Last week I answered the question, why do firms change their names? Today, I want to explain how it’s actually done. What goes on behind the scenes? How do professional namers approach the challenge?

Since Hinge has named or renamed dozens of professional services firms, practices and products, I have first-hand insight into this dark alchemy.

Whether your organization needs a new name and wants to know how to go about it, or if you are just curious about the mechanics of the process, this article is for you.

Step 1. Select Your Decision Makers

How smoothly the entire process will go often hangs on this first crucial step. I can’t emphasize this enough: Empower a small group to make the decisions—including the final name choice.

Three to five people is ideal. These chosen few will be in all the meetings, collaborate in the process and make all of the decisions.

Skip this step at your own peril. The more people you involve in the decision making process, the more opinions you will have to wrestle with and the longer everything will take. Diverse perspectives, of course, can be very valuable. But only when the number of viewpoints is manageable.

A particular problem arises when decision makers join late in the process. A common example is the leaders who is “too busy” to participate in the presentations and meetings yet wants to make the final call. Another example is a flat organization with dozens of partners, all of whom want a say in the final choice.

In both cases, people who pop in and out aren’t exposed to the explanations, discussions and challenges of the process, so they lack the context to make informed decisions. All they offer is their reaction in the moment. Because most people are inherently uncomfortable with change, those reactions are often negative.

If you don’t set the process up for success from the beginning, you risk making a final decision impossible.

Step 2. Ask and Answer Key Questions

The naming team is likely to ask you a series of questions so they can use the answers to guide them down the right conceptual pathways as they explore different options. Apart from background information about the firm and its services, here are a few typical questions the team might ask:

  • What do you dislike about your current name?
  • What should the new name convey or make people feel or think of?
  • Are there any ideas or themes the name should steer clear of?
  • Who are your competitors?
  • Do you need the clean dot-com domain (name.com), or is a compound dot-com (such as name-inc.com) okay? Be aware that a clean dot-com requirement will significantly restrict the range of name options.
  • Are you willing to potentially pay premium prices for a clean dot-com domain?
  • Will the name be used extensively overseas? If so, which countries?
  • Do you have any other preconceptions or criteria regarding the name (such as types of names to consider)?

Let me take this opportunity to take you on an excursion and briefly explain what we mean by “types of names.”

Different branding firms may use different terminology, but there are essentially four ways to build names:

  1. Dictionary word names: These are English (or foreign) words like Slalom or Populous that can be found in a dictionary. Unless they are obscure (such as Petrichor, which means ”the pleasant, earthy smell that fills the air when rain falls on dry soil or rock” and is the name of a venture capital firm), people know them already, so they are easy to remember, say and spell.
  2. Compound names: These names are two common words welded together to form a new one. Examples include Guidehouse and ClearView [Healthcare Partners]. They have the advantage of allowing the namer to combine two different ideas, but they tend to be limited to short, simple component words.
  3. Coined names: These names exist in no dictionary. They can be completely made up (Xerox), built from Greek or Latin roots (Cognizant) or misspelled English words (Kinetix). Coined names are often easier to trademark and sometimes their clean dot-com URLs are available. A disadvantage is that they are unfamiliar and can sometimes be confusing to say or spell.
  4. Abbreviations: Initialisms and acronyms are ubiquitous in professional services. While they might be worth considering in certain situations (especially if they create interesting acronyms that can be spoken like a word), we usually recommend that clients avoid them.

Names can also take two different approaches:

  1. Descriptive: These names describe to some extent the firm they represent. Highly descriptive, multi-word names, such as Construction Support Services, are so generic that they have little brand value and are almost impossible to trademark. However, many one-word names hint at what the firm does or what benefit they provide (BearingPoint is a management consulting firm that points the way forward; Method is a digital product design firm with, well, a methodology).
  2. Abstract: Abstract names provide no information about the firm other than, perhaps, some suggestion of its personality. Abstract names are often easier to protect and are more unique and differentiating. However, they may require extra explanation and may take a while for people to get used to them. Most coined names are abstract, but many dictionary words can be, too, if they have no obvious connection to the business (think Apple).

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Step 3. Develop a List of Potential Names

This is where experience really shines. Using the answers to the questions in Step 2 as a guide, a seasoned namer, or team of namers, has the tools, taste and techniques to develop a long list of strong name options. Usually, a final list includes hundreds of possible names—and for some clients, thousands. Many of the options will be variations on a theme as the namer explores different permutations and combinations. Some are designed to feel safe while others are chosen to push the limits in an attempt to produce something unexpected and memorable.

The goal at this stage is to produce as many different ideas as possible. Namers will comb through dictionaries, thesauruses, lists of Greek and Roman cognates and proprietary name databases for ideas. They use various techniques to look at the firm from interesting new angles and uncover new naming possibilities.

Step 4. Cull the List

The naming firm will schedule one or more internal meetings to go through the list and select a handful of semifinalists. How many will vary depending on the specific engagement and how the naming firm operates. At Hinge, our goal is to present six to eight options to the client. Why so few? More options make selecting a name more difficult. So we pick 15 to 25 of the best names from the long list, knowing that many of these will likely not survive the vetting process (see below).

Step 5. Screen the Names

In this step, the naming firm typically takes the winnowed-down names through a multi-part evaluation process.

  1. First, the namer checks the candidates for linguistic problems. Are they pronounced the way they look? Do they have any unforeseen negative connotations (the Urban Dictionary is a good place to start)? If the name is going to be used internationally, do the names have negative meanings or associations?
  2. Next, they check the names in the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) database. Only the largest naming firms have IP attorneys on staff and access to more powerful search tools, so usually this is a preliminary search to knock out any obvious conflicts and to identify potential problems. Most professional services firms fall into more than one Nice Classification (NCL), so this can be a tedious process for names that include common words.
  3. They may then run Google searches on the names to see what other companies turn up. Suppose you find a business in your industry with the name you want but it hasn’t registered it with the USPTO. That doesn’t mean you can automatically ignore it. The business might have common law rights to the name in certain markets, which could mean you can’t operate under that name in their jurisdiction.
  4. They might also run a search in an AI chatbot. AI can be helpful in tracking down potential conflicts and often provides a more nuanced view on the marketplace than a traditional Google search.

Our team will meet, review the screening results, discuss any edge cases and decide which names to eliminate until we have six to eight finalists.

Step 6. Check for Domain Availability

At this point, the team can hop onto any online registrar to check for a name’s domain availability. At Hinge, we look only for the configuration “name.com”. While there are hundreds of alternatives to the dot-com extension (such as .biz), we don’t believe they are familiar or credible enough yet to recommend to our professional services clients (with the possible exception of .net for some firms).

Some domains may be available for a low standard fee. Unfortunately, this is increasingly rare. Some may be available for a “premium” fee, which can range from reasonable to ridiculous. Others are owned but advertised as available for sale. In this case, you contact the owner or a third-party intermediary to negotiate a price. Others may not be available, but are not in active use. In some cases, these domains may be available for purchase from the owner. And of course, many will be actively used on the internet. Unless you have a pot of gold to spend, good luck buying those. Remember, just because a domain isn’t available, doesn’t mean you can’t come up with a simple, easy-to-remember variation.

By the way, if a client prioritized finding a name with a free-and-clear dot-com domain back in Step 2, this activity has to take place earlier in the process—in either Step 3 or 4.

Step 7. Present Names

And now for the big moment. The client is anxious to see what’s in store. The purpose of the presentation, however, is not to decide on a final name. Rather, it is to select a few candidates to move forward with. In fact, because only preliminary trademark searches have been done at this point, choosing one name would be very risky.

The naming team presents the options one at a time, saying each aloud and explaining what makes it a perfect name for the organization. Often, they will display each name on one or more realistic mockups, such as a business card or lobby sign, to help the client visualize how it might look and feel in the real world.

They may also talk about any potential trademark registration issues they found, domain name availability and linguistic checks.

Then they will pull up all the names on one slide and open the floor for discussion. As I said earlier, change is difficult for most people. To avoid negative feedback dominating the commentary from the start, some presenters ask the audience at first to identify only which names they like and why. This allows the conversation to build upon a positive foundation. Only after everyone has voiced their positive opinions do they open the floor for criticism.

By the end of the meeting, the team may have its list of three finalists. Or the naming team may be asked to go back and develop a few more options.

Step 8. Conduct a Full Legal Search

At this point, the client firm likely has a favorite name. But that doesn’t mean it will pass legal scrutiny. That’s why we recommended that they send three (or more) name options to an IP attorney. It’s wise to have backups.

By the way, don’t expect a clear go/no-go recommendation. IP attorneys score each trademark candidate on various criteria. They can help you understand the risk factors the USPTO may consider for each name candidate and the confidence level they have in each one. But since they aren’t making the final judgment, that’s as far as they can go.

Step 9. Apply for the Trademark

While a firm doesn’t have to register its name, we strongly recommend that it take the extra step to protect its brand. Most IP attorneys routinely handle the necessary paperwork. The USPTO can take many months to review a trademark application. In the meantime, a firm can use the name. They can apply an SM (for services) or ™ (for products) after the name to indicate that it is under review.

Step 10. Secure the Domain Name and Social Media Handles

At this point, the firm likely has enough legal confidence in its name to purchase its domain name. If the free-and-clear dot-com domain isn’t available, this is the time to explore various extensions it might add to the name.

This is also a good time to secure any social media handles the firm will need on platforms like LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. If possible, the firm should try to use the same handle across all its platforms.

Step 11. Register the Name with the State

If the firm is changing its legal name, it will need to register it with the state or local government. If the firm is retaining its legal name but will be known in commerce under the new name, it will need to register a separate Doing Business As (DBA) name.

Step 12. Launch Your New Name

Woo hoo! The firm is ready to introduce its new name to the world.

Whether it announces the name before it designs the new logo, rebrands its website and creates new marketing materials or waits for a grand reveal, the firm needs to prepare a compelling story to tell about its new moniker. The naming firm is usually happy to draft a concise explanation of the name and why the firm is making the change.

Launching a new name, of course, involves a lot more than writing a press release. Ideally, it is a carefully orchestrated rollout—first to staff, then clients and the public. A branding firm is often the best option to plan and help execute this launch, though it certainly can be handled in-house if the resources are available.

The point is to make the most of this seminal moment. A name change is a huge opportunity to tell your larger story to an audience that might not have noticed or known about you before. Make the most of it.