Naming for
your big ideas

I’m not a lawyer or a trademark agent, so I am not equipped to do a legal deep dive and tell you whether or not you can file a registration for the name.

However, I’ve been around the block a few times, and I’ve seen the way trademark law works when it comes to naming, and how risk may be assessed. This is an important step for vetting creative so you can make sure you’re not investing time, energy and socialization in a name that is unavailable. The ultimate decision on the final name will rest on your leadership’s risk tolerance and the advice of your legal counsel.

For the due diligence review, I use publicly available data to search country trademark databases, search engine findings against your market + your competitors, and top-level domain and social media handle availability. I am not responsible for registering any assets on behalf of your company.

I spent five+ years in verbal identity at Interbrand, the world’s largest brand consultancy (which, fun fact, was first founded as a naming company!) Developing names, brand strategy + verbal identity for Fortune 500s was what I did, day in day out.

Before that, I was a copywriter at a few ad agencies and honestly, I saw firsthand what a mess naming can be without process. Creatives know how to take the leap and see the potential in a name, but don’t always know how to bring their clients and their clients’ leaders along for the ride, especially in more technical disciplines and risk-averse industries like finance or law.

I’ve been self-employed for more than seven years now, and naming has become the largest part of my practice. I have worked with companies and clients of all sizes, from enterprise organizations to founders just starting out. Agencies hire me to deliver on the naming projects they sold in. I see how naming is done across the board.

I love that people bring me their nearly-formed ideas and say, “I don’t know how to talk about my big beautiful baby!” Feeling into that unknown space, finding its edges and giving it more definition, that’s where the magic lies for me.

Yes! I partner with agencies of all shapes and sizes to lead their naming projects, or support their process with creative name generation.

My agency partners include Prophet, DesignBridge, Interbrand, Huge, VML and lg2, among others. Drop me a line if you’re interested in partnering.

Something tells me if you’d made it this far into the FAQs, you’ve already tried that and it didn’t work.

Naming is much more than simply coming up with one or a couple words. A big part of the legwork lies in defining what the right name needs to do and when we’ll know it when we see it.

As a naming expert who has led 100+ naming projects over the last decade, and developed thousands of name options for others, I’ve learned how to stickhandle around a few pitfalls and shortcut a few processes. I can help you see around corners you didn’t even know were there and find your ideal name, faster.

I am also not particularly fussy about your name having come from my brain. My goal is to help you land a name you feel confident about, period. If you, your mom or your accountant ends up suggesting the name that becomes The One, and you feel positive that it’s The One, I consider that a job well done.

I got you, friend, I’m a small business owner and I love working with people who are just launching their first idea. I offer brainstorm sessions that might be a great fit for your needs! Tell me about what you’re planning and we’ll see how I might be able to help.