Best and Worst Company Names of All Time
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Amazon / bookgoo / Under Armour / Fairtilizer
A great company name has to captivate customers and explain what, exactly, the company does -- usually all in one word. Names can make or break a company, and Inc.com's list of the best and worst company names of all time is an eye-opener for aspiring entrepreneurs. Click forward to see why each of these names is an asset or a detriment.
First Up: The Worst Names -
bookgoo
WORST: bookgoo
"Bookgoo, which is a site that allows you to highlight Web pages, sounds like something nasty that would make the pages of a dirty old library book stick together," says Christopher Johnson, a Seattle-based naming expert, who runs The Name Inspector (www.thenameinspector.com) blog. "The way the pronunciation gets 'stuck' between the k and g sounds strengthens this unfortunate association."
Next: Books-A-Million -
Books-A-Million
WORST: Books-A-Million
"The name limits this company to being identified with a single category," says Phillip Davis, the founder of Tungsten Branding in Brevard, N.C. "But they sell books, music and magazines. As a result, they must market harder to overcome this."
Next: Ruth's Chris Steak House -
Ruth's Chris Steak House
WORST: Ruth's Chris Steak House
"Just try to say it three times fast," Davis says.
Next: CompUSA -
CompUSA
WORST: CompUSA
"The truncated geographic descriptor name limits the company to one category in one country," Davis says. "If you're looking for a computer in the U.S., this is your place. But for a DVD player? Who knows?"
Next: AirTran -
AirTran
WORST: AirTran
"There's almost no point in even trying to understand where they're going with this," says Eli Altman, a brand strategist at One Hundred Monkeys, a naming firm in Mill Valley, Calif. "OK, so they do transportation in the air -- I get it. To just say exactly what you do, and say it in the most boring way possible, doesn't really help anyone involved."
Next: Vonage -
Vonage
WORST: Vonage
"Of course, this is definitely not a word, but it sounds like one," Altman says of the VOIP phone service. "The problem is there's no inherent property in this name. You hear it, and it's just kind of a passable word. It seems like the goal with a name like this is to go unnoticed. I would love to hear their explanation of what this has to do with who they are or what they're about."
Next: incuby -
incuby
WORST: incuby
"It's not clear how to pronounce this name, but the most likely pronunciation is identical to the word "incubi", the plural of "incubus," the name for a demon from Medieval folklore that rapes women in their sleep," Johnson says of the online inventor community. "Have we learned nothing from the Reebok Incubus fiasco?" [In the 1990s, Reebok came out with a women's running shoe called Incubus.]
Next: Comerica -
Comerica
WORST: Comerica
"Co America? Is there another America that I don't know about it?" Altman says. "I guess this company could say that they work with America. America is never a word you should play with or add things on to. I think people have extraordinarily complex views of the word. They're playing with a very available and present word, and they did it in a careless way."
Next: Fairtilizer -
Fairtilizer
WORST: Fairtilizer
"This great example of bad wordplay seems to combine two words with unhelpful meanings: "fertilizer" (meaning 'manure') and "fair" (meaning 'so-so')," Johnson says of the online music company. "The transition between the first two syllables is unnatural in English, so the eleven-year-old in all of us can't avoid seeing and hearing the name as Fartilizer."
Next: The Best Names -
Amazon
BEST: Amazon
"By using a memorable metaphor, Amazon really helped its brand grow." says Phillip Davis, the founder of Tungsten Branding in Brevard, N.C. "The name positions the company as a source of abundance and diversity."
Next: jetBlue -
jetBlue
BEST: jetBlue
"It's a descriptive hybrid that conveys the industry and provides a sense of open, blue skies," Davis says. "It also uses the newer 'jet' rather than the old-school 'airline.'"
Next: twitter -
twitter
BEST: twitter
"Twitter is very evocative," says Christopher Johnson, a Seattle-based naming expert, who runs The Name Inspector (www.thenameinspector.com) blog. "The cheerful chattering of birds is the perfect (aural) image for this [microblogging] service."
Next: Etsy -
Etsy
BEST: Etsy
"Extremely brief, fun to say, and unique," Johnson says of the online craft emporium. "From a sound and symbolic perspective, the name says 'small and personal', which is just right for a handmade goods marketplace."
Next: Starbucks -
Starbucks
BEST: Starbucks
"Starbucks works on multiple levels," says Eli Altman, a brand strategist at One Hundred Monkeys, a naming firm in Mill Valley, Calif.. "Ninety percent of the people who walk into a Starbucks have no idea what it means, but it's just sort of a cool combination of sounds. But like a lot of great company names, there's a story behind that most people don't know. Starbuck was Captain Ahab's first mate in Moby Dick, and he was obsessed with coffee."
Next: Under Armour -
Under Armour
BEST: Under Armour
"This name really gets at how Under Armour relates to the sports they're involved with, particularly in the football market," Altman says. "There's a real visceral connection in the name. It says protection as well as war-like action."
Next: StubHub -
StubHub
BEST: StubHub
"Stubhub is the hot girl in the barroom of company names," says James Siminoff, the founder of PhoneTag (see Inc.com's story on PhoneTag's rebranding). "To me, it's the best name that exists in the recent market of naming. It rhymes, it's cute, and it describes exactly what the company does."
Next: yelp -
yelp
BEST: yelp
"Yelp definitely has an emotional quality to it," Altman says. "It's an exclamation and it really emphasizes what the site does, which is aggregate reviews from all these extraordinarily passionate people. You get these connotations of a high-pitched cry coming from a dog or animal or something like that. It's a name that really connects to the people on the site in a humorous way."
Next: twine -
twine
BEST: twine
"Twine is a semantic Web company, and the mundane, utilitarian, sensuously evocative nature of twine brings this esoteric technology down to earth," Johnson says.
Next: Oracle -
Oracle
BEST: Oracle
"This name works because they're kind of making a claim far beyond what could be achieved by their product, which is really just business software," Altman says. "To a more professional audience, the name tells you that there's some sort of serious knowledge component to their company."
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