How did you come up with your business name? What’s the story behind it?
Naturally when I was creating this blog, I ran into the issue of what to call it. Something like ‘Amanda’s Blog’ was way too generic. But something like ‘The Green Dragon Design Notes’ was too obscure and too much.
Surprisingly, it didn’t take that long to settle on ‘AC Vent.’ It’s short, easy to remember, not hard to say. It also means several things, all of which work for me: AC being my initials (and an old nickname) and matching my logo, venting being one of the things blogs are used to do, and then together ‘AC Vent’ bringing to mind air conditioning and all of the connotations that come along with that. In this case, the connotations I had in mind were: air conditioning being a necessity here in Austin, like design is a necessity for many things; and ‘hot air’ meaning empty or idle talk so air conditioning/cold air should be meaningful talk.
The slogan ‘design gets a breath of fresh air’ came almost immediately after the blog title.
This process got my thinking about how people come up with their business names. This blog was really the first business-y type thing I’ve had to come up with a name for, because as a freelancer I just market under my own name rather than an assumed one. And generally clients already have the business name settled when they come to me for design work, so I haven’t gotten a whole lot of insight into how this process works for other people. I have done a lot character-naming in my writing, and for that I generally try to find something that sounds nice, fits the character’s personality, and means something relevant or interesting. I think probably the same principle applies when naming businesses.
So, what’s the word, clients and fellow designers? Were there other criteria you considered when picking a business name? What was your process of elimination or progression of thought when considering name options? If using something other than your name, what’s the special meaning or reason behind it? Leave a comment, share your thoughts.