10 Brand Naming Mistakes That Kill Businesses (And How to Avoid Them)

Naming Mistakes Are Expensive

Rebranding costs anywhere from $10,000 to millions. Yet founders routinely make avoidable naming mistakes because they rush the process or skip critical checks. Here are the 10 most common — and most costly — brand naming errors.

Mistake 1: Not Checking Trademark Availability

This is the most dangerous mistake. You build a brand, gain traction, then receive a cease-and-desist letter because someone else owns the trademark. Now you're choosing between a legal fight and a complete rebrand.

Fix: Search the USPTO database (and international equivalents) before investing a dollar in branding. Or use BrandScout to check trademark availability alongside domains and social handles.

Mistake 2: Ignoring the Domain Situation

You love the name, but the .com is taken, every social handle is claimed, and the closest available domain is a 20-character hyphenated mess.

Fix: Check domain and social media availability before you fall in love with a name. If the .com isn't available and the owner wants $50,000, that name is effectively off the table for most startups.

Mistake 3: Being Too Descriptive

"FastShip Express Logistics" tells you exactly what the company does — and sounds exactly like 500 other companies. Overly descriptive names are forgettable and nearly impossible to trademark.

Fix: Use a descriptive tagline paired with a distinctive brand name. Stripe doesn't say "payments" in its name, but everyone knows what it does.

Mistake 4: Making It Hard to Spell

If customers can't type your name into a browser after hearing it, you're leaking traffic to competitors. "Xquisite" might look clever, but half your audience will search for "Exquisite."

Fix: The phone test. Say your name to 10 people over the phone. If more than 2 misspell it, simplify.

Mistake 5: Ignoring Cultural and Language Issues

Chevrolet's Nova famously struggled in Spanish-speaking markets because "no va" means "doesn't go." While this story is partly exaggerated, real cross-cultural naming disasters happen constantly.

Fix: If you have any international ambitions, check your name in every major language. Pay special attention to Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, Japanese, and Hindi.

Mistake 6: Choosing by Committee

When 12 people vote on a name, you get the safest, blandest option — the one nobody hates but nobody loves either. Great names are polarizing. They need a champion, not a consensus.

Fix: One or two decision-makers should own the final call. Gather input broadly, but don't let democracy dilute distinctiveness.

Mistake 7: Following Naming Trends

Remember when every startup added "-ly" to a word? Or dropped vowels? Trend-following guarantees your name will feel dated within years.

Fix: Aim for timelessness over trendiness. Would this name feel right in 10 years? If it sounds like it belongs to a specific era, keep brainstorming.

Mistake 8: Not Testing With Real People

Founders often live inside their own heads. A name that seems brilliant to you might confuse, bore, or even offend real customers.

Fix: Test your top 3 candidates with at least 20 people from your target demographic. Ask them to pronounce it, spell it, and share what it makes them think of.

Mistake 9: Rushing the Process

Naming under pressure leads to settling. You pick the first available option rather than the best option. Then you're stuck with a mediocre name for years.

Fix: Budget 2-4 weeks for naming. Start early in your business planning process, not the week before launch.

Mistake 10: Not Securing All the Assets

You grab the .com but forget to register the social media handles. Six months later, someone squats on your Twitter handle and wants $5,000 for it.

Fix: The moment you decide on a name, register the domain and all major social media handles immediately — even if you won't use them all right away.

The Naming Checklist

Before committing to any brand name, verify:

• [ ] Domain (.com and key TLDs) available
• [ ] Social handles available on all major platforms
• [ ] No conflicting trademarks in your category
• [ ] Easy to spell and pronounce
• [ ] No negative meanings in other languages
• [ ] Passes the phone test and bar test
• [ ] Looks good as a logo/wordmark

Skip the manual checking. Run your name through BrandScout to verify availability across domains, social media, and trademarks in seconds.