You have heard them all: Liz Claiborne, Calvin Klein, L. L. Bean and so on. There used to be a time when you wouldn't even consider using anything other than your personal name as the name under which your business operates. This probably goes back to the times when it was not really up to the owners to decide which name they would use. The customers would simply adopt a particular way of referring to a butcher's shop, a bakery or a restaurant. Very often the owner's personal name did the trick. And quite honestly, there is an element of pride in putting your name on something larger than yourself. But is this still a good idea? Will choosing this path help your company or hurt it in the long run?- By choosing to use your personal name as a company name you must be sure that your name is easy to pronounce and to write. This is especially important if you consider web searches - you want to be found online, don't you?
- Unless your name is very unique (if it is still easy to pronounce and to write, congrats to you!) you will make your business unidentifiable. Again, think Internet. Your potential customers will be getting stuck at other people's FaceBook profiles!
- Using a personal name as a company name might confuse the IRS, especially if you are running the business from home - you will have the same street address.
- You want to instill confidence in your clients. Personal names are not that great for this particular purpose. Also, what if that someone had some unpleasant experiences with a person whose last name (or even first name) was the same as yours. Do you really want to be guilty by association?
- Some personal names don't have anything necessarily wrong with them. They just end in a wrong letter. Do you suppose someone named Zack Zoidberg will have problems trying to attract customers compared to Amie Anderson? Initial letters were important in the era when your yellow book listings made you who you are, but they are still important for many types of online listings and directories. Or would you rather legally change your name first before using it for a company name?
- Suppose that you have a nice, unique, pronounceable name that starts with an A, B or C. Would it be ok to simply add a little description to it, to clarify things: Bob Allen's Landscaping, Andy Carlberg's Towing? Here is something else to consider. No matter how much you love your own name, search engines love the first word in every page's title. Unless the first word in your company's name can somehow put you ahead of everybody else in terms of search engine optimization you will be sorry you did not sleep on it.
Let me put this straight. Unless it was your life-long dream to make someone else wear the uniform with your name on it, choose something other than your personal name for your business' name.
