How to choose the name of your company? Here are some suggestions:
- Chose a name that would be simple, short and memorable/ recognisable
- Avoid the names of founders in the name of the company (It is easier for employees, other share holders etc to identify with the company if one person’s name does not stand out)
- Avoid complex acronyms and abbreviations
- Avoid narrowly describing scope of activities of the company by inserting text that describes nature of activities. For example, words like “trading”, “travel”, etc in the company name specify the nature of work or industry. What if your focus changes as the business idea evolves?
- Check to see who else is using such names or has already blocked it. See links below.
Here are sites which new and budding entrepreneurs in India can use to arrive at their company’s name.
Websites to use for checking availability of names:
- Company names at Ministry of Corporate Affairs website: http://www.mca.gov.in/MCA21/Master_data.html
- Trademark search in India: https://ipindiaonline.gov.in/tmrpublicsearch/ (Selecting the TM Class: https://ipindiaonline.gov.in/tmrpublicsearch/classfication_goods_service.htm )
- Domain name for website: http://www.dreamhost.com/domains/
Update on 23 May 2018: See how Flipkart chose its name.
On choosing the name Flipkart
In 2010, Sachin and Binny spoke about the problem they were solving and why Flipkart was called Flipkart. They shared with YourStory:
“An attractive neutral name is what we looked for. Good domain names were hard to get. We were looking at names that did not just speak of books alone, but one that could suit any category of products that we may add in future. Also, we wanted to have a catchy name with high recall potential. Flipkart could, in simple terms, mean ‘Flipping things into your Kart’.”