Of all the steps required for setting up a business, coming up with an event company name is one of the most difficult. Unless you’re lucky enough to have a name already in mind, expect to spend a lot of time and thought on coming up with a suitable name for your events company.
As we have been there and done that, this page is dedicated to helping you come up with a suitable event company name. We are going to outline some considerations and then some tips for generating a business name that says the right thing in the right way.
To learn more about setting up your own events company, why not try our ‘Setting up an event business masterclass’? It contains all you need to know plus a lot more besides!
Here are those tips for coming up with event company names.
We use the KISS method a lot in events and it works with business naming too. Try to avoid hard to say or hard to spell business names. You want the name to roll off the tongue and be easy to type. Difficult names will be forgettable and people will not like typing them. Avoid them wherever possible.
The early noughties saw an explosion of nonsense business names or names that took a colour and an animal or object and put them together. They were fun at first but are now very passé. Avoid these at all costs if you want to be taken seriously. Corporations have managed to force nonsense names into our consciousness but a startup events company will have a much harder job. Avoid those cliched colour + animal or object names wherever possible. They are so last decade!
An event company name should be expressive but not limiting. For example, calling your company Smith and Son Events might be expressive but it is limiting. What happens if you have a daughter who wants to join? What if the son marries and his partner wants to join? What if you expand and go public? Try to keep the doors open for your business to grow or change because it will likely do both.
Meaning is difficult to convey, which is why naming your events company is so difficult. If you can tie emotion or evoke a feeling with a name, it instantly becomes much more powerful. For example, ‘Amazevents’, ‘JoyMachine’ and others like it evokes emotion. While those names aren’t the best, you get what we mean.
Catchy is king when it comes to event company names. If you can come up with something that will stick in someone’s mind, be sharable and work on all mediums, you’re onto a winner. As you can imagine, that is much, much harder than it seems but it is possible.
For example, ‘A Flair to Remember’ works because it is a play on words, as is ‘Creative Affairs’, ‘Eat This Events’ or ‘E4Events’. We all know of companies we remember just because their name stuck in our heads. Make yours do the same.
While nonsense words are a no-no, mashing up real words is a great idea if you can pull it off. It works wonders for the likes of Groupon (Group and Coupon), Evernote (Forever and Note) and others like it. The ‘Amazevents’ example above isn’t the best but it gives you an idea of what to do. Take two descriptive words and smash them together to see what comes out.
Some of the biggest names in the world have been taken from history, looking at you Nike. Other brands have done the same like Asus from Pegasus, Samsonite from the biblical Samson or even Starbucks, taken from a character in Moby Dick. Argos came from Richard Tompkins’ holiday to the ancient Greek city of the same name.
Inspiration can be found anywhere and there is a lot of history and literature to choose from. Just be careful to avoid any copyright issues when selecting your event company name if using literature for inspiration!
If you have a cool name, why not use that as your event company name. As long as you don’t limit yourself or make it too leftfield, it could work perfectly well. For example, ‘Clarkes Event Catering’ or ‘EvansEvents’ work quite well. They are short, punchy and memorable. All things a good events company name needs to be.
Have a word or phrase you like but it’s already taken? Try it in another language. Did you know Event in Italian is Evento? Or ‘Mea na tupu’ in Samoan? Or ‘Tukio’ in Swahili? If you have particular words or names you like that won’t work in English, try another language. Just make sure to double and triple check the translation and how it is viewed by native speakers before committing!
Once you have a shortlist of event company name ideas, check for other businesses registered under that or very similar names. Check a web host for .com and .co.uk domains, or your local top level domain. You will need these top level domains as part of your organisation so if they aren’t available, choose a different name.
If you’re really stuck for inspiration, you could try a business name generator. They are less than ideal but can spark creativity or provide inspiration. A couple of good ones to try are the Shopify Business Name Generator and the Business Name Generator. These should be used as a last resort but could provide ideas for your own name.
If you are genuinely stuck and cannot come up with something yourself, you could pay a professional to do it for you. There are business name agencies out there and freelancers or experts who can come up with something for you. They can be expensive so should not be your first port of call but can be useful if you hit a brick wall. Companies such as Novanym make up business names and sell them. Just make sure the name you choose fits in with the other tips on this page before you buy it though!
