Our Naming Services
MASTERLIST GENERATION

As a general rule, name generation hasn't even begun until 300 candidates have been generated, and we occasionally are more comfortable with 1,000. Master lists for some of our programs have exceeded 2,000 candidate names.
Quantity serves several purposes. It helps to force creativity in ever expanding directions, in turn stimulating new ideas; it demonstrates that this has been done; it provides a backup resource should a restart become necessary.

The exception, when quantity is less important than precision, is the business situation in which a non-proprietary descriptive name best meets the criteria.

Name generation techniques can include:

• Individual creativity of experienced namers, on staff and recruited on assignment.
  
  
• Group creativity, when budget permits, applying our "Synectics" brainstorming training.
  
  
• Search of our proprietary archive of many thousand name ideas from previous programs, coded by direction.
  
  
• Computerized name generation, using proprietary as well as published software.
  
  
• Sometimes, a client employee ‘contest.’
  
  
  

Contests are tricky. With or without a contest, clients are urged to contribute candidates throughout the process. (Normally no record is kept of contributors; pride of authorship belongs to the process, rather than the idea generator.)