The colorful names of Bloom

Don't pass on a good name just because .com is taken

Fun fact:

  • Nissan Motors does not own nissan.com.
  • Telsa owns tesla.com, but for the price of $11 million.

Having a short dot-com domain is not a requirement for a successful business venture.

During your naming process, consider the various types of names and their associated benefits and drawbacks:

Dictionary-word name

Dictionary-word names are commonly favored because they have inherent qualities that people can easily associated with and thus requires little marketing effort. Examples are:

  • Bloom Energy (an energy storage solution provider)
  • Blühen Botanicals (a company providing hemp-related products, named after the German word for “bloom”)

Compound name

Many businesses use two or more words to create catchy names:

  • Wild Bloom (a marketing company)
  • Vroom Bloom (a local, mobile shop that sells flower arrangements)
  • Buzz + Bloom (a company of honey-related products)

Proper name

It is common for a company to be named after a person (usually its founder) or a place (usually its birthplace).

  • Blume (an interesting name of a tempo company. “Blume” can be associated with famed botanist Carl Ludwig Blume or the German word for flower. If you missed both, the word sounds like “bloom”.)

Derived name

Deriving a name from a word can be tricky. If done properly, the name can be memorable. If done incorrectly, the name can sound forced and require additional marketing effort.

  • Bloooom (A digital marketing company named after “bloom”, with exaggeration)
  • Floom (An online shop of flower arrangements from independent florists)

Invented, arbitrary names

An arbitrary, made-up name is a name that has no apparent origin. Arbitrary names are commonly short and easier to trademark. They also have no innate connotation and thus offer businesses more flexibility in market expansion. However, an overtly creative name can be costly in term of marketing cost.

  • Bluem: a real marketing HELL for an oral-care company. The name come in at least four varieties: “Bluem”, “Blue•m”, “blue®m”, and “BlueM”. The company either couldn't make up their mind on proper spelling of the name or couldn't control the name's mutation. The mass simply dilutes whatever the value the owner thought it has.
  • Bluum: a word that can mean “bloom,” a surname, or nothing at all. It is used by several businesses, most notably a subscription service of baby and munchkin goodies.

Cover image by Denise Chan