Are you starting a new business and struggling to come up with a name? Online name generators may seem a quick and easy solution, but they come with a host of drawbacks.
Here are 11 reasons why you should ignore free online name generators when it comes to finding a name for a business or even a product or service.
Actually, brand names are created since finding a name sounds more like scrolling a list on a mobile which is the very last thing you want to do if you are really into creating an appealing name for your business, a name that resonates with your niche market, products, or services.
1. Lack of Personalization
Online name generators provide generic options based on algorithms and databases. They cannot understand your needs or suggestions. They only compile lists of words taken mostly from domain names. A good name should be unique and memorable, as well as easy to pronounce and spell.
2. Limited Originality
Although online name generators promise to offer numerous suggestions, they lack the depth of creativity and nuances that an experienced name creator possesses. The name of your business should stand out among competitors, not be confused with them.
3. Missed Brand Strategy
The name of a brand is more than just a word: it is a strategic tool that communicates with the world, conveying identity, sounds, sensations, and the positioning of the brand in the market. A professional naming consultant knows this and personalizes the name to align it with the overall business strategy. Name generators fish in domain name lists and sometimes create acronyms that represent one of the most difficult and risky ways to create business or product names.
Of course, you can argue that acronyms like Adidas are world famous, forgetting one crucial factor: any business name whether an acronym or a made-up name, is not “created” famous.
Only retrospectively speaking and after investments of billions in communication and marketing, we are allowed to say that a brand name got a place among the gods.
Not even Adolf Dassler, on a sunny morning on August 18, 1949, while shaving, could imagine that he would create the perfect brand.
Almost certainly things didn’t go like this but the date is correct.
That day Adidas was born from the imagination of Mr. Dassler who had already convinced the American sprinter Jesse Owens to use his handmade spiked shoes at the 1936 Summer Olympics a few years earlier.
Only with hindsight can we say that a brand is perfect.
Put aside all the advertising investments and a few strokes of luck and the Adidas name could have been forgotten within a season.
4. Risk of Legal Problems
Online commercial name generators cannot provide legal assistance on trademarks or copyrights. If they did, they wouldn’t be free, and their research in the archives of organizations responsible for protecting names and trademarks would have a cost far from the 19.90 that you might be willing to pay. Relying on generated names could lead to violation problems that could have serious legal and financial consequences in the future.
5. Imprecise Domain Availability
Despite many generators checking domain availability, because in practice they only know how to do that, they may not consider the future implications of domain extensions, potentially limiting your online presence or causing confusion. In addition, the search for domain names generates a problem of extraordinary scope that few imagine: correspondence between the company name and the domain name.
6. Missed Competitive Advantage
The name of your business, product, or service represents a competitive advantage. A unique and custom-made name can make your business more memorable, leading to greater brand recall and differentiation from the competition. Would you prefer customers to buy from a competitor because you have similar names that evoke the same idea, memory, sensation, or sound but the message they manage to convey with a more effective communication strategy is more persuasive than yours?
7. Lack of Personal Touch
A professional name creator takes the time to understand your business, its values, and many other aspects that make your business distinguishable. This personal touch leads to a name that resonates with you and your specific audience.
8. Lack of Expertise
Naming consultants have expertise in linguistics, psychology, marketing, and various other disciplines that allow them to create names that communicate the right message and evoke the desired response. Online name generators gather terms from databases that “sound” to them like belonging to the same category of words you used in your query.
9. Superficial Emotional Connection
A professionally made brand has the potential to evoke emotions, tell a story, and connect with your audience on a deeper level. Free online name generators miss the mark when it comes to creating that emotional resonance. Even if they promise to use the most innovative AI software, they lack imagination and creativity. At most, you could use them, if you create names for a living, to get ideas. Nothing more, even if it’s not a bad idea.
10. Missed Marketing Opportunities
A business name created by a professional takes into account market trends, cultural sensitivities, and linguistic nuances. Especially if the company operates in foreign markets. This ensures that your company name does not inadvertently create a negative impression or cultural misunderstanding. Even large multinationals have made these mistakes, especially in the automotive industry.
11. Long-Term Impact
A brand name is an investment in the long-term success of your business. Although initially, an online name generator may seem convenient because it is almost always free, a business name contributes significantly to growth, recognition, and customer loyalty. So it’s worth investing.
Conclusion
Free online name generators have no merits and do not save time and money.
Although Google pages are full of free online name generators offered as the best solution to your problem of creating a unique, memorable, original, and creative business name, their sole benefit is being quick to produce lists of even absurd, inappropriate, and useless names; they serve to provide ideas, even wacky ones, but solely ideas.
Only an experienced naming consultant can pick up fragments of words, sounds, emotions, and hidden symbols to create a unique and memorable name that resonates with you and your specific audience.
Busy entrepreneurs with no time, and no skills as name writers, should ignore free online name generators: as I explained in these 11 points, the risks are significant.
Therefore, it is worth investing in a naming consultant to ensure the long-term success of your business.
If investing in a naming consultant is currently beyond your budget, consider alternative ways to gather input from different sources, conduct research, and brainstorm creatively to create a brand name that meets your goals.
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