Business and Brand Name Generators

These generators help you build a first shortlist. Use them to spark ideas, then run every favourite through the checks below before you commit. Nothing you generate is sent anywhere, so your ideas stay private until you are ready to share them.

Types of business names

Most business names fall into a few types. Descriptive names say what you do, like a city name plus 'Plumbing'. They are clear but can be hard to protect. Invented names, made-up words, are easy to protect but need more marketing to explain. Suggestive names hint at a benefit or feeling without saying it directly, which often gives the best of both.

Founder names, like a family name plus 'and Sons', build trust for local and family businesses.

• Descriptive: clear, local, easy to understand.
• Suggestive: hints at a feeling or benefit.
• Invented: unique and easy to protect, but needs explaining.
• Founder-based: personal and trusted, best for local trades.

Checks to run before you choose

A generator gives you ideas, but it cannot tell you if a name is legally free. Before you print anything, run these checks. Search your country's trademark office for the name in your type of business. Search your local company register. Check that the matching website address and social handles are free. Search the web to make sure the name does not mean something unfortunate in another language.

Finally, say it on the phone. If you have to spell it every time, customers will struggle to find you. For important decisions, a short talk with a legal adviser is worth it.

Ask a few people from your target customers which name they remember a day later. Memory is a great test. A name that sticks after one hearing is a name that will spread by word of mouth.