Naming & Straplines: Getting the Words Right
Most naming projects die twice: once when the favourite name turns out to be registered, and again when the strapline says nothing a competitor could not also say. This is the craft and the paperwork together: the four naming routes, the UK checks that are not optional, and what separates a strapline that lasts from one that dates.
The Four Naming Routes
Almost every business name sits somewhere on a line running from literal to invented. Where you sit determines how much explaining the name does for you, and how much of it you can actually defend.
| Route | What it does | Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Descriptive | States the category or the benefit outright | Understood immediately, needs no explanation | Weak legal protection, hard to differentiate, boxes in future expansion |
| Suggestive | Points at the benefit through metaphor or association | Distinctive while still carrying meaning | Needs a little explaining in the first year |
| Abstract | An invented or borrowed word with no category meaning | Widest legal protection, most room to grow | Costs the most to build meaning into |
| Founder | Uses a real person's name | Credible, personal, natural to defend on heritage grounds | Ties the brand to an individual and complicates a future sale |
The legal position pushes hard against the descriptive end. The UK Intellectual Property Office states that a trade mark cannot "describe the goods or services it will relate to", and gives the example that Apple would not be registrable for someone selling apples, but works for a computer company. Every drop of instant clarity you buy with a descriptive name is paid for in defensibility later.
Companies House Decides Availability Before You Do
Registering a company is where most naming enthusiasm meets an administrative wall. GOV.UK guidance is direct: your name cannot be the same as another registered company's name, and it must usually end in "Limited" or "Ltd", with the Welsh equivalents "Cyfyngedig" and "Cyf" available to companies registered in Wales.
The "same as" test is stricter than it looks, because Companies House disregards a long list of elements before comparing. Apostrophes, commas, brackets and slashes are ignored. So are "the" and "www" at the start of a name, and a trailing "s". Legal designations such as Limited, Ltd and PLC drop out, as do terms including "& co" and "UK". Characters after the first 60 are disregarded entirely. Numbers and their word equivalents are treated as identical, so "0" matches "ZERO" and "4" matches "FOR". GOV.UK offers a worked example that catches people out: "Easy Electrics For You Ltd" is the same as "EZ Electrix 4U Ltd".
Beyond "same as" sits the "too like" rule, where a name is close enough that the public could confuse the two companies. This one carries a deadline. The guidance states that the Secretary of State must order a company to change a "too like" name within 12 months of that name being registered. A complaint in month two is a real risk; a complaint in year three is not.
One point deserves its own line, because it is the single most common misunderstanding in UK naming. Companies House itself has written that there is "a common misconception that you can stop others from using your business name by registering the name at Companies House", and that this is wrong. Company registration does not give you trade mark rights.
Sensitive Words & the Permissions Nobody Budgets For
GOV.UK guidance also blocks a category of words unless you hold written approval. A company name cannot be offensive, and it cannot contain a sensitive word or expression, or suggest a connection with government or a local authority, without permission.
The list is longer than most founders expect. "Royal" requires Cabinet Office permission or a devolved equivalent. "University" needs Department for Education approval. "Charity" requires a non-objection from the Charity Commission, and "NHS" needs the Department of Health and Social Care. Financial terms including "Bank", "Insurance", "Fund" and "Assurance" route through the Financial Conduct Authority. Professional designations such as "Chartered Accountant" and "Chartered Surveyor" need sign-off from the relevant professional body. Words implying a quasi-judicial function, such as "Tribunal", "Ombudsman" and "Adjudicator", need evidence of legitimate status. National identifiers including "Scotland", "Wales" and "England" need approval where they imply pre-eminence or a government link.
None of this is fatal. It is simply a lead time nobody puts in the plan.
Trade Marks: the Check That Actually Protects You
The Intellectual Property Office register is the check that decides whether a name is genuinely yours. GOV.UK states that a UK trade mark lasts 10 years and must be renewed every 10 years, that registration costs at least £205 and rises with the number of goods and services categories you cover, and that it usually takes around three to four months from application to grant. Registration in the UK protects your brand in the UK and the Isle of Man only.
What you can register is broad: words, sounds, logos, colours, or a combination of these. What you cannot register is the part that shapes naming decisions. Per the IPO, a mark cannot be descriptive of the goods or services, cannot be "too common and non-distinctive", cannot be offensive, cannot be misleading, and cannot be a generic shape associated with your business. You will also hit trouble if your mark is the same as or similar to a mark held by a business selling the same goods or services.
The IPO search service covers UK trade marks and international trade marks that include the UK, and you can search by mark number, by owner, by keyword, phrase or image, and by flag, emblem or hallmark. Classification matters just as much as the words. The IPO requires applicants to use the classification system to specify the goods and services the mark will apply to, which is why an apparently free name can still be blocked by an identical mark sitting in the class you need. Once filed, the IPO publishes your application in its journal so that others can oppose it, so a granted mark is not the same thing as an unchallenged one on day one.
Domains, Handles & the Availability Sweep
The register work tells you whether a name is legal. The availability sweep tells you whether it is liveable. Check the exact-match .co.uk and .com, the handle on every platform you actually use, and the same handle in the singular and plural. Check what the name autocompletes to in search. Check the pronunciation over a bad phone line, and whether anyone can spell it after hearing it once. A name that needs spelling out in every phone call has a permanent tax attached to it.
The Screening Process, Step by Step
Run this in order. The cheap checks come first for a reason.
- Longlist 40 to 60 candidates without judging any of them, working deliberately across all four routes.
- Read each one aloud, then write it down after hearing it. Anything that fails the spelling test is out.
- Cut to 12 on meaning and fit, not on personal taste.
- Run each survivor through the Companies House company name availability checker, remembering the disregarded characters and the number-word equivalents.
- Search the IPO register by keyword and by phrase, for the exact name and for close variants.
- Identify the classes you actually need, then search again inside those classes specifically.
- Sweep domains, handles, autocomplete and translation.
- Shortlist three, leave them for a week, then reread them cold before deciding.
Most names die at step four or step five. That is the point. The cost of a name failing at step five is a fortnight; the cost of it failing after launch is the whole identity.
What a Strapline Does That a Name Cannot
A name identifies. A strapline positions. The name answers "who is this", and it can carry meaning but it cannot carry an argument. The strapline is where you say what you do, who for, or why it matters, and it is the only part of the verbal identity that can be changed without breaking anything.
That freedom comes with an obligation most businesses miss. A strapline appears in advertising, which means it is subject to the same rules as any other advertising claim. CAP Code rule 3.7 requires marketers to hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation, and that evidence must be held before the advertising is published. CAP is explicit that the ASA may treat claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation.
There is room for tone. CAP Code rule 3.2 allows obvious exaggerations, or puffery, and claims the average consumer is unlikely to take literally, provided they do not materially mislead. CAP cites Lloyds Bank's "yesterday, today, and tomorrow we have been and always will be by your side" as puffery rather than a literal claim. The line is drawn by consumer interpretation, not by intent: CAP records that Friction Free Shaving argued its name was obvious exaggeration, and the ASA found consumers would read it as an objective claim about irritation and cuts, which then needed evidence.
The practical rule follows from that. If your strapline contains a number, a superlative, a speed or an outcome, you need proof on file before it goes live.
What Makes a Strapline Hold Up
Three tests catch almost everything.
First, the competitor test. Write your strapline out, then put your closest rival's logo above it. If it still works, it says nothing. The IPO's own example of an unregistrable, non-distinctive mark is the statement "we lead the way", which is precisely the kind of line that survives a logo swap unharmed.
Second, the durability test. Anything tied to a market condition, a technology or a date will need replacing, and replacing a strapline three years after launch wastes every impression you paid for.
Third, the mouth test. If a member of your team cannot say it in conversation without flinching, customers will not repeat it either.
Length is a symptom rather than a cause. Short lines tend to hold up because they have nowhere to hide, but a longer line that makes one specific, provable point beats a short one that means nothing.
What to Do Next
- Take your current shortlist and run every name through the Companies House availability checker today, applying the disregarded-characters rules rather than trusting a visual comparison.
- Search the IPO register for each survivor, then identify your classes and search again within them before you commission any design work.
- Write down every objective claim your strapline makes and find the evidence for each one. If the evidence does not exist, change the line rather than the risk appetite.
- Do the competitor test on your existing strapline this week. If it works under a rival's logo, it is not doing a job.
- Diarise any sensitive word approvals early, because they sit outside your control and will set the launch date.
Naming is one of the few brand decisions that is genuinely hard to reverse, which is why it repays getting the sequence right rather than getting to an answer quickly. If you are working through a name, a strapline or a full verbal identity and want a second opinion before the design starts, our brand identity and strategy work covers exactly this ground.
Sources
- GOV.UK, Set up a limited company: choose a company name
- GOV.UK, Incorporation and names
- GOV.UK, Annex A: sensitive words and expressions or words that could imply a connection with government
- Companies House, Choosing a company name, trading name or trade mark
- GOV.UK, How to register a trade mark
- GOV.UK, What you can register as a trade mark
- GOV.UK, Search for a trade mark
- GOV.UK, Search UK trade mark classes
- ASA and CAP, Substantiation
- ASA and CAP, Types of claims: puffery and expressions of opinion
