Let me tell you...trying to come up with a name for your own business is a challenge!!
When I first started trying to think of a name, I was still working at my old job. I was in somewhat of a hurry to get it sorted, as I knew I wanted to get out of there ASAP, and get my gig going. Coming up with a name was going to allow me to set up an Instagram account for my business, which in turn was going to get me started in the right direction and on the path of entrepreneurship.
The first step was deciding what I didn't want. I didn't want my name (mostly my first name) included in the business name, because for me that felt a bit generic and almost a default of what some people do. Now let me be clear...I am NOT knocking anyone who has done this or will do this in future. But for any one that knows me, I like to do and have things that are slightly different...not off the wall, but just different than the norm. For example, there is a picture of Gord Downie that I absolutely love. I contacted the artist to get a print of it. She came back to me with two pictures that she had...the one that I've seen everywhere, and one that I had never seen. Guess which one I went with? Same with a barn door rail that I fell in love with for my basement. It's unique and ever so slightly different, and not one that I've seen many people have. I also knew I didn't want Interior Designer or Interior Decorator in the name. I did however want the name to convey what my business is about.
With my 'I-don't-wants' out of the way, I needed to come up with what I did want. As mentioned above, I wanted the name to convey what I do. I really liked the idea of having 'Interiors' in the name, as I knew that in addition to Interior Design and Décor, I also wanted to have Home Staging as part of my business. 'Interiors' covers all those, at least in my mind. I also thought I wanted to play off of my last name somehow, but wasn't exactly sure what that looked like.
My married name is White, so I started playing around with that. White Interiors was first, but that makes it sound like all I do is interiors that are white in color. Not what I was going for. Then I thought maybe Smith White Interiors (my legal last name), however I was still at my old job and didn't want to have to explain myself if someone stumbled upon it. What if I use white, as in the color, but in a different language? Off to Google I went to find out how to say 'white' in different languages. I had narrowed it down to Alba Interiors (Latin), Blanco Interiors (Spanish) and one or two others that I honestly can't remember now. I ended up scrapping those, as my heritage is not any of the cultures that I was translating to, and ultimately those names still didn't feel right to me.
Then I thought about my kids, and it was like the angels started singing. This was IT. My sons middle name is Alexander, and my daughters middle name is Rose. Alex Rose Interiors sounded cool, unique, but mostly it just felt RIGHT. I loved it, and still do.
It can be time consuming to get right, but having a name for your business that feels right to you is so important. And as you can see, when you know, you know.