How to Choose a Business Name, According to Branding Experts

If you clicked on this story, there’s a good chance you’re seriously thinking about launching your own interior design firm. (Who knows? Maybe you’ve already applied for a business banking account, assembled your online portfolio, and snagged a few starter clients.) But when it comes to choosing a name for your budding business, you might be at a loss for words—literally. William Shakespeare might’ve questioned what’s in a name centuries ago, but today’s designers know that your company banner matters.

“A name that is aligned with you and your work—your ethos, values, voice, temperament—will stay with you,” explains Lisa Maione, principal at a design studio called For Instance and assistant professor of graphic design at Kansas City Art Institute. “While it will not describe your whole practice, it will be one space that shares out your way of seeing potential in the world.”

Selecting the right name is an intimate decision—one that will stick with you for as long as your design firm is open for business. To help, three branding experts share their top tips (and warnings) for coming up with the perfect moniker for your business.

Know Your Why and Who

As the principal of the Vividmark, a marketing consulting company that has worked with design and architecture firms in New York and Tennessee, Anastasia Guadron knows that most of her clients take a visual approach to their brands. (After all, interior design and architecture are both incredibly visual disciplines.) Instead, she encourages professionals to think about the spirit of their firms.

“Start with why you started your firm,” she shares. “Most of our clients have amazing origin stories, but since they are the main character, they tend to overlook how special it is.”

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If your passion for architecture and design has a personal story, see if you can weave your experience into your branding. You might also want to consider how you want your projects to look and feel—and see if there’s a word that can encapsulate both. Another thing to keep in mind is your ideal clientele.

“Think about your target audience and the kinds of brands that they interact with,” says Anastasia Casey, founder of IDCO Studio and Design Camp in Austin. “With that in mind, ask yourself what words or what kind of business name will resonate most with them.”

If you want to help a younger demographic refresh their spaces for less, you might land on a snappier tongue-in-cheek name than you would if you had an older, more affluent audience.

Keep it Simple

When establishing a name for your design business, it’s important to think of an option that’s easy to remember and rolls off the tongue. “Your potential client or audience member needs to remember you within seconds,” Guadron shares. Otherwise, she cautions, you can be forgotten in the ever-shrinking attention span of humans—currently down to a mere eight seconds.

For best results, Casey encourages you to not overthink it. “Getting too wordy could cause your business name to be confusing or difficult to remember,” she shares. “Having a simplistic yet refined brand name can give your potential client a glimpse at your distinct value and the thoughtfulness with which you approach your projects.”

Speaking of simplicity, it’s important that your business name is easy to say too. “[Think about how the pronunciation [will go] for those you work with,” Maione explains. “Does it translate well in the countries you work in or anticipate working in?”

If you’re stumbling over your words when telling a friend or former colleague about your new endeavor, you might want to rethink its name.

Be Careful of Copyrighting

You finally came up with a short list of potential names, so the rest will be smooth sailing, right? Not quite. Before you make the big decision, you want to make sure that your potential name is unique to your company.

“Aside from the legal troubles that can arise if you choose a name that’s already in use, you might also run into issues buying a web domain or setting up usernames on social media,” Casey says.

A simple web search is a great way to start the vetting process. Want to think a step ahead? Check for available web domains, social media handles, and any associated hashtags. “This research will help you understand the popularity of the name and [the] competition,” Guadron adds.

If your potential business name seems to be in the clear, Casey recommends using the USPTO’s Trademark Electronic Search System) to browse trademarks and pending trademarks. “If you want, you can apply for one yourself,” Casey adds. “It’s not absolutely necessary, but it will protect your name from being used by competitors.”

Use Your Name

With so many options to choose from—and the risk of accidentally using another company’s name—it might be easier to name your design firm after yourself. According to Maione, this is an easy, common move. “It can feel heavy to bring in a word or words into such focus, so resolving with the name of the designer or partners can relieve the stress of reading too deeply into language,” she says.

That said, many designers choose to pair an end phrase with their eponymous business name: LLC, Designs, and Associates are just a few examples. When choosing that perfect word to complement your name, Maione encourages you to think of your overall vision for the brand.

“Each of these end phrases can reflect an ethos about collaboration and authorship, how one sees the studio as a space and as a mindset,” she explains. “LLC, for example, might be a business structure decision and looks official. That said, a name on the door doesn’t need to say all the business details.”

While adding the word Designs will provide clarity into your firm’s services, phrases like “& Co.” or “and Associates” opens the doors for growing your team or adding partners down the road. Before you make the decision, think about the highest vision for your business and choose accordingly.

Make Room for Growth

Design trends may come and go, but a great business name is meant to last forever. That’s exactly why Casey always recommends choosing timeless over trendy.

“It’s incredibly important to think about the longevity of your business name and how it will come across in the future,” she shares. “If your goal is to become the largest firm in your area, you will want to choose a name that could eventually represent a diverse collective of professionals.”

Casey encourages designers to avoid using buzzy words or jargon that feels too literal or pertains to a location. Ultimately, the right name will be the backbone of your business and support your company’s unlimited growth and potential.