember

This is also a very important fact, if you want your brand name to stand out trending for decades. Remembering your brand name depends on how easily you can pronounce your brand name. Customers have long lists of brand names in their memory, so confirm your brand name is easy to pronounce and easy to remember. For example, E-bay, Nike, ADIDAS.

03. The Global Meaning

Always consider the global meaning of your brand name. There can be different meanings in different languages for one word. Even though your brand name is meaningful in your language, there can be negative or unrelated meanings in other languages which is harmful for your brand name especially when the brand name is introduced for the other countries.

A brand name is the very first detail of your business that deals with the customers. So the global meaning of the brand name needs to be positive in order to build a strong connection with the customers. For example, HP, Viber, Twitter.

04. Uniqueness

In the brand naming process, uniqueness is defined in a bit different way than the usual. In the brand naming process, we define uniqueness in the means of the legal ownership to the brand name. Although there are thousands of domain extensions nearly half of the businesses using .com domain extension. With a .com domain extension, you can get the legal ownership of your brand name.

05. User Friendly

Your brand name needs to be easy to deal with when it comes to your smart devices such as laptops, smartphones, tabs etc. When your brand name is easy to pronounce for the robots in your smart device, it will be easy for anyone in the world to read it. So make sure your brand name is robots friendly.

As we know, different industries have different brand naming trends to pick a great brand name. Let’s take a look at the business naming trends of some industries.

06. No Generic Words Are Included

If you need a super brand name, keep your brand name ideas list away from generic words(dictionary words). It is very difficult to translate the original meaning, awareness of a generic word into a brand name. For example, you name your business as “chairs”, but when the customer hears your name for the first time, they automatically picture some chairs instead of your business. With a generic brand name, you cannot make a successful brand image and you cannot reach your target audience. So avoid using genetic words in your brand name.

07. No Numbers And Special Characters Are Used

Unless you are targeting korean or chinese markets, including numbers and special characters in your brand name is not wise. Why? try reading this brand name Zab8won*, was it easy to pronounce? And the surveys we conducted on the market have shown that brand names with numbers and special characters are very hard to memorize. And it does not look good on your URL. Usually URLs contain numbers and special characters, when your brand name also contains numbers and special characters, your customers will be confused. So avoid naming troubles by avoiding numbers and special characters.

Name Trends According To The Industry

Some naming trends are popular in some industries. Here are some examples for that.

-Startup Naming Trends Of The Apparel Industry

These are some popular naming trends in the apparel industry.

  • Founder’s name- Armani, Fendi
  • Mythical names- Nike, Hermes
  • Generic names-  Puma, The North Face
  • Unique names- Nike, ADIDAS
-Startup Naming Trends Of The Beauty Industry

Here are some popular brand naming trends in the beauty industry, that you can try for your beauty startup.

  • Short Brand Names- Avon, Olay, Mecca
  • Use Of Acronyms- Mac, NYX
  • Founders Name- Chanel, Dior
-Most Followed Naming Trends In The Fashion Industry

Consider these naming trends if you are planning to start a fashion accessories business in the future. These are the popular startup naming trends in the fashion industry.

  • One word brand names- Hermes, Rolex, Cartier, GUCCI, Next
  • Acronyms- H&M, C&A, ADIDAS
  • Founder’s name- Tom Ford, Michael Kors, Dolce and Gabbana
-Popular Naming Trends In The Sports Industry

These naming trends have been followed by most of the entrepreneurs of the sports industry.

  • Acronyms- ASICS, DKS
  • Generic words- Under Armour, Skechers, New Balance, North Face
-Popular Naming Trends In The IT Industry

There are many businesses that can be found in the IT industry which are of the following brand name trends.

  • Compound names- PayPal, Facebook
  • Simple and short names- Intel, Adobe
-Naming Trends Of The Food Industry

The following naming trends have been followed by the majority of the food industry entrepreneurs. 

  • One worded brand names- Nestle, Mars, Cargill
  • Acronyms- JBS, ADM, CHS
-Naming Trends Of The E-commerce Industry

Check out the startup naming trends of the e commerce industry. These trends are still being followed by many entrepreneurs in this industry.

  • Using generic words- Amazon, Rakuten
  • Short brand names- eBay, Otto
-Startup Naming Trends Of The Tourism Industry

The following listed naming trends are popular in the tourism industry.

  • Generic words- Ovation Travel Group, Omega World Travel
  • Key worded brand names- Direct Travel, Travel & Transport
  • Acronyms – CWT, ATG, BCD
-Naming Trends Of The Social Industry

Most of the entrepreneurs of the social industry have followed these startup naming trends.

  • Compound words- Facebook, WeChat
  • Generic words- Twitter, Medium
  •  Made Up words- Skype, Instagram
-Hotel And Restaurant Industry Startup Naming Trends
  • Included numbers- 21c Museum Hotel, hotel 71
  • Long names- Belmond Hotel Splendido, Katikies Sun Rocks
  • Generic words- Four Seasons Hotel, Royal Mansour

These are the most followed startup naming trends in the hotel and restaurant industry.

-Naming Trends In The Education Industry
  • Short brand names- Cram, Podia
  • Unique brand names- Chegg, Udemy
  • Founders name- Lynda
  • Acronyms- ALISON

These startup naming trends are popular in the education industry if you are interested in starting an education industry related business.

What Are The Old Naming Trends?

We are going to analyze old naming trends in two parts, 

  • Old naming trends that you should avoid.
  • Old naming trends that are still valid.

Old Naming Trends That You Should Avoid

Actually, in the past, the brand name was used just to introduce the product or service to the customers. Introducing the product or the service was the big deal back then. Less competition in the market was a big reason for this. These brand name trends are just for your knowledge and they are not for your business name.

01. Using Descriptive Words As Brand Names

Using descriptive words for their product or service was a naming trend once. The brand name itself explains the product or service to the audience without confusing them. For example, YouSendIt, Hotels.com, Toy R Us. Today it’s not recommended to use this brand naming trend for your business.

02. Common Names

Using keywords as a brand name is also a naming trend and this trend is still followed by some businesses. Some brand names are related to the product while some are not related at all. For example, Apple and Blackberry. These brand names do not relate to the product while Pizza Hut and coca-cola are related to the product. I stated earlier some businesses name their business with a keyword or common word which is an advantage for their business. You will find out why you should avoid common words in your business name.

03. Using Personal Names

There are personal names that turned into a business name, as an honor to the founder of that particular product or service such as Oscar, Lynda. But for your business, you better go with unique brand names.

04. Using More Than One Words

National Express, Aston Martin, Bank Of America are some examples of this trend; using more than one word or long brand names. The main reason why we ask you to avoid this brand name trend, these brand names are hard to memorize and will not survive on the internet.

05. Using Numbers With Words

This is a trend that you should definitely avoid; using numbers in the brand names. For example, 3M, Chanel No.5. There may be an important message behind those numbers but the latest results show that brand names with numbers are less memorable.

06. Using Misspelled Words

Using misspelled words is an old trend but can still be used even in your business as they are unique. For example, Tumblr (Tumbler) and Flickr (Flicker). Even Twitter started as Twttr and got twitter.com later to avoid this confusion.

Old Naming Trends That Are Still Valid

01. Using Initials Or Acronyms

Naming the business with the founder’s initials or using acronyms as a result of a long brand name with more words is also a notable brand name trend. For example, IBM (International Business Machines) BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke GmbH) H&M (Hennes and Maurits). This is also a good brand name approach even today as they are unique and easy to remember.

keep short image

02. Word Combining

Brand names like Paypal, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, each of these brands is a result of a combination of two words or a combination of two-word partials. This brand name approach is also a unique and trending way to create a cool brand name.

03. Using English Letters or Words

From the past, there is a tendency to use English words or write native words in English letters as a business name trend and this is still valid for today’s businesses too. English is an international language and with English word brand names, you can speak to a global audience. 

English worded brand names- Dove, Apple, Target, GAP, Mini, Starbucks.

Non-English worded brand names- Nokia (Finnish word), Huawei (Chinese word), Honda (Japanese word), Hyundai (Korean word).

What Are The Latest Brand Name Trends?

Selecting an up to date brand name is important. So what are the latest brand name trends?

01. Made Up Words

Made up words are unique and make sure to create them as easy to remember to the audience. Here you have the freedom to create new words but make sure they are easy to spell, memorize, and not a copy of an existing popular brand name. For example, Visa, Skype, Hulu, Google are perfectly made-up words.

Creative & Meaningful image

02. AI (Artificial Intelligence)

There is a trend in the IT industry to put the two-letter AI for their software or IT company to represent what the brand name relates to. For example, Argo AI, Rulai. If your business is related to AI you can also use this trend in a unique way.

03. Robotics

The latest results about brand names reveal most robotic related businesses include the words, Robo, robotic, or robots in their business names, for example, HRG( Hit Robot Group), Mitsubishi Robotics.

User friendliness image

Some Tips To Name Your Startup

Most entrepreneurs struggle in the beginning of the naming process. So we decided to give some tips on naming your startups. If you have no clear idea on how to begin; follow these steps.

  • Know the purpose of your startup

Defining your business as the first step is strongly engaged with the overall development of your business. So be clear about your business purpose because it also affects your brand name.

  • Target customers

Your brand name needs to be parallel with the customers’ decision making process. There are different types of customers in the market and Identifying and understanding your target customers will help you to design a brand name that attracts your customers. 

  • Study the keywords

Studying the keywords is a good way to get familiar with lots of industry related words. So we recommend brainstorming keywords before selecting a brand name. 

  • The global meaning of your brand name

When it comes to the brand names, you need to care thoroughly about the global meaning of your brand name or in other words; make sure your brand name does not generate any negative meaning in other languages. Unless, it can affect the future growth of your business.

  • Online presence of your business

Online presence is a prior requirement in this era for businesses. So the brand name needs to be attractive in your website and easy to type and search for the users.

  • Shortlist the names

If you have more brand name ideas and have no idea to pick one brand name ,our brand name consultants recommend this easy way to shortlist your brand name; brand name qualities!!! Remove all the brand name ideas that lack brand name qualities in them and voila, you’ll easily get the perfect brandable brand name for your startup.

  • Check the domain availability

As the final step, check whether your brand name is available to be registered. You can check it easily from godaddy.com.

Comparisons of Naming Trends

Naming your startup is the foremost important duty you should do before starting any new businesses. Startup name trends change from time to time and we cannot come for a strict decision to follow any trends blindly, it’s all matters about the startups impact which is caused by the founder. Still, startup naming is a faddish endeavor.

You can often identify which era a startup started by looking at its naming styles. We have studied and sorted out the naming trends of some of the fastest growing companies which were founded in recent years and some old companies which were successful.

Old Trend Recent Trend
Word with too many vowels(Google,Yahoo)
From 1990-2000
Name end with cute suffixes (Spotify,Napster)
From 2000-2019
Word with not enough vowels (twitter,Flickr)
From 2000-2010
Compound words (Snapchat,PayPal)
From 2010-2019
Two words jammed together with a capitalized
letter in the middle (YouTube,LinkedIn)
From 2000-2010
Mash-Up words (Instagram)
From 2010-2019
Long and descriptive Names (Apple Computer ,
Cisco Systems)
Early 1980
Human Names (Hulu,Oscar)
From 2005-2019
Fruit Names (Apple,BlackBerry)
Early 1980
Keep Short and Simple (Uber,Nest)
From 2010-2019
Startups cropping up with “AI” in their
names(Argo AI)
late 2016

Now you have good knowledge about the brand name trends and know-how your brand name should shape according to the given suggestions. Trendy brand naming!!!