What names should one make sure NOT to name their to-be-launched Product (book / magazine / software / service / daily-use-physical-product / company / etc.)?

In addition to 's great list (), here some more watch-outs, a link to a great slideshare on the idea generation process and a useful PDF document by a company called Igor on naming. Please note that this is mainly based on experience in the software/internet/company space - not books, films, FMCG etc. Don't choose names that are too similar in their style to other brands already existant in the marketplace. For instance, if you want to open a kebab store in North Londo, anything like "Fresh Kebab", "Best Shish" etc. is likely to have been used in some form or another. That said, don't underestimate the beneficial effect of having a name that customers can categorise. So for example, a lot of large pharma companies have names based on their founders/owners - this underlines heritage and can create trust. e.g. Johnson & Johnson, Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline. Don't pick a name that isn't expandable. What I mean by this is that you should keep in mind where you might want to take your products in the future. This can be tricky to do, but at least make sure that there is a possible hierarchy in the name you pick - unless you're certain you won't expand your offering(s). Don't choose a name that doesn't match your positioning. An example of a misalignment was the UK Post Office's disastrous rebrand to "Consignia". This faux-latin absolutely didn't resonate with the positioning of the Royal Mail - a down-to-earth, for-the-people service provider at all. £2m wasted, oh well. (apparently, it was a mix of consign and insignia, the agency's research believed a) people would get that?! and b) the two words would inspire trust - more here http://money.uk.msn.com/investing/photos.aspx?cp-documentid=157654000&page=7) Alright, here the slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/purewest/howto-namethings And the useful PDF with a good framework: http://www.igorinternational.com/process/igor-naming-guide.pdf

I can talk to books: Don't title your book with the name with an unavailable url (at the very least, be able to put http://TitleTitlethebook.com). Don't say you are an official biography or autobiography if you aren't. Other than that, when it comes to naming a book, there is no science. It's alchemy.

Many useful things have been said here. I will add one: DO NOT NAME a product something that compromises or waters down the established strategic marketing goals set by the inner core of the management team for the name. Brands are in some hard-to-capture way "co-created" with the people who will be using your brand in communication with others. This includes stakeholders and anti-stakeholders, i.e. those who want to see you fail for whatever reason and those who want to minimize public humiliation for "having the wrong name". Remember that the name iPad was roundly mocked as "sounding like a sanitary napkin" when it first came to light. Further discussion: Do not name a product without recognizing the fact that as soon as you have sunk cost (money, time, heart, ego) in the name it begins to cost you to manage the accepted meaning and attributes that inhere in the brand. This cost is unavoidable in any case, so don't expect to "set it and forget it". A bland name that denotes a spectacular success takes on its own cachet over time, so make sure you have your priorities straight. Anyone who believes that Apple was inherently a good name prior to Jobs' singleminded activation of the name doesn't understand naming. Boom! I said it.

Try not to repeat names already in existence. There is no copyright on book titles but you don't look too bright if you choose one already in existence. It is also confusing on Amazon! Unless of course you are hooking onto a genre, as writers have done with the Fifty Shades of Grey title, there are now Fifty Shades of Shed and variations. Shefaly has given a very good answer to all of this and I agree. In addition, choose appropriate names e.g. if you have a literary novel then avoid names like 'Raunchy Girl,' or 'Glitter', 'Hungry Nymph' or anything else that sounds like Chick Lit or a bonkbuster. If you want people to read your book then the title needs to be reflective of the content. Companies earn a large amount of money branding and re-branding companies, and this includes naming. Unless your product is a traditional one that relies on years of building up a reputation, it is always good to give it a refresh every few years, especially if dealing with products in fast developing markets. Other than that you need to like the name and be passionate about whatever you are launching. As Richard Branson says, 'Don't go into business to make money, do something you're passionate about and the money will come.'

When we were choosing a name for our team scheduling product, Resource Guru, these were some of our considerations: Will you be able to register a company name with the name you choose? Are you infringing any trademarks? Will you be able to register your own? Can you build a good, memorable brand around it? Does it reflect what your company does? Not essential, but can be useful. Does it have a ring to it? Does it sound right? Sometimes quirky/awkward names also work  because they're out of the norm. Is it boring? Can you register a URL that isn't too long for people to type? Don't get too hung up on finding a "clean" URL. We had a cybersquatter on our name who was demanding large amounts of money so we just went with http://resourceguruapp.com. A minor consideration - where does the first letter of your name come in the alphabet? This can be useful if you're ever listed in an alphabetical list with your competitors. Choosing a company name these days is incredibly hard. Just remember - you can be successful with a bad name and a fantastic product but you won't be successful with a great name and a bad product.

Some advice for naming would be: 1) Check whether the name doesn't infringe on anybody's trademark in India or abroad ( or the market you are targeting) 2) The name shouldn't be hard to use, easy to spell and shouldn't be confused 3) Veerify that you can get its .com domain and that matching social media handles are available 4) It shouldn't be too long 5) Conveys what your startup is about This article might be of interest to you. http://www.inc.com/jana-kasperkevic/red-antler-99u-conference-naming-your-start-up-principles.html Thanks for A2A.

Check foreign dictionaries and ask speakers of various foreign languages to tell you if the name sounds awkward to them. Welcome to global naming. Your name should ideally not be offensive or awkard-sounding in any major language. I thought of several names that turned out to have a meaning in Japanese language because it has easy to pronounce patterns of syllables. http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=tess&state=4805%3A3tey9r.1.1 - this database contains a lot of "Dead" trademarks that you should be able to use. Be aware that trademarks are allocated for specific uses when registration is issued. It is possible for the name to be registered to multiple trademark holders in different industries.

3 Book Naming Pitfalls to Avoid: 1) Who exactly is the book for, and what need is it serving? Naming a book that doesn't speak about solving your targer readers' problem is pitfall 1. 2) Where will the book be distributed? Not doing enough homework on the cultural taboos and expressions to avoid, is pitfall 2. 3) Does book title, appear like a general commodity? Not naming book titles effectively to generate curiosity, or not being able to at least talk about your book title till your dry throat hurts, is pitfall 3.

The first thing is to do research. I would think that there is some work-in-progress title (or two, or ten) that the author has in mind. The point is to differentiate the product and enable users to seek it out within the sea of others. The easiest way would be to simply look up available titles in the category (sadly, no category is listed in the question, so cannot speculate further), and see how easy/difficult would it be to find a prospective product. If a title is already too similar to another one, it needs to be dropped and re-through. There is a multitude of available programs (both free and not-so-free) which can spit out probable titles but it will be sometime until something suitable comes along. Bonus points: researching a list of titles scheduled to come out in the near future (for even better differentiation and originality of the name). Another way - budget permitting - is to hire services of a company that will do the research for you and come up with probable titles, so all you have to do is to pick one you like (make sure to sign the NDA non-disclosure agreement before offering any insight about your product). Follow-up can be either a copyright or a trademark registration, and to secure a corresponding website for future promotions and updates.