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Baking Up A Name

By aiko on

June 1, 2020

I underestimated just how difficult Baking Up The Perfect Name for our Brownie Business would be.

Your name is probably the first thing anyone will interact with when they hear about you for the first time. It sums up what you are about.

What makes up a good name? Why is it so important ? How do i not sound lame??

I started digging to find out the most “appropriate” way to name a business.

A lot of the things i discovered actually made sense and i tried to apply them while i was brainstorming. So I would come up with a name, check if it aligned with the ‘naming rules’ and then try again. Here are some of the things i looked out for :

Heres A List Of Some Of The Things I Looked Out For :

The name should be able to communicate what the business is about – when it is able to do that, you won’t have to put in a lot of effort explaining the business.
It should be simple and not too vague.
It should be easy to spell and easy to remember
It should be available – this is very important. A quick CAC search will show you what is available and what you should avoid.
The domain name should be available because everyone will assume your website will be your business name + suffix (.com/ .ng /.org)
Try not to use names that may limit you by using things like geo-location

Finding a name i loved that would also check all those boxes was mentally exhausting i should’ve had a naming ceremony when we finally found it. I had even succumbed to using online name generators for help but nothing worked. I thought about using colours, names of birds, fruits, nuts, everything. I made a list and i ended up not using anything on the list :

Macadamia – I still love the sound of that actually but it does not sound like a Brownie Business
Meraki – This is a greek word which translates to putting something of yourself in everything you do – passion/ devotion/ undivided attention. This one actually resonated with me for a while but it was not going to work. It’s also a bit too vague for our purpose.
Caramel – Because who doesn’t love caramel right? That stuff is so good
Pecan – More nuts? No and it doesn’t say anything about the brownies! It could pass off as a restaurant or an advertising agency
Fudge – hmmm…quite close but no.

I changed my handle a million times to see what each name would look like as a handle. My brain was a soupy mess – kind of like when you try making Swiss meringue buttercream with margarine instead of actual butter.

I was on the verge of losing it when Mr.M said,

“why don’t you just call it Brownies? You’re baking brownies after all.”

Huh? Excusez-moi Monsieur?

–

Brownies?

That was definitely not the name i was searching the world for. But after a few days, it just stuck ! It literally grew on me. I loved how simple it was. I also needed people to know I was baking brownies.

I loved it – but i still wanted something quite ‘me’ in it. I kept bouncing ideas off my girls – Amina and Andrea and eventually Amina said “Aiko”. Aiko is a short form of my first name and last name and the fact that it ended up sounding somewhat Japanese was just perfect. *sprays confetti*

I created an instagram handle, brownies.ng, purchased a brownies.ng domain from Whogohost and i registered a Business name with the CAC.

Fudgy, Yummy, Indulgent – For the tagline, I needed three words that would sum up the Ultimate Brownie Experience .

And that’s it! Have you ever experienced this? Please share in the comments below.

xoxo,
aiko

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