Naming your farm or your business can be even more difficult than naming your children, where at least you can buy a book or click on a website with all the possibilities. The potential range of business names, by contrast, is virtually as wide as you can imagine.
It also doesn’t matter if it turns out there are three Michaels and two Emmas in the neighbourhood. But if there are three other farms or businesses with names almost the same as yours, that’s just going to cause a lot of angst and confusion.
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Besides, in some very real ways, the name of your business can hinder its growth, or help it succeed.
While you’re brainstorming names, here are considerations to think about:
1. think electronically
Make sure no other business entity has the same name you’ve chosen, and that you can use the name for a website. Remember that if you don’t have the time or even the desire to set up a website now, you may change your mind down the road, when you could find that the name you want is already taken. Secure a url (name for the site) now, and it will be there if and when you need it.
The cost varies with the service provider, but a “dot com” name can be as little as $10 per year. Sometimes the less-in-demand suffixes such as “dot ca” or “dot org” cost even less. Once you have it registered, you can keep the name as long as you want but you have to keep registering it, which is usually as simple as paying a monthly or annual fee.
You’ll find plenty of online information that can help with this, such as: http://www.dot.ca/,
www.godaddy.com and www.networksolutions.com. For a few dollars more, some may offer help in building your website.
One way to provide heightened name protection is to incorporate your business at the federal level. Information and a guide to incorporation can be found at: http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cd-dgc.nsf/eng/cs03988.html. For online application the fee is $200. For non-online applications, the fee is $250. You will be required to confirm that your corporate name is not the same as or too similar to one already in use. You can use the computerized search system, NUANS to do this search.
NUANS will compare your proposed corporate name or trademark with databases of existing corporate bodies and trademarks, and it will produce a list of names that are most similar. To search your corporate name go to: http://www.nuans.com/nuansinfo_en/home-accueil_en.cgi.
When incorporating, avoid names with words such as government, ministry or board, words with a royal or Crown association such as queen, and well-known brands or names such as Olympic, as these are likely to be rejected.
Once your name is approved with Corporations Canada, it is protected across Canada, except in Quebec. The Quebec Corporations Database can be searched at: Registraire des entreprises du Québec.
2. Watch the humour
Back in January 2000, Canada’s Conservative party united with the newbie Reform party to create the Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance Party, or in acronym, CCRAP. One day later, the party changed its official name to the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance, but the giggles persisted for many days.
Make sure that if your name consists of more than one word, you don’t end up with an embarrassing acronym.
Should you pun? It’s up to you. People tend to love or hate puns. Do the following examples make you clap or cringe? How do you think your customers would react? Bona Foodie (a market in Brighton, England), The Stalk Market (a flower shop in Seattle, Washington), Lord of the Fries (a restaurant in Melbourne, Australia).
3. Get the grammar right
Be careful with the placement of apostrophes. They can easily trip us up and impart incorrect information.
For example, let’s say farmer Jerry Bell calls his farm Bell’s Organic Oasis. If Jerry’s wife or offspring were also owners or involved in the business, the apostrophe would move over one space to show that there was more than one Bell and become Bells’ Organic Oasis. If your name already ends in an “s” such as Burgess, the correct form is an apostrophe followed by an s, as in: Burgess’s Bovine Ranch. And for more than one Burgess — Burgess’ Bovine Ranch. This is according to The Canadian Press Stylebook. American sources might say that it’s also acceptable to add an apostrophe after names ending in s whether or not they are plural.
To further confuse the issue, names ending with an iz sound often take only an apostrophe. Names ending in a silent s or x take an apostrophe and s. Example: Duplessis’s Dogwood Farm, Lacroix’s Certified Seed. If there is more than one Duplessis or Lacroix, the correct form would be: Duplessis’ Dogwood Farm and Lacroixs’ Certified Seed.
4. Keep it simple
An obscure name may be loaded with meaning for you, but if potential customers don’t have the same associations it might be difficult for them to remember. Similarly, shorter is better than longer, and earlier in the alphabet is better than later. Think Yellow Pages.
Make it easy to spell. If it’s still tricky, then consider buying domain names for incorrect spellings. Those who land there can then be redirected to your website.
5. Watch out for fads
Fads may not last, so be careful with strategies such as abandoning capitalization and writing your company’s name entirely in lower case, or omitting letters as in Flickr. It might look trendy now, but will it just look dated in a few years?
6. Think big
Think about word association pros and cons. Family surnames give a sense of heritage and stability. Regional place names can impart a homey, buy-local feel, but might be limiting if you plan on expanding out of the immediate area.
Maybe you’re a natural, and the first name that pops into your head will be the absolute best choice. But for most of us, a bit more deliberation will yield something better than our first suggestion.
Take your time. Make a list of names you like, and then try to figure out why you like them. Talk to friends and family. And don’t be afraid to take an informal poll.
Hopefully, it’s a name you’ll be looking at and living with for a long, long time. CG
