Names of start-ups becoming more recognizable rather than unique
Trends in naming include a continuation of "cute misspellings," while also adopting dictionary names and including AI in the name for those involved in some way with artificial intelligence.
What’s in a name? A lot, and names selected for start-ups are evolving.
Michael Carr, Co-Founder and self-described Chief Naming Officer of Austin-based brand consultancy NameStormers, says, “There is only one thing that matters when it comes to a name: Can people remember it?”
Quoting Carr and others, Joanna Glasner writes in this Crunchbase News article that “increasingly, founders appear to be prioritizing recognizability over uniqueness. Among start-ups in surveyed countries that raised sizable seed funding rounds in the past year, Crunchbase data shows that simple names composed of recognizable words have gotten super popular.”
Glasner offers these observations:
- Fintech start-ups seem to be copious adopters of short, punchy dictionary words as names;
- Recently seed-funded biotech companies have names (or at least the first word in their names) that could easily be tech start-up monikers as well;
- The trend in what is described as “cute misspelling” continues with some perhaps not-so-beneficial downside; and
- Those new ventures that have artificial intelligence (AI) as part of their focus are frequently using AI in their name.
