The Name Shortlist Kit

Candidates from three root words, the cheap screens that knock names out first, the trademark register searched by core and by name, domains and handles looked up last, and a dated record of every check to take to a trademark attorney

NameForge's Business Name Generator makes five names a style from one keyword, and they look like five options. They are one: every name shares the keyword's core, and the USPTO says trademarks "don't have to be identical to be confusingly similar". The site's own tools also disagree: the generator's classic style adds "& Co.", which the Name-Availability Checklist flags. And until this kit was written, the generator offered famous brands as ideas ("spot" gave Spotify); it no longer does. The Name Shortlist Kit puts the screens in the order that costs least. In its worked example, three root words make 60 names; the checklist knocks out 3, leaving 57 in just 3 families; a spell-back test keeps two a family; the market and the trademark register are searched by core and by name (9 searches an office); one invented conflict on a core takes out a whole family; and only the 4 names still standing need domain and handle lookups: 40 instead of 570, with nothing bought before the trademark search. It is not legal advice, and nothing in it says a name is available or safe to use. It quotes the USPTO, GOV.UK, Companies House and the EUIPO on what each search covers, and sends anything serious to a trademark attorney. Every name and outcome is an example. Included: 24 printable pages with 7 steps, 4 working pages (candidate sheet, spell-back and market log, trademark search log, domain, handle and spend card), a what-to-strip table and a quickstart, plus a personalised sheet worked from the name or keyword you entered in our tools.

Look inside

Two full pages from the kit, exactly as printed. Click either to read it at full size before you decide.

What is in it

• Step 1: generate from three unrelated root words, because every name built on one keyword shares one core
• Step 2: knock out famous names and the checklist's Flagged rows; keep 'Worth a look' as a note
• Step 3: the spell-back test with five listeners, and a shortlist of two names a family
• Step 4: a market search by name and by core, with a log of what you typed, where and when
• Step 5: the trademark register searched by core and by name in every office you need, with the USPTO's likelihood-of-confusion test quoted
• Step 6: domains and handles looked up last, for survivors only, and why a domain is not a right
• Step 7: the business-name register as a separate system, a spend card that keeps money out until the trademark search, a dated record and the attorney
• Working pages: a candidate sheet, a spell-back and market log, a trademark search log, and a domain, handle and spend card
• Reference: what to strip from a generated name before you search, the seven domain strings, and the seven screens at a glance
• A personalised sheet worked from the name or keyword you entered in the checklist, domain or name generator

The kit picks up where the free Business Name Generator, Name-Availability Checklist and Domain Name Generator leave off. Each tool works on one name; the kit works on a shortlist: names from three root words, the famous and the flagged knocked out, a spell-back test, a market search, the trademark register searched by core and by name, domains and handles looked up last, and a dated record of every check to take to a trademark attorney. It is not legal advice, and nothing in it says a name is free to use. Every name and outcome in it is an example.