Picture yourself naming your soon-to-be-born baby. But instead of just the two of you tossing around ideas, you have seven or eight of your closest relatives, all with a passion to name that baby. Sounds hard, and it could have gone down that bumpy road when we decided to rename our own company.

For decades, we’d been saddled with a name that was direct and utilitarian, but less than inspiring, to put it kindly. It took a lot of breath to say the full thing; a little embarrassing if you used the acronym. With change in the wind, we all knew that now was the time to shed the name.

Method is a good thing
We’ve done this for our clients, so we knew how to start. We began in a methodical way, discussing and listing our current traits and future aspirations; and studying the competition. We all agreed that our name had to honestly and transparently reflect who we are and what we do. Then the ideas started flowing. We worked in groups and we worked alone, always coming back together to see what would stick. Mark Dagg constantly asked the hard question: How does it measure up against our agreed-upon qualities? This test encouraged us to discard several fun but obtuse names (Royal Jelly, Men of Pause, Mudflap).

Jury of our peers
Then it was time for a reality test. We narrowed the list down to our top five, and brought a few more crew members into the mix. The names they didn’t reject turned out to be taken already, but the unvarnished criticism helped us home in on a couple of directions.

A few days, dozens more names, and one or two detours later, we short-listed three finalists. Each of them captured the spirit we were after. And again the larger group entered the room to act the clear-headed sensible people. But this time was different. Smiles. Nods. And a winner: 10-4. In 10-code lingo, 10-4 translates as “message received.” Clearly relevant to what we do and who we are.

Spelling it out
Why tenfour instead of 10-4? This is a form of the code that we can “own” more easily, and it’s a bit more sophisticated and contemporary. And we just liked it.

In the end, the whole process went way more smoothly than I expected, and the parents are very happy with the new baby. I think we’ll keep her.

MAKE A NAME FOR YOURSELF

1) Do a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. Take a hard look at where you excel and where you need to improve.

2) Map your brand characteristics. What are you now and to what do you aspire?

3) Sum it up. Roll up the core ideas and adjectives that prospective names can eventually be measured against.

4) Brainstorm. Do it together and apart, research what has been taken, share contenders, call in firing squad, have straw votes, refine and repeat.

5) Do your due diligence. Once you have a strong contender(s):
• Who else is out there with this name? Could you be mistaken for them?
• What URLs are available?
• How can you ensure “findability” and SEO?
• Cultural review – test your name internationally to ensure it translates well
• Slang review – check urban dictionaries for unflattering alternative meanings
• Own it – buy up domains and establish a “handle” for online properties