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Choosing the perfect business name: a step-by-step guide

Starting a business
5 November 2024

Step 1: Ask yourself, “why do I need a great name for my business?”

You might wonder why it’s that important to spend much time thinking about what name your business has. Surely, it’ll be things like the quality of your products, the affordability of your prices, and the responsiveness of your customer service that “make or break” your business? 

Those things will always be massively important. But so will a great brand name! A great business name will grab the customer’s attention straight away. 

A simple, memorable, and relevant brand name will provide a strong foundation for your business’ future success. As your business grows, your customers will (hopefully!) come to associate your brand name with all the great things that make you better than your industry rivals. 

So, the right brand name can help your business cultivate credibility and loyalty over time. It can be key to making your business stand out, both now and for months and years to come. 

Step 2: Use brainstorming techniques to come up with potential business names

The best possible name for your NZ business won’t just be snappy and memorable. It also needs to say something about what your business does and stands for. 

Whatever brand name you choose, it should reflect the essence of your business. Naturally, it also needs to resonate with your target audience. 

Does your NZ business, for example, put the emphasis on affordability and reliability? Or maybe you want to exude innovation and sophistication? Regardless — your business name will need to fit in with the image you wish your brand to have.

It can be tricky to know where to start when generating ideas for a business name. 

Want a winning business name? Make it simple and memorable! 

Keeping your business name simple AND memorable is mega important.

When a customer thinks of your product or service, they should be able to recall your name instantly. Consider the auction platform Trade Me, for example. It’s such a good descriptive name – once you know it, you can’t unknow it. 

Stumped a little? Give these exercises a go!

  • Find a large whiteboard, set a five-minute time limit, and write down every name that comes into your head — even crazy or silly ones, it’s all good! Once the time expires, look over them, and start whittling them down to the names you like. With any luck, these potential names will make sense for your business. 
  • Play with different spellings of words. Many iconic brand names, such as 'Tumblr' and 'Kodak,' were not pre-existing words in their own right. Altering the spelling of existing words might help you discover something interesting and memorable. 
  • Create a mood board. This could be a virtual mood board on a platform like Pinterest, or a physical one, perhaps with cut-outs from newspapers and magazines. Gather images, colours, and words that inspire you, to help get your imagination going. 

A great name…

…makes your business easier for customers to remember

After all, by the time someone seeks out your product or service, it might have been a while since they last heard your business name. Make your name memorable enough, and it’s likely potential customers will be able to recall it (or find it quickly and easily in Google). 

…makes marketing easier

Whether a customer sees your sign while walking past your venue, or they receive leaflets or flyers through the door from you, a snappy brand name will lend itself to memorable marketing. Hell Pizza is an awesome example of this – the name has defined the pizza chain’s whole identity, and has driven its marketing for years.  

…creates a lasting association between your brand and its offerings

An easy-to-recall name that refers to what your business offers, will help customers immediately understand the benefits to them. 

Step 3: Check the availability of your business name

So, you’ve brainstormed, whittled down the options, and come up with a business name you love. But don’t get too excited yet! Before you start splashing your favoured brand name all over those promotional posters, your website, and social media, you’ll need to check its availability in Aotearoa. 

It is important not to confuse a business name with a domain name — these can be, and often are, different in the case of a given NZ business. 

Checking company name availability 

You can search the NZ Companies Register to check for current Kiwi companies. This register also shows companies incorporated in other countries that are registered to do business in NZ, as well as companies that have been removed or are in receivership. 

This tool will help you avoid using a business name that has already been registered as a company name. 

Remember that your business name can be different to your trading name. The former is your legal, registered name, whereas the latter is the name that you use publicly for your business. 

Technically, you could use anything as your trading name. However, you will want to avoid infringing on any trademarks. Otherwise, you could get into legal trouble if a business thinks you are trying to pass your business off as theirs. 

Checking domain name availability 

Here at JumpStarter, we offer our own domain name checker tool. We make it as quick and easy as you like to determine whether your intended business domain name is available online. 

Confirming the domain name availability of your intended business name is more important than you might think. You won’t want to discover that you can register your desired company name, only to then struggle to find a well-matching domain name for it. 

Our guide to choosing a domain name will help you select the perfect one for your business. 

Step 4: Think about your business name’s SEO impact

Your business name and domain name go hand in hand. The world of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can be an overwhelming and bewildering one for newcomers, though – there’s just so much jargon flying around. 

Some key terms to remember

Domain name

Your New Zealand business' domain name is the web address customers type into their browser to find your site. Check out our guide on choosing the right domain name for your business to learn all about domains. 

SEO 

SEO refers to the process of improving a website to help it rank better in the search engine results. If, for example, you’re a plumber in central Auckland and someone googles “plumber in Epsom, Auckland, NZ”, will they see you?

Remember: SEO is something you can’t ignore, because it will enable people who need your services or goods to find you online. As a plumber in central Auckland, you’ll need to improve your website so that people with leaky pipes living in Epsom or Avondale, can find you on the first page of a Google search. 

There are a few ways the name you choose for your business can affect SEO:

  • A generic or unfocused name could easily get “lost” among its competitors in Google results. 
  • A distinctive brand name will be more memorable for users and will reduce competition in search results — with a distinctive business name, the chances of competing with other businesses for the same search terms are lower.

Step 5: Consider the cultural and global implications of your business' name

When you are deciding on a business name, think about your longer-term aspirations. If growing beyond New Zealand is your aim, you’ll need to make sure your business name is suitable for whatever other countries or regions you plan to operate in. 

It is important for businesses to be inclusive. Sure enough, your choice of brand name can help with this. 

So, make sure your business name doesn’t: 

  • Have negative connotations or associations in other languages and cultures 
  • Use taboo words that could damage your business’ reputation. 

NOTE: It’s always a good idea to research or seek advice on the cultural implications of your chosen business name.

Step 6: Get feedback on your business' name!

So, you like a potential business name, but how do you get feedback on it? You could ask relatives and friends what they think of it. However, that would be an unscientific and untargeted approach. 

Even discussing your potential business name with trusted colleagues can be tricky. After all, they will probably be in the same bubble as you – they will think like you, know what you know, and may have the same biases that you have. They also probably won’t be the target audience for your business. 

So, asking members of that “target audience” — using devices such as surveys, polls, focus groups, or interviews — could help you escape that “bubble” when you are considering potential business names. 

Other factors to consider

  • What do you want your business name to achieve, and whether the proposed name would achieve this 
  • How well the proposed name sets your business apart from competitors 
  • Whether it will be easy to find a matching domain name 
  • How the name sounds when spoken on the phone 
  • The impression the name gives when written down 
  • Whether it will be easy enough to protect this business name.

Registering a trade mark is one of the best ways to protect your business name in NZ. Renew this protection every 10 years, and it can last forever. It typically costs around $100 to apply for a trade mark, per class, and $200 to renew it every decade. Have a chat with your lawyer about the pros and cons of the trademark process. 

Step 7: Familiarise yourself with the legal and registration requirements for business names

The global factor can also make the legal aspects of choosing a business name more complex. After all, the laws on business names vary from one country to the next. 

Whatever countries your business ends up being active in, you probably won’t be allowed to give your business a name that implies an association with a government, financial organisation, or charity. Nor will you probably be able to give your business a name that would cause offence in the given country.

Company naming rules

Looking specifically to New Zealand, here are some of the rules on company names

  • Your company isn’t permitted to have a name that is offensive, obscene, contrary to public policy, or likely to offend any particular religious group or section of the community. 
  • Your company name can’t include words that NZ legislation restricts or protects. An example of this is the Flag, Emblems and Name Protection Act 1981, which addresses the use of “Red Cross” or “ANZAC”. 
  • Your company name isn’t allowed to include symbols or numbers, unless they act as a year or numerical marker, or are used in another acceptable context. 
  • Macrons on letters, like ā and ō, can only be used in an NZ company name if they’re used within a Māori name or place consistent with the New Zealand Geographic Board protocols. 

Step 8: Make a final decision on your business name

So, to recap:

  1. Is your proposed business name simple, memorable, and unique?
  2. Does it convey your business’s purpose and values?
  3. Is the suggested name available to reserve as a business name and domain name?
  4. Will it be a versatile and durable enough name to still suit your company even as your business grows and enters new markets around the world? 

If your proposed business name ticks the above boxes, you might have finally arrived at the perfect one! Now, it’s time to register your company name with the New Zealand Companies Office (unless you've chosen to be a sole trader) and grab your domain name, using JumpStarter. Then, you can get on with starting and building up your business. 

Ready to get started? Check the availability of your desired business domain name now and get your brand off the ground!