In a world where attention is scarce, a great name shapes perception before customers experience the product or service. If it misfires, everything that follows has to work much harder.
THE PROBLEM WITH MISPLACED MEANING
A common mistake is choosing a name that feels powerful or attractive internally but lands ambiguously or inappropriately with customers.
Take Gaia, a name used in many fields to represent its Greek mythological roots, as the earth as a living organism; natural, holistic, even spiritual. It’s a popular poetic name concept and therefore challenging to use from trade mark and domain perspectives, as there are well over 1,000 existing trade marks on international registers. But is it really the right name for an AI platform from Palantir Technologies? A platform deployed in military operations to identify killing zones? Is this just misplaced meaning or a cynical attempt to sanitise the true purpose of the product?
We think a name should anchor understanding of a product in its correct context, not obscure it.
BTW, talking of Palantir and the true meaning of names, Palantirs were indestructible crystal balls made by the elves of Valinor in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings which proved to be ‘unreliable guides to action’ as they showed only what was seen and not what was unseen, which sometimes was more important. A key risk lay in the fact that users with sufficient power could choose what to show and what to conceal, leading to their use in the legend’s wartime propaganda…
WHEN NAMES WORK AGAINST YOU
There are plenty of cautionary naming tales, so let’s look at four examples in the automotive sector, a global industry with the resources to do better:
The Mitsubishi Pajero famously needed renaming in Spanish-speaking markets due to its vulgar meaning. Naming an SUV “wanker” probably wouldn’t have helped sales in Spain or Latin America.
General Motors encountered a similar problem with its Chevrolet/Opel/Vauxhall Nova. In Latin markets “No Va” translates into “Doesn’t Go” illustrating that names don’t exist in a vacuum, they need to travel across languages, cultures and contexts.
In 2016 Tata Motors, owners of Jaguar Land Rover, had to rename their new Zica micro car days before launch, due to the Zika virus spreading rapidly across Asia. Naming a product after a virus won’t make sales go viral.
In 2013, BMW was within weeks of launching their first electric car – the i3 – at the Geneva Motor Show without owning the trade mark. We advised the trade mark owner, famous race car designer Gordon Murray, how to negotiate a significant seven figure sale to enable the launch to proceed…
Even in tech, where more abstract names are common, missteps occur. Overly contrived names can signal innovation internally but alienate customers externally. If a name needs explanation, it’s already working against you.
THE CREDIBILITY GAP
A poorly chosen name doesn’t just confuse, it undermines credibility.
Consumers poke fun at badly considered names but respond to human ones. Octopus Energy is an example; whimsical, playful but strongly differentiated from the faceless utility companies it competes with. Their B2B platform, Kraken, however, shares its name with an increasingly visible crypto currency exchange, creating confusion and the growing likelihood that one of them will need to change.
If consumers respond to human names, enterprise customers look for signals of seriousness, reliability and competence. A name that sounds whimsical, overly grandiose or disconnected from the product’s function can raise doubts.
This is particularly true in sectors like AI, finance or healthcare, where trust is paramount. In these fields a name is not just a badge, it’s a statement of intent.
THE HIDDEN COST OF GETTING IT WRONG
There are value-destroying consequences of getting your brand name wrong:
- Marketing inefficiency: means more time spent on explaining what your product or service
- Weaker positioning: results in difficulty standing out from your competitors
- Reduced trust: introduces subtle but persistent friction in customer perceptions
- Legal risk: increases the likelihood of costly trade mark infringements
- Rebranding costs: are always expensive and disruptive if a change becomes necessary
The key is to get it right first time and use expert advice.
DON’T JUST AIM FOR A GOOD BRAND NAME
The best brand names do four things well, so why accept a “good” name when you have the opportunity to design a “great” one?
Great brand names can:
- Clarify the value proposition – so the target audience quickly understands what the product or service delivers
- Position the brand – reinforcing the brand’s place in the market, often accompanied by a strapline designed to expand the meaning in the name
- Own the territory – protect the brand equity with trade marks and domain names so no-one can imitate or pass-off as you
- Resonate with customers – by feeling human and appropriate for the audience and context
None of this means the brand name has to be literal or dull, but it does need to be aligned with the brand and business strategy and feel like an extension of the product or service, not a layer applied on top of it.
NAMING IS A STRATEGIC DISCIPLINE
Brand naming should never be a creative afterthought. At Nucleus we think of it as a strategic discipline combining language, psychology and market context with human creativity. Naming requires a rigorous process and screening to avoid all the risks covered above, which we have now empowered with our own proprietary AI naming platform, Third Lens®.
A brand name is often the first and most repeated interaction any audience has with your business, so if the name creates doubt or confusion, the brand starts with a disadvantage which will compound over time.
The bottom line? In any competitive market, a sub-optimal brand name will cost more to grow than a great one, so it’s worth taking time to develop a name worth investing in.
Peter Matthews
Nucleus founder & CEO
If you have a naming project you’d like to discuss with us, get in touch Take a look at our brand naming case studies