Tips for choosing one word business names for stylish brands

One Word Business Names

One word business names are everywhere you look.

From Amazon and Google to Apple and eBay, it seems as though many of the most popular companies in the world thrive on a short and simple business name.

In the past, companies had no trouble earning recognition with names that were 2 or 3 words long. Entrepreneurs believed that the more they could tell people about their organisation in their name, the easier it would be to attract customers.

In today’s fast-paced digital world, minimalist names are often more compelling and memorable than their lengthy counterparts.

It’s much easier to say you have a job interview with IBM than with the International Business Machines company. What’s more, telling someone you got a fabulous new pair of shoes from Nike rolls off the tongue better than “Blue Ribbon Sports.”

If you can convey the value in your business with a single word, you increase your chances of a building a brand with excellent recognition and memorability.

So, how do companies find strong one word business names?

One Word Business Names

The challenge of creating something with standout

According to The Guardian, the right name generates unique business opportunities, by providing organisations with an impressive and catchy identity. Unfortunately, the wrong name can also mar your chances of success, harming your reputation before you’ve had a chance to find your place in your industry.

It’s no wonder that leading brands spend anywhere up to $75,000 on an effective title.

Finding and choosing the right one word brand name is challenging. Not only do you need to know a great deal about language and human psychology to pick the perfect title, but you also need to define the essence of your business or product too.

After all, the perfect brand name in the technology sector might have completely different qualities to one in the marketing industry.

To overcome the challenge of creating memorable one word business names, it’s best to start with a few basic concepts. For instance, it’s easy to agree that the right name should be something that stands out from the competition, and attracts the attention of your audience.

Other characteristics of great one word names include:

They engage your audience

An appealing business name elevates your brand identity with intrigue and whimsy. Sometimes, this might mean choosing a name that’s a play on words. For instance, Lego is a combination of the words “Leg Godt” in Danish, translating to “play well.”

Choosing a name with meaning and background draws your audience in and helps them to understand your purpose.

They’re evocative

Speaking of names with meaning, many one word business names drive emotional connection via evocative, rather than descriptive terms. For instance, a Greek restaurant named “Food” won’t mean much to your audience, but one named “Ambrosia,” creates a unique and emotional experience.

Verizon is a combination of the words “horizon” and “veritas” (the Latin word for truth). The name tells you what you need to know about the company’s values, without being obvious.

One word business names are unique

When you’re launching a new business, it can be tempting to mimic your rivals. After all, they must know what they’re doing. However, the worst thing you can do is blend in with the crowd. Think of the people you would have described as “cool” at school.

The chances are the were the kids who weren’t afraid to stand out. Rather than just doing what other people doing, look for a way to convey your essence in your title. For instance, the tech company “Codal” chose a name that combined the words “Code” and “Portal” to express meaning and capture customer attention.

Catchy one word business names are intelligent

Often, catchy one word business names have an impact on us because they cause us to think differently about something, or visualise a concept. These titles are clever. They know how to tap into human psychology to encourage specific responses from customers.

There’s a lot of research out there about the emotional impact of specific word categories. For example, the term “email” often makes people feel stressed. On the other hand, fruit-related names are calming.

Choosing a strong one word business name isn’t just about finding a specific keyword with a particular meaning. Instead, the best one word names for a business come from an understanding of human behaviour.

One Word Business Names

The long and short of powerful one word business names

At this point, you know that powerful one word business names should be smart, meaningful, unique and engaging. However, why do they need to be short too? Wouldn’t you have more opportunities to get your message across with a brand name that’s two or three words long?

While some companies still thrive on names featuring multiple words, like “USA Today” and “Coca-Cola,” the truth is that the shorter your moniker can be, the better. In a world where human attention span is shrinking, people simply won’t remember your business if your name is too long.

Obscure, lengthy terms leave us grasping at straws when we’re trying to remember what to type into Google. Imagine if Twitter was called the “Microblogging Social Network” instead.

People prefer brief terms that stick in their mind. Having to continually remind people of your name and how to spell it is just a barrier to your business. That’s why unique one word business names are growing increasingly popular.

Here are some of the reasons why you should always stick to a single word:

  • The best one word business names are memorable: What good is a fantastic company name if no-one can remember it? Word of mouth marketing continues to be the best form of advertising. If your clients can’t recall your whole name, or they struggle to pronounce it, how can they advocate for your company? Diversify and simplify when you choose a title, and you’ll see the benefits. Look at Tesla – the name conveys science, innovation, and transformation in just two syllables.
  • One word names for a business are flexible: As well as being memorable, one word brand names also have flexibility. For instance, the founder of Smirk chose his name because it was brief and easy to use in the company’s internal language. The business has “Smirkers” instead of employees, and “Smirkstorm” sessions. One word brand names can even become verbs. For instance, “Just Skype me,” or “Google it.” The same “verbing” strategy wouldn’t work with a multi-word name.
  • A single word business name is excellent for your visual identity: Many companies use wordmarks to identify their brand. These days, it’s rare to find a logo that’s just a graphic. Businesses generally use their name in some part of their image. It’s much harder to do that, however, when your name is long. A shorter title fits more seamlessly into a logo. It also means that your brandmark will continue to work well on smaller screens in today’s mobile world.

Just remember that picking a brilliant one word business name doesn’t just mean choosing a word at random. Nor does it mean that you should select an “obvious” word.

Calling your computer company “PC” wouldn’t work, because it would be impossible to trademark the term. Naming your business after a single product that you sell might work at first, but also restricts your ability to evolve and grow into new niches in the future. Therefore, a one word brand name is an excellent investment.

However, like any business name, it’s not always easy to choose the right brand or product name.

One Word Business Names

4 Rules for being “unique” with your company name

An amazing business name isn’t just something that looks great on your business card.

Meaningful company names aren’t guaranteed to be successful just because you like them. You need to make sure that there’s something in your title that can help your organisation to grow.

Choosing unique one word business names means going beyond giving your audience a convenient way to identify your brand.

Here are some tips for how you can choose a title with style.

1. Think like your customer

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if everyone on your team hates your business name – as long as your customers think it’s cool. Stepping into the shoes of your target audience is an excellent way to choose a title that will resonate with your audience. While looking at user personas, ask yourself:

  • What does this name make me feel? Does the title you choose conjure up pleasant feelings and memories? A word like Xeoxolite creates a very different feeling to the word “Mushums.” How do you want your audience to relate to your brand?
  • Is the name easy to spell and remember? One of the biggest advantages of unique one word business names is that they’re memorable. However, a single-word title loses its simplicity when it’s 12 letters long.
  • Does this name make sense? Does the name have an automatic connection with the industry you’re in? A name like Datologic seems ideally suited to the tech world, but it wouldn’t work for a baking company.

2. Give yourself space to grow

If you’re lucky enough to find a one word business name that’s perfect for your brand, then you’ll want to hold onto it for as long as possible. While the products and services your company sells might change, your title should stick with you. With that in mind, it’s worth avoiding any name that might have baggage.

While it’s tempting to simply misspell a word that your customers are familiar with, this could hold you back in the long term. For instance, a luggage company named “Bagage” might sound great at first – but what if you decide to sell other products like clothes and travel accessories too?

When choosing a name, look for something that represents the potential of your company, not what you do right now. The perfect one word name will resonate with the spirit of your business throughout its life.

One Word Business Names

3. Don’t just jam keywords together

If you’re struggling to think of a single word name that hasn’t already been trademarked, you might think that the best thing to do is to take two words and mash them together.

That way, you get a one-word name, and you make sure that you’re saying something valuable about your business. Unfortunately, while there are some “merged” brand names out there that sound good, they often require the expertise of a naming specialist.

The majority of companies that try to combine words into a single term end up with a train wreck – not a title that they want to hold onto for years to come.

Combining the words “Serenity” and “Spa” into “SeriniSpa” might be easier than coming up with a new word from scratch. However, it also means that you end up with a relatively cliché name. These titles look and sound awkward from day one.

4. Remember to test your name

Finally, after you’ve given up on the brainstorming sessions and turned to a specialist for help, you may think that you’ve found the ultimate title. It’s quick, it’s snappy, and it tells your audience everything they need to know about you in a single word.

However, before you go out and hit the “buy” button on that title, or start applying for your trademark, make sure that you test your potential name first.

Grab a few members of your team and ask them to describe what your name makes them feel and think when they hear it out loud. Check to see what your name looks like when it’s written down and whether it looks good next to a .com domain.

Most importantly, make sure that your people can remember your name and what it stands for over a few days.

Taking the time to give your name a test run is an excellent way to make sure that you’re making the right investment. It’s easy for a business leader to lose track of their goals when building a brand – particularly when they’ve been searching for the proper name for a while. A little bit of outside input can be all it takes to keep you on track.

Where to find catchy one word business names

You know what catchy one word names look like, and you even know what kind of rules you need to follow when you’re choosing your moniker. Now we come to the tricky part – finding the right title.

Unfortunately, tracking down the ultimate business name is rarely as easy as just opening a dictionary at a random page and choosing a word. What’s more, you’ll have a tough time finding a single-word business name with a name generator online.

Most digital tools provide suggestions by combining numerous keywords. Unfortunately, robots don’t quite have the creative scope of humans just yet.

That means that you’re left with two options. The first thing you can do is spend weeks in brainstorming sessions with your team. Unfortunately, that often leads to frustration when you find out that almost every word you can think of has already been taken.

The other solution is to go back to running your business and leave the naming to the experts.

At Fabrik, we specialise in creating unique, engaging and inspiring business names. Many of the titles that we offer are one-word, with a guaranteed .com domain. Whatever style or type of name you’re looking for, you can find it with Fabrik. When we create one word business names, we focus on:

1. Allusion over description

When you’re choosing a one word name for your company, it’s often tempting to pick a term that you and your audience are familiar with.

Unfortunately, words have different connotations depending on where you are in the world, and what kind of customer you serve. For instance, the word “Mist” in Germany is a slang term for manure.

Instead of taking risks with pre-established words, Fabrik creates business names from scratch, using evocative sounds and language.

This means that you can allude to specific meanings with your name, without taking unnecessary risks. For instance, Panera comes from the words for “Bread” and “Age” in Spanish, but together, they create a title that’s entirely new.

One Word Business Names

2. Positive experiences

A business name doesn’t have to explain precisely what you do to be compelling. Many cool one word business names thrive because they create positive feelings in their audiences.

For instance, the online marketplace “Amazon” was originally going to be called Cadabra – according to Jeff Bezos. However, the company’s lawyer at the time suggested that the word sounded too similar to “Cadaver.”

When we create one word brand names to sell to our clients, we make sure that they only create positive feelings in your customer. That means staying away from any dangerous associations that we’re aware of, or tricky words.

One Word Business Names

3. Stickiness and memorability

As we’ve mentioned previously in this article, one word names for a business are great because it’s easier to remember a single word than a group of terms. However, it’s easy to damage the memorability of your company name by choosing something that’s too long and complex.

That’s why we avoid names that would be far too difficult for your audience to track down on their own.

Many of the world’s biggest companies have begun adapting their names to make them as memorable and simple as possible. For instance, “AsSeenOnScreen” became ASOS.

With a unique title from Fabrik, you won’t have to worry about reducing your name. We keep many of our naming suggestions short, sweet and simple – unless there’s a good reason not to.

One Word Business Names

4. Brandability

Finally, when our experienced team of naming experts starts searching for company names to list on our website, we always prize “brandability.”

That doesn’t just mean making sure that each of our titles come with an available .com domain and a logo suggestion by the way. It also means that we choose words with real emotional impact. These are the terms that will speak to your audience, and take on their own, dynamic meaning over time.

With our short and simple names, you might even find that your name starts to benefit from qualities like being “verbified” the more your audience uses it. For instance, people don’t just say “send me the money on PayPal” anymore, they say “PayPal me.”

We choose names with exceptional potential so that you can build your business and your future around them.

One Word Business Names

We’ve got your business name covered

Most business owners know that if they want to get ahead in today’s competitive landscape, they need a memorable brand. Usually, that starts with choosing a name that your audience and your employees can get behind.

Once you’ve got your title in place, you can begin to build the rest of your identity around it, selecting a meaningful logo, an engaging company voice and more.

Unfortunately, choosing a great name is often easier said than done. If you want to track down the best one word business names, you’ll need a lot of time and expertise.

Finding a title today means knowing how to filter through all the trademarked and taken terms, to discover something unique.

Here at Fabrik, we use a combination of consumer psychology, creative knowledge, and technical expertise to create titles that appeal to a specific industry or niche.

As the competition for single word business names continues to heat up, don’t lose your head. Chill out and hand the stress over to the team here at Fabrik. We’ll make sure that you get the business name you deserve…

Fabrik: A branding agency for our times.

We’ve built our reputation, building brands for other people.

Do you need to bring a new brand to life or breathe new life into an existing one? If so, let’s start a conversation

While we have you here... If you need a brilliant brand name, and you want it today, head on over to the Fabrik NameStore. Browse our library, pick your favourite and grab yourself a ready-made brand name with a .com domain. Simple!

If you enjoyed this article, you might enjoy these too:

—How to come up with a brand name

— Perfecting your brand naming process

— What’s in a name?

— How to name a product: Golden rules

— Playing the name game

— Naming a company

— Naming a product

Steve Harvey
Co-founder
Steve Harvey
Co-founder
Our co-founder, Steve Harvey, is also a regular contributor to Brand Fabrik, a flagship publication covering topics relevant to anyone in branding, marketing and graphic design. Steve shares his enthusiasm for brand naming through his articles and demonstrates his knowledge and expertise in the naming process.

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