Naming Your Freelancing Business – To Personalize or Not? (…with a Poll)
Freelancers are one-person businesses, and as such every freelancer will at some point need a name for their business. There is one question that always pops up, should you personalize your business name or not?
A Personalized Business Name
A Personalised Business Name is one that bears your own name in it. Examples would be things like “Nikolai Anz – Web Application Programmer” or “Ben Morris Design” and so on.
The advantages to a personalized name are that they are easy, often unique (though it depends on your name), descriptive, memorable and usually lend themselves to being Googled. Additionally they tend to lead to easily registrable domain names, something which is becoming more and more important as the domain landscape gets bleaker and domain squatters or just other businesses occupy almost every conceivable name.
The main disadvantage is if you grow your business from freelancing to something bigger. At that point having your name in there could make it seem like a small operation. Though as a counterpoint, there are plenty of big firms around that bear someones name – anyone heard of Singleton, Ogilvy and Mather?
My advice if you are going to use your own name is to only use one part of the name. So using my name as an example – Jack Knight – I would much rather “Knight Consulting” than “Jack Knight Consulting” as the former is both personal yet still larger than just myself.
A Non-Personalized Business Name
A Non-Personalized Business Name is basically any other name. Examples would be things like “Western Creative Services”, “Blink Photography” and so on.
The advantages to a non-personalized business name are that you have a dizzying choice of names available so you can come up with something catchy, fun to create a brand around and – if you give it enough thought – unique! Additionally you are giving yourself room to grow into a larger entity without any of the worries we mentioned earlier.
The disadvantages however are that your name depending on your choice might not feel as personal and personable as using your own name, and finding an appropriate domain name for yourself can be hard and frustrating.
Lets have a little poll
So for those of you already working as freelancers, here is a poll, tell us which type of name you opted for…
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I just use my surname DANGERFIELD as my business name. Works well and isnt quite so personal.
It helps that your last name is AWESOME!
it helps if your name is catchy and easily pronouncable. which isn’t my case. not in montreal anyway.
I named my company Brightwhite Design, but have since grown into a small firm, so I’m no longer technically in the freelance category. Allowing for potential growth like that was critical for me, since I knew I didn’t want to stay solo forever.
I called mine Hunox (not my last name).
I use a too strange name (pngised).
It’s clear only for me, but I like it.
I was started with with personalized name but during the time I started co-working with lot of poeple. Approximately there monts ago we rename our studio to munio
Hey. Two things. Firstly, there couldn’t have been a better time for me to find this blog, right now I am in the process of setting myself up as a freelancer full time, and the articles here have been incredibly useful, thanks!
Secondly, this particular article is very relevant right now, as I’m trying to decide on the name for my business. I was planning to use my full name “Jack Sleight”, but then the limitations that introduces (when considering expanding the business) is a problem. Also, I don’t really feel that just my surname “Sleight”—pronounced slight—lends itself that well to a business name. It’s all a bit tricky, and I’m really bad at thinking up names for things.
I really like the way Jeff has incorporated his name into the company name.
Personally, I’ve never been a fan of solely relying on a personalized name for business (i.e. Smith Consulting). I think it all comes down to a personal preference. And like Jeff said having the forethought to realize you may not always be a one person shop.
sweat… Dangerfield, interesting surname…
I doubt that my surname would have the same effect “Zadravec”… so I decided to use nonpersonalized name Toasted Web, but as I am registerd as “independent contractor” ( in my country “s.p.”) I also have my name and surname in my bussines name… so technicali, I have both personalized and nonpersonalized bussines name like: Računalniške storitve Toasted Web, Mihael Zadravec s.p.
I know, that’s realy long business name… but the law sais that it must be clear from the b.n. – what kinde of services and who offers them…
This is an interesting post, I kept my personal portfolio as my name, but when it came time to expand and invite other freelance friends of mine into a group I simply made a new name (mediawithstyle.com) which would showcase works we made together, but still kept my personal portfolio separate.
Another advantage to having a domain name with your full name is that it looks amazing on resumes if you have “contact@you.com”. It also looks nice on business cards. However, the disadvantage is that, well, it has your name in it and some people don’t like having their full name plastered around the internet and want to stay more anonymous. In this case, having a non-personalized name gives you the freedom to advertise it heavily without the worry of people looking you up
Hi Chad,
I use my name chandan and add live so its called chandanlive.com for my portfolio website.
My full name is Chandan Chakraborty its very long so I not used my surname Chakraborty or chandanchakraborty.com
But I think if you need a good name for your business not used your personal name.
I used a combination of the 2. My initials are RLM so I became ReaLM Studio. It works for me its both professional and personal
I use my first name, Benek, as my business name. It’s short, and unique enough. Plus much easier than tryiing to come up with something else. For my current situation, I think the personal touch is a marketing point – I want people to know they are working with one real, dedicated individual and not a company. I always find it a little weird to see individuals market themselves under a different name that’s trying to sounds like it’s a big company, using the word “we,” and all that. No point in hiding who you are.
Of course, everything would be easier if you had a name like Dangerfield.
I was formerly using my full name just because I owned it as a domain name, and wanted to focus on the personal/individual aspect, but I decided to split the difference, and am in the process of switching over to “Coghill Cartooning” as opposed to just “George Coghill” as the former actually gives me a bit of advertising and explains exactly what it is that I do. With the nature of what I do, it is pretty much an individual business anyways.
I thought quite a bit about going with a non-personalized name, but in the end I don’t have a problem being straightforward about the fact that it’s just me. In fact, I prefer to emphasize the personalized service I give to clients.
I think a lot of the decision comes from the type of clients you have or want to attract, and what they expect. It’s definitely a part of marketing yourself and the options should be thought out.
What about an option for an inbetween option???
I think you need your name in the name some how. It can help for identification etc, whether it is name designs etc.
For example, me and my business partner both have our names start with J and my last name and his middle name start with P and so hence we get JP2 Designs. The @ resembles the two of us (in case you wondered).
One key issue in naming is whether you want to be a consultant or start a business. My definition of a business is whether it could go on without me, or whether my participation is an essential part of every project.
I went for a completely non-personalized name, mainly because I didn’t want my freelancing company and my other online activities linked too closely together.
I chose ’29digital’ because it is easy to say and spell, and it puts me at or near the top of alphabetical lists of local designers.
So far, I’ve resisted registering a business name and working under any other name than my own. My clients are hiring Jesse Skinner and I don’t see a need in complicating that…yet. I find they appreciate working with an entire company encompassed in a single person.
Perhaps one day, I’ll want to hire some others, and then I’ll likely go completely the other way and use a business name that has nothing to do with my name.
Hm, I struggled and chose a rather long name – Sea Creature New Media
My name (Dylan) means from the sea, I surf every day. It feels appropriate. I am happy, but it is long…
I like Sea Creature. I’m really interested in electricity and seeming different. I’m toying with Wicked* Spark Creative Media. Since I’m not a designer, I don’t have a logo, but I have an idea of what I want to see in my head.
Z
I have gone through a number of names trying to be clever like webeloper.com (thats web developer), dotcomikaze.com, iuxd.com (interactive user experience design) and m2webdesign.com, none of which ever really worked, were hard to remember or spell, or both.
I am now using mikewarddesign.com and it works for me, is easier to remember etc… Having my name on it holds me responsible for what I do if that makes sense.
My 2 cents
I plan on freelancing and had trouble thinking up a business name as well. The most difficult part by far was finding a domain name that was available. I ended up going with the name “ionomi” – I haven’t done anything with it yet, but will be using it here before too long. Ionomi sounds cool, is easy to spell, easy to brand, etc. The only major drawback is the “i” being the first letter, as under most fonts the name looks best in either all lowercase or all CAPS. (e.g. ionomi or IONOMI looks better then Ionomi, in my opinion.)
I thought of using my name or my initials (TEK) but when IONOMI came to mind and I got that warm fuzzy feeling when I found out that the domain name wasn’t taken, I thought “what the heck, go for it.” Now I just need to do something with it.
I use “nufase”. Pronounced “new face”.
I’m getting into illustration and I’m thinking of a new name for my illustrative projects. “Zarbo” is what I’m leaning towards. My last name is “Vella-Zarb” so it’s a personalized name. (which I think sounds pretty neat)
Heh…Jack, why not Sleight of Hand [Productions/Consulting/Designs/etc]? With a little Sleight of Hand, your problems disappear like magic!
I’m dealing with that same issue myself, only my last name doesn’t exactly inspire, well, inspiration.
Might do something with my first name, though. It’s kinda cool. Or something altogether different. My website is currently under my full-name url, but that could easily change. OTOH, it makes for easy Googling – since it’s more or less unique, any name-specific results are pretty much all me, all the time. No annoying search-page sharing with online doppelgangers.
I use “CRUENT” as a name … but i don’t know how it sounds to english speaking users as i am from bulgaria. Is it a good choice ? It’s so hard to find a free .com domain right now … however i like mine
btw … GREAT SITE !
I have a mix of both, personally – I am registered for business purposes under both my own name, and a non-personal business name “Lucanos Solutions”.
I registered my biz under my personal name (Anissa Thompson WebDesign), but being a true Californian
I also wanted something I could more easily market, so I have webdyzn on my license plate (and that’s a tax write-off – advertising!), webdyzn.com, and I was also able to snag it as a few toll free numbers.
When I started full-time freelance I had a little window where I was scrambling to come up with something catchy and meaningful to call my business. Some of my thoughts were along the lines of “oberon”, “archipelago” or something symbolic, but they all kind of ended up seeming pretentious and never stuck around. Then time came for me to register my domain and I ended up just defaulting to my name, http://www.denniswest.com. and I made my business name Dennis West Design. It’s been useful to do it this way because I’ve never intended to expand with more people and I never wanted to give the impression that I was a firm with a big staff. I thought it was simpler this way.
…but as I am registerd as “independent contractor” ( in my country “s.p.”) I also have my name and surname in my bussines name…
Like Mihael, in Italy it’s the same….
So my business name is “Pngised – of Federico Pizzutto”…
Like some of the others, I went for something that surfs off my real name: emm-ess consultants. When read, it sounds like my initials: MS.
If you’re from Newcastle, Australia, it is a legal requirement to have any or all of the following words in your business name:
‘All’, ‘Total’, ‘Complete’ and ‘Solutions’.
It’s also a requirement that your advertising contains lots of shouting.
So the new business name I’ve tossing up is:
‘COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY TOTAL WEB SOLUTIONS FOR ALL!!!’
Thoughts?
Just for a laugh I entered those oh-so-important Newcastle business words into a local yellow pages search.
The results did not surprise me…
http://tinyurl.com/2wavhg
Remove the search typo and broaden your search to the entire Newcastle region, and the sheer extent of the lack of business naming originality is revealed.
*shudder*
http://tinyurl.com/2evduz
To Jack Sleight, I like what you’ve done with your logo you posted on logopond. Looks great!
http://logopond.com/gallery/detail/9503
Mine is called:
+grooveARMY
Just thought I’d better chime on in finally!
http://www.groovearmy.com
I call myself Squawk. Sometimes I put the word design behind it, even though it only says squawk on the logo.
Very nice article…
I agonized and then finally settled on Trenholm Writing and Consulting for two, well maybe three, reasons: 1) I am a solopreneur and my business name reflects this 2) my last name, Trenholm, is uncommon enough to stand out, 3) I didn’t have to do the fictitious biz name thing since my name is in my biz name and I am not referencing other beings (such as Trenholm and Associates)
Now, I know it’s not exciting, but it’s broad enough to allow me to do various types of writing without being locked in to something too specific
Personal, but not to personal.
Creative, but nog to creative.
Also think about length, i surely didnt >
I could personalize mine a bit more from “M1k3.net” to “Dick Designs”, but it isn’t a name that most professionals would look towards, ha.
Another thing to consider is the legal issue – you can operate under your own name and you can just run your business from your SSN. Operating under my own name I don’t have to register my business, get a seperate checking account, etc. As a freelancer starting out it’s just one less thing to worry about.
So what exactly is involved if you do decide to get a corporate name? What agencies/paperwork are required? Is that the same as incorporating as an LLC? For a small freelance firm, is it really necessary? What are your thoughts?
In my Name there is the german umlaut chracter >>ü
If you plan to get freelance work from agencies I tend to think you shouldn’t sound like their competition. How does that play into things?
Question to all you business and legal experts:
When you use a non-personalized name and brand yourself as such, do you have to register your business name? If not, does this mean that somebody else can use the same name and register it and then sue you for infringement?
its comforting, in a way, to know that i´m not the only one obsessed over what to call my business.
i´ve gone through several versions of a name/logo over the years, but i still haven´t come up with one that i feel i´ll like down the road, but that´s probably because i´m too indecisive.
I’m starting out… but I use superuser2 as mine. Easy enough to remember. And it makes sense – the superuser in *NIX is the top, the god admin, the highest in the foodchain. Root. I would use root2 but someone is squatting on it, and I don’t fell like paying them $3 million.
with your personal name you can save on taxes and need not to register it as all the checks come in your name which you can drop by into your bank …
Thanks for the article and good discussion.
I’ve been obsessing over this lately, too. I know “Tzaddi” (my first name) is unique enough but it doesn’t feel right somehow. Not inspiring me for the branding, either. Plus people are never sure how to say it.
But, I’ve also felt it’s strange when independents’ communications seem like they are a big shop.
Oh! The dichotomy!
Naming your business is always a tough gig! Jack hit some great points here and there are so many pros and cons between using your own name versus a fictitious name that it can paralyze you from making a decision. Here is a few things I have learned from 20 years of being a freelancer and small business.
1. Determine who you want to do work for. “Of the wall” names work for bands, beer joints, and non-conservative businesses but if you want to do work for some corporate businesses, an off the wall name can keep you from getting work – though there ARE exceptions.
2. Are you happy with staying a small, one person operation or do you want to grow a business that can carry on when you want out or die? This can help you determine the direction for your name. I think generic names are more suitable if you want to sell your business or walk away from it down the road. And if you sell your actual name do you want to take the risk on another person ruining your reputation?
3. Make it easy to remember and pronounce. When I started 20 years ago, I started with Dogman Designs (based off a nickname) but I found out that many people had a hard time remembering it or they thought I made products for dogs. I used my last name for a while and it was also hard for people to spell. I finally chose Branding Shed because I could sell the business down the road, it was descriptive, and it was memorable. Plus it ties in with the Old West and branding so it worked all around.
4. Be happy with your choice. You gotta be sold on your business name whatever it is and being passionate it about it makes a difference to you and your clients.
I use Daglees, which is my last name.
Mine not personal but easy to remember so i guess it swings in round abouts
I used my name first name VISHAL as vishalwebdesign.
I called my self David Henderson Design, although I often refer to myself as DHD.
stmjr
i used my initials S.T.M+junior, since i am a Jr.
Interesting ideas. What it made me think of was ‘Martha Stewart’ – lol. Not exactly a freelancer, but an example, (along with many other individuals well-known in their respective fields), of using one’s personal name to succeed.
Personally I like to be associated with my name. However, I’m also considering an ‘umbrella’ term to encompass my various interests/pursuits in work – writing, fashion, music, art, and webdesign, to name a few.
I think it may depend on whether you want your work to be associated with YOU or with a brand/label that you’re a part of – along with the choice between working alone vs. developing to be part of a team… and so forth.
Obviously I’m Aetoric Design. Jacob Campbell just doesn’t sound very memorable in my head. I’m curious though if people pronounce “aetoric” correctly.
For the record, it’s AE-TOR-ICK
I’m having a hard time for my website name. It’s between my friend and I and it’s so hard to find something in between. So we sort of choose to have one “business name” instead of a personalize one. Still is difficult to find something that is catchy and sound serious at the same time.. is there any… like.. places you can go and get inspired? or at least a list of names that YOU SHOULDN’T choose? or “forbidden” words.. you know?
check out http://brandstack.com. You and your biz partner could possibly split the cost of a brand you both like.
My last name has all the vowels in the alphabet + the kitchen sink! I couldn’t do like my comrades and do a firstlast.com. I stuck with my username, thank god I’ve been branding that since 98 and it’s pretty unique.
I’m trying to figure this one out right now before i corner myself into the wrong decision. as much as I’d love to use my surname (which I think is catchy, cool, personal etc – all the good things) my surname is Blizzard, which correct me if i’m wrong but there’s loads of Blizzard companies out there, mainly making games and stuff, but even though it’s my name it could lead to copyright issues…
I like personalising. Whatever the case is. And why leave free lancing from it
All my friends call me Fretes Calavera, it’s my nickname, so I go with a marketing idea of not just hiring a person named Alfredo García. I like it and noone has complained yet, some even like the idea of calling me that way so they feel they are talking to a friend, it makes me close to them.
Hard it is -on the other hand- for us who speak spanish to register a domain name when it involves the word design (diseño in spanish), so we have to be creative in that way too.
I am stuck in deciding on wordplay, using just my surname, or sticking to my actual name, Yaco Roca, as it is unique and most people remember it for life after using it a couple of times, and most people think it is a nickname. I am registering my new domain today, so any advice would be welcome!
This is such a great moment for me to enter this poll.
I just can’t decide between using my name -Irene Díez Graphic Design- wich doesn’t sound catchy at all and it’s pronounced very differently in english (I’m a spaniard living in London). Also, Diez means 10 in english so I could go for Irene10 but feels like a silly joke and pretentious.
I usually sign my work with “erealuvdesign” for two reasons 1) erea means Irene in galician plus I love how it sounds – pronounced e:re:ah, more or less
2) erealuvdesign just means “erea love design” and I think that says a lot about me and my relationship with my profession. My boyfriend came up with a great domain name erealuv.ingthe.net wich now I’m using for learning purposes.
The only problem with erealuv is that I use it for all my now-not-anonymous-at-all web and social network life.
Sorry for the speech!!! Any thoughts?
Thanks a lot!
I used part of my last name Hooper. When I was a kid people used to call me Hoop. I named my company Hoop Media.
I use a non-personal name, but feel that it has helped me gain business-to-business work that I may not otherwise have earned as a mid-20′s freelancer. Sometimes it’s nice to sound like a big(ger) business!
I used part of my pen name : Turn the Page
Sort of helped brand my site and keep my name in the forefront.
this is a fanstastic conversation, just what I needed.
what do you all think about the name
one fourteen designs or design
the idea comes from taking the longitude and lattitude of my childhood home and adding it together. so sorta a pice of home always with me.
i do not want to use my name even though its a cool surname, I just like to keep things private and I want to expand down the road.
I’ve used a company name rather than my personal name. A problem I can see if you set up your business using your own name and then want to change it if you expand etc. is if you use your site as a blog. Changing the domain name would perhaps mean losing your existing traffic and links.
Great post – and I wish my surname was ‘Dangerfield’ too!
I got laid off Friday, so considering freelancing full time. Doing research I stumbled upon this article. I am debating using my name because I have had offers to purchase my domain name adpals.com, so I’m not sure if I want to build my brand and end up selling off the name later.
Not so much the problem some of you are having, but I think adpals works for what I do.
I choose the non-personalized business name because it gave me more opportunities in making a creative and a special personal branding.
Alongside the non-personalized name my name is on my businesscards, estimates, invoices and letters. In my opinion this combination works really well.
You can just work under a creative business name but keep in mind you always make clear you’re the man behind the brand.
I’m Richard, people used to call me Chad so I use it as a business name in my portfolio. I ended up with “Chadworks” but I guess it wasn’t that unique as the chadworks.com domain was already owned by someone, so I stick with the .net.
My story is kind of funny… I have insomnia and in college, I found that I’m more creative at night. In the evenings after dinner, I’d pour a glass of wine and sit down at my computer (or sketchbook) until dawn, then head off to class and sleep in the afternoons. So nearing graduation I came up with the title of Creative Insomniac, and managed to register it as a URL as well. My name isn’t very interesting, so I branded myself as “Michelle Leigh, Creative Insomniac.” And I got many interviews and positive feedback on the Identity.
Now, it’s been 7 years since graduating, my insomnia has sort of gone away, and I’m trying to find a regular day job. But I’m a little concerned that the insomniac thing could be perceived as more of a party all night attitude, implying that I might not be a responsible worker.
I hate to give up the moniker; I really like it, think it’s catchy and memorable. Anyone else have thoughts on it?
Some advice,
Always, Always be sure to Google any non-personalized name ideas before you take any steps registering it and so-fourth.
You will be surprised at some of the top hits a seemingly innocent name idea can generate.
I’m currently in the process of choosing the right name… I’ve come up with ZEROCITY, but I have to consider I might be working with many more French people (I live in Quebec). Thoughts?
My business name is Desdinova. I’m italian
Officially, I’m Jason Wall but people enjoy saying my nickname “Jaywall” so I built my site at http://jaywall.com and I changed my name to Jay (not legally, but in every other sense).
I named my company “Studio Jaywall” – the personalized name emphasizes the personalized service that my clients enjoy. Especially since my target isn’t B2B clients, there is no point using a non-personalized name to pretend I’m a big company.
Acknowledging the possibility of future expansion and that my work is not limited to graphic design, I carefully chose the words “Studio Jaywall” instead of “Jay Wall Design” or something like that. It works quite well; the only challenge is sometimes when I verbally tell people my domain they think it’s “jwall.com” and not “jaywall.com” – this is when biz cards come in handy.
I use the name of the village where I live
GUKOSHI
This was a hard one for me too. In the end I ended up making two names- My regular name for my portfolio & all of my own work that I did, then another company name that I work under as well as other freelancers if they come onto the project. So I’ll say “My name is X with Y productions. Check out our work” They go to the website and they can look at the individual freelancer’s website to see how they design and work and hire us individually or together on one big project.
I decided during college that my dream was to own and run a business. The influence of a few self-improvement books led me to thinking I should spear my dream in the way that early hunters might spear a fish.
From that notion I chose the name Dreamspear. It is lucky that my chosen field is marketing, such deliberately cheesy names are common in the marketing industry.
A very important question. I’m still in the process of figuring this all out so I have no witty business name or snazzy logo to share (…yet!)
I’ve been wondering about this off and on for a while now. I can see myself freelancing for now, but don’t want to close to door to possibly branching out and becoming a multi-person operation in the future. That being said, I don’t know if I want that possible future upgrade to springboard from what would be my existing identity or become something completely new and separate (the latter scenario making the concern about the impact of personalized branding on future business options a moot point for now.)
Another exciting plot twist I realized when considering personalized branding, I don’t plan on keeping my “single woman” status forever and I don’t want to be one of those women who keeps using her maiden name just for professional reasons. All these things in mind, I’ve been thinking more on non-personalized branding recently, or at least somehow only incorporating my first name or nickname “V” into the equation. It seems answering this “to personalize or not to personalize?” question is a highly personal matter!
its comforting, in a way, to know that i´m not the only one obsessed over what to call my business.
i´ve gone through several versions of a name/logo over the years, but i still haven´t come up with one that i feel i´ll like down the road, but that´s probably because i´m too indecisive.
I use proper name WebAgents as i am working with one more guy. Web because of internet freelancing & agents because of another guy.
I’m at a roadblock…
If I were to incorporate my name into my web design business name, what in the world would I do? My name’s Gavin Hill. I don’t know what I could use outta that to be unique and creative.
Any Thoughts?
You could look to see what idioms you could play on with the word ‘hill’.
I’m currently in the process of choosing the right name…
I came up with the name for my freelance web design venture by simply using my initials. That way it is both personalized and central to what I do.
Advice?
I’ve tried a couple of freelance names in the past. I’ll be permanently working from home soon (baby) versus taking in house contract positions and I feel like I need make a “final” decision.
I am a graphic designer and illustrator. I do photography on the side but more as a hobby.
I’ve been calling myself:
AWAZDA CREATIVE SERVICES
… it’s a play on the type in AMANDA.
The pros is that it is always available for usernames and incorporates my actual name in a way.
The cons is that it doesn’t make sense if I can’t display as all caps. I’m also not sure that even in caps that the general public sees the connection.
I’m in the process of coming up with alternatives… but I’d like feedback on the current name.
To be honest, I read it as “Awazda” – the play on “Amanda” isn’t obvious even in all caps. If you’re looking to play off your name, maybe try your last name instead (because it’s awesome
Hi Amanda, I’d say you’re pretty clear on the benefits behind AWAZDA: easy to register, to find and to set apart, as it is an uncommon word.
Cons, from my perspective, are that AWAZDA doesn’t really grant the type-play, or your name, enough credit. It sounds like a funny word, kinda between Wizard, Award, and Amanda. This could be leveraged but honestly, I like your name so much better than Awazda!
Amanda Wall sounds like a strong name and is all “A”s, making it phonetically appealing.
Not sure what will work out best, it’s up to you and how your marketing plan, but I’d give some thought to how you could position yourself with each of your alternatives, and see what can get you better positioned, engage more customers, and be the most manageable.
I’m glad I found this thread… I’ve been O’Reilly Ink the past six years. This year I want to get absolutely serious and focused as I’ve been in and out of it while working and I was in college.
The thing is, O’Reilly is often mispelled and ‘Ink’ makes people think tattoos. I use pen and ink, by the way.
My family is a huge Irish family and they all want me to keep an irish thing going, but anything I come up with sounds like I sell imported irish jewelry or something, hah.
And like the rest of you, I thought I’d just use my name, but I’d like to grow into something more. It’s so hard!!
I’m in a bit of a conundrum, I have been using locodesignz as my portfolio, website, business cards etc since college days, I’m now 25 and am getting a lot more hands on corporate work, however beens as I’m still working from home and not in a studio I feel obliged to leave the un-personalized business name alone and use my actual name, Liam Hodnett on invoices etc .. My only fear is that in a couple more years when I may be working from a studio I’ll be leaning back the way of locodesignz! Thoughts?
Very relevant article right here. And somehow I want to hear of how this company, Envato, came up with their company name. It’s a very interesting and very unique company name.
And again, thank you for this article. It really helps those who doesn’t create catchy names, like me!