Brand Names That Work: A Study of the Effectiveness of Different Types of Brand Names

Abstract

This article examines the effectiveness of the various types of brand names, using the categorization scheme employed by the Patent and Trademark Office and the practitioners in the naming industry. The study shows that descriptive and suggestive names have a higher overall liking than arbitrary and coined names. It also shows that descriptive and suggestive names are easier to recall than arbitrary and coined names. Finally, it is shown that arbitrary names are more difficult to recognize than names in all other categories. Managerial implications, based on these findings, are also discussed.