Helpful words

Does Your Name Pass the Autocorrect Test?

Let’s say you picked up your friend’s tab at the bar last night because he was short on cash. Like a lot of Snake Peo Millennials, you both use Venmo, so you decide to send him a text asking him nicely to pay up. Then you hit send, but just before your message travels through the…

On Naming It Right The First Time

Changing names is tricky. At the very least, a name change is going to leave you changing signage and ordering some new business cards; often it implies an entirely new direction for your company. We’ll be honest: name changes are a big part of our business. It’s relatively rare that someone gets it right the…

A Hundred Monkeys Featured on For Print Only

  • About: Naming

Print matters. We’re excited to have our Naming Survival Guide featured on For Print Only, a celebration of physical media in an internet awash with gifs. Thanks to Kyle Tezak for working with us to make it happen.

Naming A Company? Forget the Dotcom

“…and the name needs to be available as a .com.” We hear this one a lot. Otherwise intelligent people have dropped vowels, smashed words together, and butchered perfectly good words to register a website. After all, name.coms are the gold standard for your business’ web presence, right? Not really. In 2016, name.com URLs are small…

Branding the Outdoors

  • About: Naming

  For most people, the word “Patagonia” conjures up images of adventurers summiting a snowy peak (which may or may not be in southern Argentina.) North Face is a jacket or a sleeping bag, not the harsher side of a mountain. A big part of outdoor outfitters, and a key to their success, is their…

In Sports, Your Fans Are Your Brand

Branding sports teams is tricky business. The team already has a brand, whether they like it or not. Player styles, rivalries, fanbases and team performance combine to create athletic brands before ads and stadium deals enter the picture. We’ll look at the major league teams from the Bay Area (we’re a Berkeley company, after all)…

Does Our Philosophy Hold Up to the Facts?

  When you’ve been in the naming business for as long as Taylor Swift has been alive, you learn a few things. Over the years, we’ve tirelessly revised our naming process, honing in on what works and what doesn’t. If you can imagine a creative process, we’ve likely tried it. The results are names that…

What Do We Call Bill Clinton?

  Hillary Clinton will be the 45th President of the United States. We’ll almost certainly address her as Madam President: the NIH and the USGS already plan to. (The ITA is a bit behind the times.) “Madam” is also the standard term of address for female Senators and Speakers, as well as many female heads…

Eli teaches Ryan how to name things

In Episode 1 of Ryan Learns Something, Ryan quits his job and gets $15,000 to start his journey of self-directed learning. He learns how to name things by seeking out a company naming expert: Eli Altman. Ryan learns the history of naming companies and the trends that affect brand names. He reads “Don’t Call It…

Brand Grab: How Yosemite Gave Up Its Name

  Shortly after midnight on March 1 2016, Yosemite National Park was quiet. Tucked in the park’s backcountry, tent campers snored in their sleeping bags. Nocturnal animals emerged from the conifer forests to hunt. But the silence was broken as workers drove from landmark to landmark, tearing down old signs and riveting new ones in…

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