Naming for Everyone

Are global brand names even a thing?

Global brand names aren’t born—they’re built That's the consensus among the naming experts of We Are Naming, an international network of independent namers and small naming studios. (My studio, Wild Geese Studio is, proudly, its U.S. partner.) Our collective expertise represents thousands of naming projects, resulting in names that speak to people who spe…

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The conflict search party

In 2022 and 2023, I got to spend a lot of time talking to Julie MacDonell, who is a trademark attorney and the co-founder of Haloo, a trademark software platform that I very much enjoy. We collaborated on a number of books about trademarks (I’ve put them all up in the Naming for Everyone resources section, and they can all be downloaded for free

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WTF is a TM?

My full-service naming studio, Wild Geese Studio, publishes booklets semi-regularly on brand language, naming, and trademarks. They’re geared toward our naming clients who want more context around common naming decisions. One of the volumes we wrote as part of the Truth in Trademark series (written in partnership with Julie MacDonell, the CEO of Haloo an…

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Why should you care about a name's risk profile?

We love a little danger in our lives, don’t we? I spend most of my free time grappling with men twice my size, lifting large metal things off the ground and putting them back down (sometimes gently, sometimes not), and hiking up icy mountains in the middle of the winter. It makes me feel alive.

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Naming for Newer Namers: Summer class schedule is live!

The May/June lineup is all morning classes while we work on developing some other cool stuff for the fall, but I promise evening classes for my west coasters and late risers are on the horizon.Thanks for reading Naming for Everyone! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

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What happens when you don’t use a naming strategy or process?

A joke my friends love is calling me “Easygoing Katie.” I hate it. I dislike being called Katie, but I love to be considered easygoing. But being called Easygoing Katie makes me feel the opposite of easygoing. They know this. (You can see the trap that they’ve created for me.)

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What I'm teaching in May: The "Science" of Naming

Helping naming clients navigate potential risks can feel daunting. But it doesn’t have to be. Thanks for reading Naming for Everyone! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. If you’ve ever wondered about how to include filtering for trademark, common-law, linguistic, or cultural issues as part of your naming process, this is the clas…

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Why we workshop a naming strategy

Unfortunately, you’re not psychic. Unless you are, but, for the sake of this newsletter feeling true, you’re not. Thanks for reading Naming for Everyone! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Side note: May’s class focus is the “Science” of Naming—overcome your fear of talking to your clients about trademarks, linguistics, and othe…

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Six ways to use your naming strategy

A strong naming strategy is critical to a successful naming project. But if you’re only using your strategy as a tool to guide name generation, you’re probably working harder than you need to. Thanks for reading Naming for Everyone! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

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What goes into a naming strategy

If you’re still with me, hello. Let’s talk strategy. Just as every namer has labored over their own definition of what makes a good name, we have also all labored over what needs to go into a naming strategy. Thanks for reading Naming for Everyone! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

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