Naming your product is hard, but critical

Naming a product is, on paper, pretty straightforward. You want to choose a name that is memorable, meaningful, and aligns with the brand's identity and values. Ideally it hints at the product's value proposition.

Product names get extra points for being easy to pronounce and/or similarly resonant in meaning across multiple languages (or at least avoid disaster when translated), and if they lend themselves to creative wordplay.

They're mostly short – two or three syllables at most – and relatively unique. Lastly, before you land on a name, check that it's not already in use, and that a domain and social handles are available for it, if that's going to be important to your go-to-market strategy.

Let's look at a few of the big guns.

Salesforce: This name cleverly combines "sales," – which is what it enables – with "force," suggesting empowerment and dynamism, or how it gives individual users the power of many. It's a classic morphing of two words together to make something that becomes more than the sum of their parts.

Slack: There's a bit of history to this product name, as there is to how the company was founded. S.L.A.C.K. was originally an acronym for "Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge." Slack has come to represent ease and efficiency in workplace communication. The name is short, memorable, and now synonymous with quick, informal communication in professional settings. When your product name becomes a verb, you know it's solid.

Dropbox: This name suggests an easy place to "drop" your files for storage or sharing, evoking simplicity and functionality. The imagery of a box where items can be securely placed or locked away, and then accessed anywhere underscores the utility service.

MailChimp: This name combines a dull, ordinary task, "mail," with a playful branding element, the "chimp," making it memorable and fun. The quirky, approachable name reflects the brand's user-friendly and slightly whimsical approach to email marketing. It's not much more complicated than that. See also: SurveyMonkey.

Zendesk: The customer service desk isn't a place you think of going in a calm state, so by front-running it with a play on the word "zen," this name projects peace and calm, exactly what the company aims to bring to potentially fraught customer service interactions.

Netflix: This name combines "net" (internet) and "flicks" (movies), so it seems a logical fit for where Netflix is now. However, it was used back when Netflix used to send DVDs through the mail. The truth is that naming is hard and this wasn't even their favorite option, but they had to go with something, and Netflix was on the list.

Per founder Marc Randolph in a Quora interview when he was launching his memoir:

"It wasn’t perfect. It sounded a little porn-y. But it was the best we could do."

Google: An invented name derived from a misspelling of "googol," a mathematical term for a large number, it suggests the vastness of Google's ambition - indexing all human knowledge. The uniqueness and simplicity of the name have made it synonymous with internet searches. It's now a verb, too.

Impossible Foods: One of those daring names that laughs at the company's prospect of failing. The company is doing something extraordinary by creating plant-based foods that taste like meat. Can it make people like them? Its bravado aligns with the brand's innovative and forward-thinking identity.

THE TAKEAWAY:

• If you can distill your key attributes down to two easily pronounceable syllables, there's a good chance you're in the ballpark. Do some due diligence and road-test it with friendlies.

• Renaming your product down the road can be costly in many ways. Look at trademarks, do deep searches on versions of your name and get confident that it's not used by anyone else. Buy the domain & obtain social handles.