What's in a name?

[d2creative]

Just wondering what made you choose the name of your business?
There seems to be 4 main directions to take.... at least from what I've seen.

1. Simple - Use your name (ex. John Doe Photography)
2. Photography Specific - Related to your specialty (ex. L.A. Headshots)
3. Photography Related Creative - One of my favorite names i've seen is here in houston (ex. Photographic Tendencies)
4. Wacky Creative - Something off the wall that won't make sense to the average person (ex. Pink Elephant Images)

What do you think are the advantages/disadvantages to each and why did you choose to go the direction you did for your business?

[Wil_Bloodworth]

Well, I was SICK and TIRED of thinking... and I knew #1 was a must (because of all the other businesses I have started/owned)... so whatever just popped into my head that was simple was what I used. Park Imaging.

"Imaging" instead of photography because I didn't know if I wanted the business to be constrainted to photography.

"Park" because it is very easy to pronounce and to understand (in spoken words).

The two together still make up a relatively short name... which to me is also very important.

I feel that #'s 2 through 4 are not as important as #1 (Simple)... However, you have to be careful with using your name. Think about it long and hard before deciding to use your name as the business name. There are many reasons not to do so... which I won't point out at the moment in the name of brevity (too late?).

- Wil

[Daniel Bates]

Mine is Derby Graphics. I didn't want to be tied into my own name (for various reasons), but creativity was *erm* somewhat lacking.

My full name is Daniel R. Bates. DRB... get it?

[Wil_Bloodworth]

Oh, you also need to keep your logo in mind. If you are going to have a long complicated name (which is ill-advised), then your logo will tend to also be complicated... which you don't want either!

Please don't take this as bragging... I've made MANY MANY MANY mistakes and all of my current opinions come from making them! Here's my current logo that is on all my shirts, invoices, et cetera:



Here is the page with the samples that I created so that I could choose one. I chose two... for when I have black shirts and when I have white shirts.. the logo colors change:
http://www.ParkImaging.com/Logos/index.htm

- Wil

[Silvernic]

I didn't want to use my name because it's Shellabarger. Not exactly a ring to it. I went with SilverStreet Photo as a little play on the importance of silver in photography (well, not really in my D200) and the fact that silver is my favorite color (it's a color, I promise).

[brad]

Didn't want to use Brad or Brad Barton because the name was too common.. and my full name Bradly is spelled different from the norm, so I was afraid customers would get confused by it.

So I started working with variations on BB .. At the same time, I was also working at finding something very short, easy to remember, easy to spell, and was available as a .com

After much searching, I settled on b2pix. Decided on pix instead of others because I kinda liked it, even if it was a little trite. :)

Oh, one of the other names I was looking at then was Moments of You .. but it wasn't available as a .com..... but much to my surprise, it came available by the time I went to set up my wedding photography website.

[Wil_Bloodworth]

Brad... using your name would actually be "doable". Barton Imaging... Barton Photo... Barton Photography... your last name is clear, concise, easy to use. Some of us, on the other hand, have been plagued with freakishly-long names.

- Wil

[cmalana]

I would refrain from using my own name since a properly set-up business should have the potential to be resold at a later time and having one's name as part of it would make that difficult. Every business accumulates some form of 'goodwill equity' which is the value of the business that cannot be directly related to the company's tangible assets.

For example, if you have a thriving photography business and you wanted to 'retire', I hope proceeds just don't amount to selling assets and moving on. Having established clientelle, a reputation, and perhaps even a documented, repeatable way of doing business has to be worth something more than just selling the assets of the business.

Of course, most photography businesses aren't set up that way, which doesn't make sense from my standpoint.

[billbunton]

With Bunton Studios you'd think #1, but that's not it. Long ago my mother taught Japanese brush painting, and needed a business name to use for selling supplies. So _she_ used #1, I just took over the business name :-)

[OversighT]

I initially went with #1 (straight forward and simple), but as you can see from my signature my domain name is long and admittedly my last name is not easy to spell. I tried finding shorter domain names, but all of the good ones are taken. So I'm in the process of switching to something more along the likes of #3. I do want to tell y'all what it is, but I don't want to let the cat out of the bag yet because I'm not finished getting everything setup (new website, logo, etc.).

I agree with a lot of the above comments... you want something that is short and memorable. Nic, I really like SilverStreet Photo... SilverStreet Studio could work as well and it plays on alliteration.

T.

[David]

When I was in LA my photo business was called Gower-Klein Studios.

Gower came from the street my studio was on but most important I was paying tirbute to the early motion picture and photography studios came to LA and most of them set up on Gower street in Hollwyood.

Klein is a family name and was the madian name for my grandmother. She and my grandpa helped me when I could not read (I could not read until I was 16). So when I would visit there house they would sit down with me with National Geographic or any other magazine and I would tell them what I would see in the picture and they would read me the article. That is where I got my photographic "eye" from.

Studios came from as I did both photograohy and motion picture services as well. I hope to open back up soon here in Dallas.

Dave

[Elsaspet]

I didn't want to use my name, because my name is "negative". Crabb. First thing you think of is "crabby". It also doesn't quite roll off the tounge.
I didn't chose anything with "Wedding" because there are a crapload of wedding photogs, and it's easily forgettable.
I chose "Visions in White" because it is a memorable phrase, as well as a double entandre. (I really DO think these things through-LOL). "She is a Vision In White". "Visions In White" spoke to me also of the photography aspect. It's easy to remember, no one on the entire internet had the name, and it make you think of pretty things. To me at least.

[babybluetx23]

I wanted something a little different, I wanted something that reflected the type of photography I did, I try to use a creative vision every time I shoot, therefore I named my business innovative illusions

I didnt want to use my last name for the fact that It has kind of a strange negitive spin on it thanks to alfred hitchcock. (My last name is bates)

[CaptainTom]

i've used the same name since 1979. If I had a partner in the business I'd consider changing the name to something more "up to date".

[Daniel Bates]

Hey--what's wrong with Bates?

I really do need to see that movie sometime...