You have several names, everyone prefers a different one, and the domain for your favourite is taken. What next? Write down what the name needs to achieve, explore several distinct directions, and then start choosing. Check the most promising candidates against similar businesses, trademarks and domains. Try the finalists with people who could become your customers.
We will work through the process using an illustrative service that helps entrepreneurs with administration. You can use the same approach for your business, brand or new project.
The names in these examples illustrate the process. We have not checked their availability.
1. Write the brief before coming up with names
“I want an original, memorable name” is too broad a brief. It does not explain whom the business helps, what makes it different or how it should come across. Before looking for words, answer five questions:
- What do you offer? Describe the service in one sentence without promotional adjectives.
- Who is it for? Identify specific customers and the situation they are dealing with.
- Why should they choose you? Identify the benefit you want to build on.
- How should the name come across? Choose, for example, a straightforward, playful or technical tone. Wanting everything at once makes selection harder.
- What should it leave room for? Consider additional services, new markets or a future team.
For our illustrative service, the brief might look like this:
We help Czech sole traders and small teams handle everyday administration: prepare supporting documents, keep track of deadlines and organise paperwork. We want to come across as calm, approachable and reliable. We are not an accounting firm. The name should not tie us to invoices alone, because we would like to offer other operational support later.
This already gives us selection criteria. The name should not promise accounting services we do not provide. It should work in Czech and allow the offering to expand.
For more detailed preparation, use the business naming brief template, which separates requirements from preferences and adds selection criteria.
2. Explore several distinct directions
If you only combine “admin”, “office” and “pro”, you may end up with a long list of very similar suggestions. Look beyond a direct description of the service.
- Activity: What do we do for the customer? Words for our brief: handle, organise, keep track.
- Benefit: What does the customer gain? Words for our brief: time, calm, clarity, freedom to focus.
- Relationship: What role do we play for the customer? Words for our brief: support, helper, an extra pair of hands.
- Imagery: What represents the service indirectly? Words for our brief: compass, a base to rely on, a fixed point.
These are not finished names. They are different routes towards word combinations, invented words or shorter names.
For your first round, you could set a working goal of twenty suggestions across three directions. This is not a rule for successful naming. It simply helps you avoid settling on the first word that comes to mind.
A Czech, English or invented name?
Choose based on your customers and how you will communicate with them. A Czech name may explain the benefit of a local service more quickly. An English name may suit customers who regularly use English. An invented word gives you more freedom over meaning, but you need to try whether people can read and write it.
None of these approaches guarantees a good result. For our brief, what matters is that a Czech customer can pronounce the name when recommending the service to a colleague.
3. Give the generator information it can use
Use a name generator once you have a brief and want to expand your options. Instead of one broad word, describe the service, customers and desired tone.
Compare these two inputs:
Too broad:
Administration.
More specific:
A service for Czech sole traders that helps with documents, deadlines and everyday administration. The name should feel approachable and reliable. We do not want to sound like an accounting firm or limit ourselves to invoicing.
The more specific input defines which associations you want and which to avoid. If the results stay too close to the industry, emphasise the benefit in your next input: more time or peace of mind when running a business. If they are too abstract, add everyday customer situations.
Try the name generator on OverNazev.cz. Save suggestions along with a note about what caught your attention. You can then compare whole directions instead of going through a random list of words again.
4. Shortlist names against the brief
Your first selection should identify suggestions worth developing further. Write down one strength and one concern for each. This helps separate a specific problem from a vague “it does not feel right”.
An illustrative shortlist for our administrative service:
- Fakturář: Worth considering because it directly suggests one activity, invoicing. Concern: it ties the brand to invoices, while the brief calls for broader support.
- AdminFlow: Suggests administration and smooth operations. Concern: pronunciation and spelling need to be tried with Czech customers.
- Pořešeno: Draws on the Czech idea of something being sorted or dealt with. Concern: it may feel too informal; check with the target customers.
- Druhá ruka: Literally “second hand”, intended here to suggest help and cooperation. Concern: it is a common expression; check findability and distinctiveness.
- Věcně: A Czech word suggesting a matter-of-fact approach, matching the calm, practical tone. Concern: it does not explain the service by itself and needs a supporting description.
We can rule out “Fakturář” based on the brief alone. “AdminFlow” gives us a specific question to test. The remaining suggestions represent different ways to name the service and deserve further checks.
A shortlist is not yet a list of names you can use. So far, we have assessed meaning and fit with the brief. Availability and possible conflicts come separately.
5. Check similar businesses, trademarks and domains
Before creating a logo or commissioning a website, check at least the following areas for your favourites. Each answers a different question. Their relationship is explained in Business name, brand, domain and trademark: what each check tells you.
Business names in the register
Search the official Czech public register for both the full name and its distinctive word stem. Try different spellings, such as a compound written with and without a space. You can also look up business entities through ARES, provided by the Czech Ministry of Finance.
A registered business name is the name under which an entrepreneur is entered in the Czech Commercial Register. The law also addresses confusing similarity and misleading names. Do not stop at finding no identical entry. The rules are in Sections 423 and 424 of the Czech Civil Code.
Trademarks
A name may be used as a trademark even if you have not found a business with the same name. For your search, use the trademark database of the Czech Industrial Property Office. According to the office, it includes applications filed with the Czech office and EUIPO, and WIPO international marks designating the Czech Republic or the EU.
For each result, examine the wording, status, territory and goods or services. Neither finding a match nor finding no exact match amounts to a complete legal assessment. If you find a similar sign, or the name matters to a substantial investment, have a trademark specialist assess the situation.
Domains and online use of the name
Check the domain you want to use and write down how your email address would look. For names containing Czech diacritics, also check readability without the accents.
Search for the name on the web and on social networks relevant to your business. You may find an established brand, product or other use that makes it harder for customers to find you. Legal assessment and practical findability are different questions; both need attention.
An available domain does not confirm that you can safely use the name. Similarly, finding nothing in one source is not a check of every possible right.
When reading a name checker's result, always look at which sources it covers and whether the check finished. An unavailable check means the result is unknown, not that the name is free.
6. Test the finalists with prospective customers
Choose, for example, three candidates and show them to several people from your target audience. A small test looks for specific difficulties, not statistical proof that a name will succeed.
Try the same process for each suggestion:
- Say the name aloud and ask the person to write it down. Notice where different spellings appear.
- Show the written name and ask them to read it aloud. Find out whether people choose similar pronunciations.
- Ask what it brings to mind. Record their first associations before explaining the service.
- Add a short description of the business. Ask whether the name fits the offering and what is confusing.
- Return to the name after another brief activity. Find out whether the person recalls it and how they write it.
If you want to check whether “Pořešeno” feels too casual, do not start with “Isn't it too informal?” Let the person describe their own impression first. Otherwise, you suggest an answer.
Record responses as close to verbatim as possible. “I cannot tell whether you handle accounting or cleaning” is more useful when adjusting the name or description than a score of six out of ten.
The detailed guide to testing a business name helps you prepare consistent conditions, distinguish first and repeated exposure, and evaluate your notes.
For additional ways to assess your shortlist, see ten naming insights from public work by branding professionals. The roundup distinguishes source advice from our own practical recommendations.
How to choose between two good names
Return to the original brief and compare specific reasons. A simple record can help:
- Does it fit the offering and tone? Record the reason for candidate A and candidate B.
- Can people pronounce and write it? Record observations from the test for each candidate.
- Does it allow planned expansion? Note any limitations for each candidate.
- What did the checks show? Record sources, dates, findings and unknown results for each candidate.
- Does it have a usable domain? Record the specific option for each candidate.
Do not offset a legal concern with how much the team likes a name. Resolve the concern first. Once you have two checked options, choose based on which better fits your customers and business plans.
A name does not need to explain the entire offering by itself. For a more abstract option, a short description below the logo may help. In our example, this could be “Administrative support for sole traders and small teams”.
Have your brief ready? Create name ideas and start checking your favourites on OverNazev.cz.