Choosing a name for your business is one of the most important parts of your branding. It’s like choosing a name for your son or daughter! It will be an important part of your brand identity.
Let me share a little anecdote of one name that I found particularly bad for a business, even if they had obvious good intentions behind it.
When I was living in China, one day, exploring the city, I came across a Mexican restaurant. Being homesick and craving some Western and more familiar food I walked iup to it to take a look.
The place had the most unfortunate name: EL MOCO. For those not fluent in Spanish it means “the booger”. Not a word that one would associate with a yummy meal.
I get it, it’s a Mexican restaurant and they wanted a Spanish sounding name, but there are a million better options. Of course maybe 1% of the people in that city actually speak Spanish, or maybe the owners just thought it was funny. I’ll never know because it was closed and I didn’t get to talk to them.
Another restaurant in the city was called “Go home to eat” (yes, in English). It always made me feel like they were turning me away, like “don’t come in here, go eat at your own place”.
I could share more examples, but you get the point. A name has to be inviting, easy to remember and resonate with what you do and offer.
How did I come up with ArteKys? Very easy: my name is Kys and I do art. Maybe not a genius formula, but I like it.