Stupid Names Get Attention

I saw a post on trendhunter.com today that resonated with some recent difficulties I had. It was about choosing a proper name for your business, and how funny sounding names are all the rage these days.

Kijiji? Joomla? BooRah? LaLa? Blame Google, the one that started this trend of silly, but catchy, names. Choosing a unique company or brand name these days can be extremely difficult. Having gone through the process twice in the past year, I can tell you that it can be frustrating. Whenever you think you have the perfect name, you find out that the name is registered to another company, or the web address is taken.

That’s where professional branding companies come into the picture, like Catchword Branding. Catchword is the company that came up with the name ‘Kijiji’, and many other familiar brands. “Old-school ideas about sounding trustworthy or sounding big are not as important as they used to be,” said Burt Alper, co-founder of Catchword Branding, which has helped companies pick such names as Vudu (makes a device for watching videos) and Promptu (creates voice-recognition products). “Now, it’s about sounding different and standing out from the crowd.” he told the LA Times.

Perhaps I should have ignored the 20 names my brainstorming group suggested for my trade consulting business and went with something like “TukTuk.com – Delivering Your Products… Beyond Traditional Markets” instead of “Midman International Trade Services”.

You know? I actually like that one. Hmmm…