5 Free Business Name Generators

What’s in a name? Maybe the success of your business

A business owner looks at their website.
Photo:

juanma hache / Getty Images

How many brand names can you list off the top of your head? If it's easy to think of more than a dozen, then you understand how important names are for businesses.

Your small business name needs to be relevant, memorable, and easy to pronounce. It should stick in memories and match your market offering. A good business name should also clearly reflect what you do, who you are, or what you sell. First impressions are crucial.

Many of the most memorable brands started with a simple jumping-off point to get the ideas flowing. Start simple, then keep refining until it's perfect. Use this list of five free business name generators and our reviews of them to start your search.

Key Takeaways

  • Creating a great business name can make it easier for customers to find you.
  • A bad name can confuse and drive away customers.
  • Make sure the name is unique, easy to remember, and stands out from your competition.
  • Use free tools to brainstorm ideas that you can further refine into a complete brand.

Why a Business Name Is Important for Your Business

A business's name can help your business succeed—or get in the way. People first see it when they search for you online or drive past your location. Choosing a business name is one of the most crucial business planning decisions you can make. Take into consideration the following factors:

  • What are your business goals?
  • How will this name help you achieve these goals?
  • What does this name convey to the public about you and your business?
  • Does this name have any negative connotations associated with it?
  • Is this name available for use as a trademark or domain name?

Tip

Your business name needs to resonate with your target audience. Whittle down your choices to a few options, then use a focus group to test different branding configurations with a representative subset of your future customer base. You can also query business partners, friends, or family members for feedback.

5 Free Small Business Name Generators

Each name generator utilizes different methodologies to generate a list of names based on your input. You can use these results as a starting point for brainstorming your brand.

These traits determine what makes a business name a real winner:

  • Match the product: Does this name make sense for your business?
  • Evoke emotion: Is the name relatable or intriguing?
  • Unique: Will customers confuse it with other businesses in your industry?
  • Easy to use: How easy is it to spell and pronounce the name? Keep it short and sweet. If you don’t, people may forget it easily or abbreviate it.
  • Marketable: Can you build your brand around it? Is it too niche?
  • Memorable. Does it attract your target audience?

To test these name generators, we used a fictional small business idea to gauge how well these websites delivered quality results based on the abovementioned requirements.

Let's imagine you own a specialty shop that plans to sell herbs, spices, oils, and vinegars as well as related kitchen-based gifts online and in a retail location downtown in a suburban area. Your target audience is adults in their 20s and older, with some disposable income on hand. The keywords "gourmet olive oil and vinegar," "specialty foods," and “kitchen” or “pantry” will work as starting points.

Anedea Online Free Business Name Generator

Anadea Software Development Company has a free naming generator that offers "lots of interesting company name suggestions." Let's see how accurate that assertion is and what kinds of names it created.

Pros
  • Easy to use

  • Hundreds of name options

  • Simple, elegant interface

  • Mobile friendly

Cons
  • Low creativity from the output

  • Adds random words in front of your keyword

  • No way to refine the generated options

What It Generated

It generated hundreds of names, including Equator, Valiant, Junkyard, and Roadside that made no sense for our fake business. However, there were still quite a few gems. 

The generated option "Archives Gourmet olive oil and vinegar" could be turned into "Gourmet Archives," which is an intriguing, relevant name for this imaginary business. Adding a tagline like "Expand your pantry and palate" would work well and complete the branding.

Other good options were Masterpiece, AvantGarde (AvantGourmet), and Prometheus.

Business Name Generator (BNG)

BNG is a sleek, responsive name generator with plenty of options for creative brainstorming. More than 3 million users around the globe gave it 4.7 out of 5 stars. We tested it and discovered that BNG created some wild, unforgettable business names.

Pros
  • Checks for domain availability

  • Intuitive, elegant interface

  • Wide variety of creative and unique names

  • Better search refinement options (by industry, number of words, or rhyming)

  • A seemingly infinite number of results

Cons
  • Advertising pop-ups, including an auto-opened browsing tab

  • Will include articles in the names (use "+" or spaces)

What It Generated

BNG created memorable names such as Gourmetiva, Oilizoid, Hippy Olive, and Delish+ that all met our naming standards. This tool is just a matter of whittling down your favorites because it does much of the creative brainstorming for you.

Business Name Generator.net (Formerly Namesmith)

This generator is simple but effective. However, it was a bit more confused by our chosen keyword phrases. It offered less uniqueness but did manage to create some options that stood out and would make good business names. You can also browse the site to learn more about how to choose a perfect business name from its FAQ sections.

Pros
  • Simple design with adequate search options

  • Good variety of generated names

  • Offers free business-naming tips and advice

  • You can “favorite” options

Cons
  • The website takes longer to load

  • Does not check for domain availability

  • The “multiple words” options tab was broken

  • Only one page of options

What It Generated

Our favorites were Gourmetite, Olive Logic, Good Pantry, True Gourmet, and Vibe Vinegars. Many options remained unhelpful and nonsensical, such as GourmetShip, OilScout, and VinegarSice. Overall, it is a solid branding brainstorming tool, perfect for keeping it simple.

NameStation

NameStation is a vibrant, modern-looking name generator tool that lets you crowdsource good business names through a "naming contests" community. They offer multiple generators after signup, including keyword, niche, handpicked, compound, and alliterative options.

Pros
  • Comprehensive, multidimensional tool

  • A vast amount of brand name ideas

  • Domain checking and purchasing

  • Name crowdsourcing community

Cons
  • Requires free sign-up with an email to use

  • It can be complicated to navigate all the options

  • Unlimited names only with a premium purchase

What It Generated

We utilized its Niche, Portmanteaus, and Tweaked name generators to create these business name options: Divergent Truffle, Morning Gouda, Selected Co., Primidl, and Visiani. Some unusable names that had nothing to do with our keywords included Flopence, PelviCrab, and Beechooge. There's some machine error here, but sometimes that leads to surprising results.

Shopify Business Name Generator

Shopify offers a free name generator tool to visitors and customers alike. Like Anedea, the generator takes your keywords and adds randomized words to the beginning of it. Not groundbreakingly creative, but it can be a useful starting point if you quickly want to get some ideas.

Pros
  • Simple design

  • Easy to use

  • Good beginner tool

Cons
  • Prompts you to purchase a domain from Shopify

  • No domain checking

  • Limited options

What It Generated

We were able to generate names such as Wicked Oil & Vinegars, Penta, Red Bird Gourmet, Geo Pantry, and Thrive Kitchen Store. Many more name options were too wordy, standard, or confusing to use for a business name.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How do I come up with a catchy business name?

There are many ways to come up with a successful business name. You can use favorite words, business descriptors, or emotional words as inspiration for a memorable business name. Keep notes of words, concepts, visuals, or ideas that catch your eye. Review them later for brainstorming sessions and inspiration.

Should I use my own name for my business?

In most states, you can use your own legal name for your business name as long as it is not misleading or confusing to customers. This is called a sole proprietorship and is the easiest way to name and start a business. However, if you want to call your business something other than your legal name, that requires filing a "doing business as" or DBA license. For even more protection from lawsuits or other financial risks, a limited liability corporation (LLC) may be better for you.

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Sources
The Balance uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
  1. Anedea. “Free Business Name Generator.”

  2. BNG. “Homepage.”

  3. Business Name Generator. “Homepage.”

  4. NameStation. “Homepage.”

  5. Shopify. “Business Name Generator.”

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