One of the most frustrating tasks in bringing a product to market is to find a name for the product. There are two main reasons why picking a product name becomes so complicated in many organizations. The first reason is that everyone in your company probably feels that they are qualified to make a name suggestion. Why wouldn’t they be? If it involves a decision about a deeply technical issue in product development, except for a handful of smart engineers no one is going to come forward with suggestions. But when it comes to things like finding a name, every one is an expert and every one has a cool suggestion. The second reason is that the people responsible for making the decision might not be following a proper process to find a good name.

The typical process involves restricting the discussions and decision making to a few core people. This eliminates a lot of useless discussions and long, unproductive meetings. Limiting the team is good but that it self does not solve the problem. The more important thing is to start the naming process by listing a set of criteria that your name should meet. Then go about picking names that match your requirements. In other words, simply follow the basic engineering principle of requirements-design-implementation to come up with a name for your product. If you follow this process, you could even open up the discussion to a wider audience in your organization and get good suggestions. After all, every one is qualified to suggest a name.

There are quite a few places on the web that discuss useful requirements for names. <a href=" http://mashable.com/2010/05/28/naming-startup/“>Many of these are mostly talking about web-based start-ups. You could follow the same principles for your non-web products as well. I have a few other criteria of my own that don’t usually get mentioned elsewhere.

1. Language Independent: If you intend to market your product across the globe, then keep non-English speaking users in mind when picking a name. At your next trade show or business event, try interacting with some people who don’t speak English. Of course, I assume you will have an interpreter. Describe your product to them and see how much effort they put in to simply understanding and repeating your product’s name. If you plan to establish an international Sales channel, it definitely helps to keep your names simple. Names that are too long and complicated might be difficult to comprehend, and remember, for non-English speakers.
2. Differentiation from Competitor’s Products: If a competitor has a product named ‘Apple’ it might not be wise to go with something like ‘Red Apple’. If your competitor’s product is the dominant one in the market and you introduce a similar sounding product, users might think that your product came from the competitor’s company. You might end up giving credit to them, especially if they are already well established. For users who figure out the difference between the products, you might end up looking like copy-cats trying to play catch up with the market leader. If you are ambitious and want to be the leader, pick a name that is clearly different from other products in the market.
3. Verbabilty: This requirement does not get the attention that it deserves (Exception). This is very important if your product would be used as a tool. Think of all the classic products such as Xerox, Photoshop, Google etc. How often do you use these words as verbs in your every day conversations? Of course, none of these products started out with the intention of becoming a verb. It takes a lot more than a marketing campaign for your product name needs to enter the every day vernacular. But planning for it ahead might be beneficial.

Of course, coming up with a list of criteria is a lot easier than actually thinking up a name. Good luck with your name search!

[I am referring to technical products here. I can only imagine the naming headaches in the consumer goods sector.]