Types of Brand Names

Brand names are the identification indicator with which a brand will be called. It is something that sticks with your brand for a lifetime and for that the companies have to ensure a proper and justified name for their brand.

It is considered as a critical process which will define the success or failure of the brand in many terms. Sometimes it would take weeks months or even years to name a brand properly. Based on the brand name almost entire marketing activities will be dependent like designing a logo, packaging, positioning, etc.

Following are a few types of brand names

1) Descriptive brand names

These Type of brand names explain the service offered by the company in a proper descriptive way. There’s hardly any room for creativity in the brand name since the name is complete and simple which describes the occupation of the company.

The positive aspect of having a clear and clean brand name is that it describes the brand story clearly and effectively to the audience, on the other hand, the negative part is that when company things of diversification the same brand name doesn’t go with the new product lines or business.

Examples include General Electric. The brand name is simple and communicates the business to the customers but if at all General Electric decides to go into FMCG the brand name may not appeal to customers and it would look out of place. Another similar example would be General Motors.

2) Evocative Brand Name

These are considered a cornerstone of brand naming and brand positioning. The usually singular very creative and act as powerful differentiators in the industry. There are exactly on the opposite side of the creative spectrum and their names employee suggestion or a metaphor to bring to the mind the powerful experience or the positioning of the brand.

Examples include Virgin, Nike, and Amazon. Owing to their originality and innovative brand names they are much easier to remember. It is essential that they maintain their dignity in the market by offering the products that suit their brand name since within an evocative brand name comes to a great responsibility.

3) Invented brand name

The products which are entirely innovative or new and first in the market, naming such products is a big challenge. That is when invented brand names come into the picture as they help in naming a product which is introduced for the first time.

They are not only distinctive but they are articulate and offer creative name with attitude for a brand. They are not at all easy to make but very easy to remember if it clicks with the brand. Most of the times the Latin or Greek are used as a root word to create the brand name. For example, Exxon, Verizon, Kodak etc.

They have no inherent definition assigned to them which is the most challenging part of these Type of brand names. To ensure that they are very easy to remember marketers, tend to spend a lot of money to establish their meaning in the minds of the customer.

4) Lexical brand names

These brand names rely entirely on the wordplay for their remembrance. Having a combination of compound words, spellings and foreign words are the most popular styles of naming this kind of brand name.

Lexical Brand Names are more often than not clever, and at times too clever to get their impact on customers. Examples of the lexical brand name include Dunkin Donuts, Burger King, Coca-Cola etc. These  Type of brand names appeal mostly to contemporary audiences who have been exposed to such names for a long time.

5) Acronym Brand Names

Most of the times acronym brand names are acronyms of the entire name of the company which might be difficult to pronounce.

Acronyms have always been used as a brand name for a long time. IBM, KFC, UPS, NASA, UNICEF, are few of the renowned Brand names. Recently company is the General Electric I was were shifted to acronym brand names like GE or GM of General Motors. It is seen that as a rule, acronyms are usually hard to remember for audiences and even harder to trademark attorneys.

6) Geographical brand name

When the brand name includes the geography or territory in which the brand operates or has given birth to them it is termed as the geographical brand name. Swiss military, American Express, Boston Scientific, are few examples of geographical Type of brand names.

However, it is found that expanding such a business in different countries has its limitations which comes with the geographical brand name. In countries where there are geographical problems with a certain country or state, it would be hard to expand and adapt.

7) Founder brand names

Traditionally brand names have also been associated with the name of their founders and the stretch is back early in time as old as Fords which is named after Henry Ford or Disney which is named after Walt Disney, Carl Zeiss, Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream etc.

The principles of founders are easily trademarked with the brand name and they can be distinctive position correctly. It is also found that some companies have used certain names of celebrities to promote their brands as a signature edition. For example, Angelina Jolie signature edition of handbags from H&M. These are not classified as a founder brand name but it is close to having a brand name on similar lines.

8) Historical brand names

This brand names associated with historical figures and names which have no relation with the company but may indicate support of the company towards the particular historical figure. For example, Tesla Motors.

9) Modern brand names

Brands these days are taking up names which have where is this meaning to the product or service but the words are compound and complex and have different meanings and open to interpretation. For example, blackberry, Facebook or Snapchat, Instagram etc.

Establishing a modern brand name requires promotion on a heavy scale to ensure that people recall the brand name easily. The presence of a product or service that such a brand name is offering, should be felt by the customer everywhere in order for them to recall the brand name.

10) Mixed Brand Names

These are the ones that use a combination of one or more of the above categories. For example, Telenor. Telenor is a Norwegian telecommunication company which uses half of two words the first part describing the work and the industry they are in that is Telecom and the second part describing its geography that is Norway.

Another example of the same would be Linkin Park, a musical band which derives its name from Lincoln Park. Forex which is a combination of two words Foreign Exchange.