Hello, My Name is Awesome

Hello, My Name is Awesome Plot Summary

Introduction

Creating a brand name is one of the most critical decisions you'll make as a business owner or marketer. Your brand name serves as the first handshake with potential customers—it can either draw them in with a smile or leave them scratching their heads in confusion. In today's crowded marketplace, where consumers are bombarded with thousands of messages daily, a memorable name that resonates emotionally can be your most powerful asset. Yet many entrepreneurs and even seasoned marketers struggle with naming. They overthink, focus on the wrong criteria, or follow outdated conventions that lead to forgettable or confusing names. The good news is that creating names that stick isn't about having a linguistics degree or being the most creative person in the room—it's about understanding fundamental principles that make names resonate with humans on an emotional level. These principles can be learned, and once mastered, will transform how you approach naming forever.

Chapter 1: Understand What Makes a Name Stick

Creating a name that sticks in people's minds isn't about random creativity—it follows specific patterns that tap into how our brains work. The most powerful names create an immediate emotional connection because they're based on familiar concepts we already understand and appreciate. Rather than confusing consumers with made-up words or complicated spellings, great names resonate because they speak our language. Consider Chubby Hubby, a Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor. The name instantly creates a smile because it's fun to say, creates a vivid mental picture, and has a playful rhyming quality. It doesn't require explanation—we get it immediately. Compare this with a tech company named Xobni ("inbox" spelled backward), which forces people to work to understand it. Most consumers never figured it out, leading to confusion rather than connection. The SMILE framework provides a powerful filter for evaluating potential names. SMILE stands for Suggestive (evokes something about your brand), Memorable (makes an association with the familiar), Imagery (creates mental pictures), Legs (extends to other branding elements), and Emotional (moves people). When Impossible Foods named their plant-based meat alternative the "Impossible Burger," they chose a name that brilliantly suggests the product's remarkable achievement—making the impossible (meat without animals) possible. Names with strong imagery create lasting impressions. The founder of a river-rafting guide service named some rapids "Meat Grinder," "Satan's Cesspool," and "Hospital Bar." These vivid names created such strong mental pictures that they provoked an immediate fear response in potential customers—that's the power of imagery in naming. Similarly, the name "Springfree Trampolines" not only describes what the product does (trampolines without springs) but also evokes the joyful imagery of "springing free" in the air. To create names that stick, focus on words and concepts that are already familiar to your audience. When we can associate a name with something we already know, our brains file it away more efficiently. This is why a name like "LeapFrog" for educational toys works so well—most of us played leapfrog as children, giving us an immediate connection to the name and helping us understand that the company helps children "leap ahead."

Chapter 2: Identify and Avoid Naming Deal-Breakers

While knowing what makes a great name is crucial, equally important is recognizing the common pitfalls that can sink your naming efforts. The SCRATCH test identifies seven deal-breakers that can doom otherwise promising names: Spelling-challenged, Copycat, Restrictive, Annoying, Tame, Curse of knowledge, and Hard to pronounce. Consider the cautionary tale of Speesees, an organic baby clothing company with a misspelled name. Employees constantly had to explain, "That's S-P-E-E-S-E-E-S. I know it's a weird spelling, but that's how babies would spell it if babies could spell." This verbal gymnastics wastes time and creates confusion—not to mention the name uncomfortably rhymes with "feces." Not surprisingly, the company is now out of business. Names that restrict future growth can be equally problematic. Canadian Tire sells much more than just tires—from toasters to trampolines—but their name doesn't communicate this range. Their tagline became "There is a lot more to Canadian Tire than tires," essentially apologizing for their restrictive name. By contrast, Jeff Bezos chose "Amazon" for his company because it suggests something enormous, like one of the world's largest rivers. No matter what Amazon sells or how it evolves, the name will always fit. The "curse of knowledge" affects many business owners who are so familiar with their industry that they forget outsiders don't share their understanding. A healthcare startup named "HealthSouk" assumed everyone knew what a "souk" was (an open-air marketplace common in North Africa and the Middle East). However, most North Americans have no idea what this term means, creating unnecessary confusion instead of clarity. Difficult pronunciation creates another barrier. The Greek yogurt company FAGE had a nine-year head start in the US market before competitor Chobani arrived, yet failed to become the category leader. One likely reason? The perplexing pronunciation of FAGE (fa-yeh) was so confusing that the company had to include pronunciation instructions on their packaging—valuable real estate that could have been used for selling the product. To avoid these pitfalls, run potential names through the SCRATCH test. If a name makes you scratch your head rather than smile, scratch it off your list. And before finalizing any name, check the Urban Dictionary for troublesome meanings—a step that could have saved Whole Foods embarrassment when they partnered with a restaurant named "Yellow Fever," a term for both a deadly disease and a racial fetish.

Chapter 3: Navigate Domain Name Challenges Creatively

In today's digital world, finding an available domain name can seem like an impossible challenge. With over 342 million registered domain names, securing your exact brand name as a .com can be frustrating and potentially expensive. However, this challenge shouldn't dictate your brand naming strategy or force you into a compromised name choice. Peanut Butter & Co. demonstrates a creative solution to this common problem. While they own PeanutButterAndCo.com, they primarily use ILovePeanutButter.com for their website and email addresses. This domain is more memorable, evokes positive emotions, and creates conversation. When printed on business cards or marketing materials, it makes people smile rather than shrug. Many successful companies launched without owning their exact-match domain name. Tesla operated for 12 years using TeslaMotors.com before acquiring Tesla.com. Facebook began as TheFacebook.com, Dropbox as GetDropbox.com, and Square as SquareUp.com. These companies didn't let domain availability dictate their brand identity, and you shouldn't either. Instead of starting your naming process at a domain registrar, begin by creating a strong brand name, then find a domain that works. If your exact match isn't available, consider these strategies: add a modifier (like SwigLife.com instead of Swig.com), use a domain suggestion tool like NameStudio to find available alternatives, create a memorable phrase (GobbleGobble.com for a turkey company), or make your domain a call to action (EatWithHonor.com for a restaurant named Honor Society). Avoid common domain mistakes like using hyphens, unconventional spellings, or obscure domain extensions. Social bookmarking service del.icio.us eventually renamed itself Delicious after years of users struggling with the confusing domain. As they explained, "We've seen a zillion different confusions and misspellings of 'del.icio.us' over the years," making the change necessary for growth. Remember that most customers will find you through search engines rather than by typing your domain directly. Focus on having a strong, memorable brand name and quality content that ranks well in search results, and don't compromise your brand identity just to get an exact-match domain name.

Chapter 4: Create a Strategic Naming Roadmap

Before jumping into brainstorming creative names, it's essential to create a strategic roadmap in the form of a creative brief. This document serves as your ingredients list for cooking up the perfect name, providing focus and preventing you from choosing the wrong name despite good intentions. When a frozen yogurt franchise came to Alexandra Watkins for naming help, the first step wasn't generating ideas but completing a comprehensive creative brief. The document detailed that the client wanted "a cool new hangout for teens where they can enjoy delicious frozen yogurt in a fun, contemporary environment." It specified the brand should be positioned as "the hippest place to enjoy a refreshingly cold treat" and that the name should be "cool enough that kids will want to wear it on a T-shirt." The brief included crucial consumer insights: frozen yogurt was new to this generation, Utah teens don't hang out at Starbucks due to religious reasons (they don't drink coffee), and teenage girls go out for frozen yogurt more often while boys consume larger volumes. It identified competitors like Pinkberry and Red Mango, and specified desired brand experiences like "The name makes me smile" and "I want to buy the T-shirt." Perhaps most helpful was the section on brand personality, which described the ideal tone as fun, lighthearted, fresh, playful, modern, hip, likeable, cool, and nice. The brief also listed words to explore (Zen, Green, Yo, Eco, Fro, Hangout) and words to avoid (Health/Healthy, Natural, Bytes), as well as themes to explore and avoid. The brief even included an "acid test" for using the new name in a sentence: "______________ is the hip hangout for teens where they can eat tasty frozen yogurt in a modern setting." This simple test would quickly reveal if a potential name fit naturally into conversation. By creating this roadmap before generating a single name idea, the client ensured everyone involved understood the goals, target audience, and brand personality. This preparation eliminated subjective opinions and personal preferences from the naming process, focusing instead on objective criteria for what would make a name successful for this specific brand. To create your own naming roadmap, include sections on project goals, brand positioning, consumer insights, target audience, competition, desired brand experiences, brand personality, words to explore and avoid, themes to explore and avoid, domain name modifiers, name style likes and dislikes, and an acid test for using the name in a sentence.

Chapter 5: Master Effective Brainstorming Techniques

Traditional brainstorming sessions in conference rooms rarely produce breakthrough names. These unstructured meetings often result in a chaotic free-for-all where extroverts dominate, introverts remain silent, and everyone defers to the boss. The end result? A mediocre name that faced the least resistance rather than the most powerful name for your brand. The most effective brainstorming approach begins with a single person exploring online resources rather than a group throwing ideas at a whiteboard. For the frozen yogurt project, Alexandra Watkins started by selecting 12 starter words from the creative brief, including "cold," "social," "teens," "cool," "sweet," "treat," and "yum." She then methodically explored the word "cold" using various online tools. First, she consulted Thesaurus.com, which yielded words like "arctic," "bitter," "chill," "goose bumps," and "polar." This sparked ideas including "Arctic Circle," "Goosebumps" (which evokes the excitement of young love), and "Polarize" (with a double meaning related to two flavors being polarizing). Next, she conducted Google image searches for "snow fun" and "winter sports," which showed people building snowmen, having snowball fights, and engaging in various winter activities. This visual inspiration led her to explore glossaries of snowboarding lingo, where she discovered terms like "chatter" (when a snowboard shakes on rough terrain), which also implies cold (chattering teeth) and teens chattering with each other—a perfect metaphor for the social aspect of the frozen yogurt store. She continued exploring dictionaries, Googlestorming (searching for terms like "coldest places on earth"), movie titles, book titles, and music references. Each search uncovered potential names and sparked new directions. She used rhyming dictionaries and phrase thesauruses to create fun puns related to the theme. After exhausting the word "cold," she repeated the process with the other 11 starter words, generating dozens of name candidates that passed the SMILE & SCRATCH test. The winning name, "Spoon Me," came during an image search for "eat frozen yogurt," which led to photos of colorful spoons in yogurt. The name was perfect—suggestive, memorable, evocative, extendable, and emotionally appealing. The client not only loved the name but was able to extend it through merchandise and marketing: T-shirts reading "If you love me, Spoon Me" and "Shut up and Spoon Me"; bumper stickers saying "If you're driving this close, you might as well Spoon Me"; and even a "No Spooning on Sunday" sign to acknowledge Utah's religious culture. To master your own brainstorming, use online resources like thesaurus websites, image searches, glossaries of terms, dictionaries, Google searches, movie and book titles, music references, and rhyming dictionaries. Write down every idea, even those that don't feel exactly right, as they may spark better ideas later.

Chapter 6: Harness Naming Power in Corporate Culture

Beyond product and company names, creative naming can transform workplace culture and boost employee morale. From McDonald's to Microsoft, companies have discovered that using imaginative names for everyday workplace elements breaks monotony, creates joy, and positively impacts corporate culture. LinkedIn's San Francisco headquarters demonstrates this brilliantly with meeting room names inspired by local events. Instead of saying "We're having a staff meeting in conference room 29A" (boring), employees say "We're having a staff meeting in Pillow Fight"—named after the annual Valentine's Day pillow fight on the nearby Embarcadero. Other meeting rooms include Bay to Breakers, SantaCon, and How Weird, named after a street fair celebrating creativity and weirdness. Mozilla, makers of Firefox, uses movie and comic-inspired meeting room names like Batcave, Thunderdome, Spider Skull Island, and Death Star. Groupon wins the award for kookiest names with rooms like Crocodile Done Deal, Meet Locker, Elvis Is Alive in Here, and This Used to be a Forest. These playful names spark conversations, bring joy, and foster connections among coworkers. Corporate cafeterias offer another opportunity for creative naming. When Alexandra worked at Ogilvy & Mather, their New York headquarters cafeteria was named Hell's Kitchen. Etsy has Eatsy, Dropbox has Tuck Shop, and Workday serves meals at the Cloud Café, Byte Café, and Data Diner, where employees wear company T-shirts with slogans like "Kicking SaaS and taking names." In-house creative agencies particularly benefit from distinctive names that reflect their creative capabilities. McDonald's in-house agency is called Agency 123, named after Pantone color 123—the signature golden arches color. Disney's internal agency is called Yellow Shoes, after Mickey Mouse's iconic footwear. These names help creative teams establish their identity within larger corporate structures. Job titles can also benefit from creative naming. A study published in the Academy of Management Journal found that self-reflective job titles can reduce emotional exhaustion among stressed employees. At the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the CEO adopted the title "Fairy Godmother of Wishes," while others became "Magic Messenger," "Wizardess of Wishes," and "King of Cashola" (CFO). About 85 percent of employees reported that these titles helped them cope with emotional challenges and fostered a more egalitarian workplace culture. Even if you work alone or in a small team, consider how creative naming might enhance your work environment. Renaming your home office, meeting spaces, or even your job title can bring fresh energy and perspective to your daily routine.

Chapter 7: Evaluate Names with Professional Standards

When it's time to evaluate potential names, a haphazard approach can lead to conflict and poor decisions. Instead, establish a structured review process that builds consensus and leads to the strongest possible name choice. The evaluation process should begin not with a group discussion but with individual review. Distribute the name list to stakeholders for independent assessment before any group meeting. This allows everyone to form their own opinions without being influenced by others, especially those with the loudest voices or highest positions. For the frozen yogurt project, Alexandra Watkins provided a list of about 15 potential names, each accompanied by a brief rationale explaining why it fit the brand: "Spoon Me (playful, evokes happiness, merchandise opportunities)." She also included examples of how each name might be used in a sentence: "Spoon Me is a new frozen yogurt franchise where all the cool kids hang out." When reviewing names, focus on objective criteria rather than subjective preferences. Instead of asking "Do I like it?" (which leads to personal bias), ask "Is it right for the brand?" (which focuses on the strategic fit). The SMILE & SCRATCH test provides a 12-point evaluation framework that keeps discussions objective. Avoid common evaluation mistakes, such as sharing name candidates with outsiders who lack context. When Richard Branson was naming his airline, imagine if he had sent a survey to friends asking what names they liked—Virgin might never have taken flight. Outside opinions often destroy good names for absurd reasons, leaving only mediocre options that face the least opposition. Also resist the temptation to test names through focus groups. Alexandra Watkins believes many successful names would have been killed in focus groups: Fossil ("Sounds like a dirty old relic"), Lush ("A passed-out alcoholic"), Coach ("The worst place to sit in an airplane"), and True Religion ("Blasphemous!"). Focus groups tend to water down choices to the safest option rather than the strongest one. After individual review, meet as a group to discuss the attributes of top contenders. Let individuals champion names they believe are right for the brand. This positive approach builds consensus more effectively than critiquing names people don't like. Rank the names in order of preference, then begin trademark screening. Remember that your name will rarely appear naked—it will usually be seen in context with your logo, on your website, or within your sales materials. Imagine each name on a business card, product packaging, or store sign to better evaluate its real-world impact. Finally, don't fall in love with any name until after trademark screening. In creative industries especially, finding a name that passes both the SMILE & SCRATCH test and trademark clearance can be challenging, so maintain flexibility until legal clearance is confirmed.

Summary

Creating a name that makes people smile instead of scratch their heads is both an art and a science. Throughout this journey, we've explored how the most powerful brand names create instant emotional connections, resonate with familiarity, and stick in our minds without explanation. As Alexandra Watkins wisely observes, "When you apologize for your name, your brand is devalued." The principles we've covered—from understanding what makes names stick to avoiding common pitfalls, from creative brainstorming techniques to strategic evaluation—provide a clear pathway to naming success. The SMILE & SCRATCH test serves as your compass, guiding you toward names that are Suggestive, Memorable, rich with Imagery, full of Legs, and Emotional, while steering you away from names that are Spelling-challenged, Copycat, Restrictive, Annoying, Tame, Cursed by knowledge, or Hard to pronounce. Your next step is simple but powerful: revisit your current name or naming project through this new lens, and ask yourself honestly—does it make people smile, or scratch their heads?

About Author

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Alexandra Watkins

Founder of naming firm Eat My Words, Alexandra Watkins is a recognized expert on brand names with buzz. She is frequently quoted in the press and been featured in leading business publications including The Wall Street Journal, Inc., and Entrepreneur. Alexandra is a popular speaker at MBA programs and has been a guest presenter multiple times at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, San Francisco State, USF School of Management and their alumni association. She has also entertained audiences at the Proctor & Gamble alumni association, Uncollege, In-House Agency Forum, SF City Club, and many co-working spaces. Alexandra first got hooked on naming when Gap hired her to create cheeky names for their first line of body care products. Soon after, she broke into the business by talking her way into branding powerhouse Landor via a Match.com date. With her fresh, unconventional naming style, Alexandra soon became a go-to resource for countless branding and naming firms around the country. And Landor sent her enough business to open her own firm. Since then, she’s generated thousands of names for snacks, software, sunscreen, social networking sites, sportswear, shoes, sugar scrubs, serums, and seafood. (And that’s just the S’s!) She’s also named lots of things that make people fat and drunk including a nationally recognized bacon cheeseburger (which ironically, must remain nameless).Prior to Eat My Words, Alexandra was an advertising copywriter, working at leading ad agencies up and down the West Coast, including five years at Ogilvy and Mather, where she helped launch Microsoft Windows and learned the language of Geek Speak. In the mid-nineties she jumped on the dot-com gravy train, and rode it until it crashed in her SOMA backyard. Alexandra took the money and ran, spending a year in Australia, New Zealand, Bali and Fiji. Upon her return, she discovered her passion for naming things and soon after started Eat My Words.

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