How to Come Up with Pet Business Name Ideas
So, you’re ready to jump into the exciting world of pet business in the UK?
That’s fantastic! But before you get too far ahead, let’s take a moment to talk about something crucial: naming your business.
Choosing the right name for your pet business is like naming your own furry friend – it needs to be catchy, memorable, and unique. It should perfectly reflect your business and stand the test of time as your brand grows and evolves.
If you’re feeling a bit stuck coming up with pet business name ideas, don’t worry – you’re not alone. We’ve put together some handy guidelines and fun methods to help you brainstorm creative, standout names.
Tips for Choosing Pet Business Name Ideas
When it comes to picking the perfect pet business name, there are a few key things to keep in mind:
Make It Relevant, But Not Too Literal
Sure, you want your name to resonate with the pet world, but it doesn’t have to be too on the nose. Think beyond the obvious! For example, Apple isn’t in the fruit business, right? Your pet business name can be inspired by your mission, values, or even something that connects on a deeper level. Take Nike, for instance – their name comes from the Greek goddess of victory, perfectly aligning with their brand’s focus on strength, speed, and success.
Keep It Memorable
Simple names are easier to remember. Aim for one or two words – the shorter, the better! Avoid tricky spellings or pronunciations that could trip people up. Remember when Jif became Cif because no one could pronounce it right? Keep it straightforward so your pet business name sticks in people’s minds.
Check Availability
Before you get too attached to a name, make sure it’s not already taken. Do some digging to see what’s out there. It’s smart to have a few options and narrow them down after you’ve done your research. You don’t want to fall in love with a name, only to find out it’s already in use!
Personal or Corporate?
Think about the future. If your pet business is all about you and your personal brand, using your name might be a good fit. But if you’re planning to expand or build a team, you might want something that isn’t tied to your name. That said, a cool, unique name can work wonders – just ask Ford, Ben & Jerry’s, or Calvin Klein!
Help Naming a Pet Business: Idea Generation
There are plenty of fun and creative ways to come up with the perfect name for your pet business.
Here are a few ideas to get you started on finding a name that’s not only unique but also fits your business like a glove.
Word association
The first one is easy – simply throw around words and phrases that relate in some way to your business – consider your audience, your industry, your goals, the way you work.
Doodle images that pop into your head too, again following the Nike rule – be inspired by outside influences and delve deeper. When you have a big list, look at combining two words to get a brand name. therer are no wrong ideas here so you can go completely crazy – offer a fast service – think of fast cars, cartoon characters, weather systems etc. The weirder the better usually – Don’t forget you want something unique!
Word Smash
Word smash is a great way to come up with something unique – think of brands like Netflix, Facebook, and YouTube. This one works best when you think outside the box a bit. Come up with some words and phrases that you can smash together to make something cool sounding.
Made-up words are the best to trademark as they’re much more likely to be unique. However, keep it simple – remember spelling, and also try to use two familiar words so people won’t find it too alien. Words that are fun to say are often very memorable.
Image inspired
Get onto Pinterest, Google, Behance, or wherever you head for inspiration. You could even do the blindfold pen game – put on a blindfold, grab some magazines, and put a dot of pen on a page whilst blindfolded. This might be a crazy one and might throw up some wild ideas so you may need to dial back into the relevancy to bring it back down to earth a bit.
Spell it wrong
Again, this may be a little risky, but many famous brands have pulled it off like Tumblr and Reddit, but the trick here is to keep it simple. You’re going to have to find a way of teaching your audience how to spell your new misspelled name too, so be aware that that could take up a lot of your initial brand visibility focus, especially in the early days.
Glaringly Obvious
All of these quirky ideas may not help naming a buisness – especially if you are consistently drawn to something glaringly obvious, but remember descriptive names may be a little harder to trademark – so “John’s car wash” might be off the table. But if you are in a niche industry or you are selling something unique, then it might work perfectly for you.
Naming a pet brand – example:
You might, for example, be launching a new pet brand selling memory foam beds for dogs.
Using both the word association and word smash techniques, you might brainstorm ideas around comfort and playfulness and dog characteristics.
Words like cosy, snuggle, cuddles, pop up as well as other words like pup, pooch, or even common dog nicknames like pudding.
Leaving you with names such as CosyPooch, SnugglePup, or CuddlePuddin’.
Filter out the bad business name ideas
You now need to narrow down your ideas:
So rule out anything that:
- You simply don’t like
- Is hard to say or spell
- Is too long or complex
- Doesn’t roll off the tongue easily
- Has negative connotations
- Has abbreviations that sound rude or too similar to others
- Don’t translate well into other languages
- Already exists elsewhere
Is your pet business name already taken?
Naming a company in the UK means there are a few places you can check to see if your name is already taken.
Companies House:
Head over to Companies House, the government’s exhaustive list of all current and lapsed registered limited businesses. Do a quick search to see if your name’s already taken. This often doesn’t show sole traders though, so this isn’t the only place to check.
Domain Names:
You’re going to want a website soon enough, so check domain providers such as GoDaddy, Hover, and Namecheap and see if your chosen name is available. Be prepared to buy it in advance too!
Social Media:
Check your potential brand name on all social media platforms and make sure there’s no one else using your new name as their handle.
Legal stuff:
Once you’ve settled on a name, you’re going to want to trademark it – you can do this yourself or contact a professional – but do this first because they can either accept or reject your new name. You wouldn’t want to do this too late and risk rebranding and large costs. Trademarks are registered per class – basically a class is the specific industry you work in and they all have codes – you are aiming for a unique name within your class and ideally nothing too similar to any others in there too.
Testing a pet brand name:
Before you commit to any one idea, be sure to test it, ideally on your target audience if you can, but friends and family, in business networking groups, and on online forums.
If you do share, pop the little TM symbol on it to show it’s a trademark and deter anyone from copying – once you’ve tested, committed to, and registered your trademark, you can swap TM for ® which holds a bit more clout!
Finbo Studio have created a free guide that digs deeper into naming a business. The guide considers the psychology behind brand names, but in really simple and easy to understand language.
Still need help coming up with pet business name ideas?
Click the button below and leave us your email and you will receive a free PDF guide on creating a successful name that fits your business perfectly.
HOW IS YOUR PET BRAND PERFORMING?
To make sure you are being consistent we are offering a free 15-20 minute call, we like to call it the brand consistency check-up, where we ask you some questions, look over your marketing and give you some feedback and action steps, to get it working better for you.
Recent Comments