Naming is easily one of the best parts of building a brand. It's creative, it's energizing, and it actually feels like you're making real progress.
It's also where a lot of really good ideas die.
Legal and trademark issues kill more names than you'd think. At Tanj, we've heard the story over and over: a team falls hard for a name that wasn’t properly vetted, spends weeks running with it, and then finds out—way too late—that they can't actually use it.
Let's make sure that doesn't happen to you.
Why Legal Considerations Actually Matter
Here's the thing: a name doesn't just need to sound good. It needs to work in the real world. That means it has to be usable, protectable, and defensible.
If you can't legally own your name—or worse, if using it opens you up to lawsuits—you're basically building your entire brand on quicksand. The fallout looks like:
- Getting forced into an expensive rebrand
- Burning money on legal disputes
- Confusing your customers
- Damaging credibility you worked hard to build
Smart naming isn't about eliminating every possible risk. It's about catching the big ones early, before they cost you real money.
Trademark Basics (Without the Legalese)
Trademarks exist to keep customers from getting confused about who makes what. They protect names that identify where goods or services come from.
Three things you really need to know:
Distinctiveness is your best friend
The weirder and more unique your name, the easier it is to protect. Generic names like "Fast Payments" or "Local Marketing Services"? Nearly impossible to trademark.
Suggestive, arbitrary, or completely made-up names? Much, much stronger legally.
This is why good naming agencies will talk you out of super-literal names, even when they feel like the "safe" choice.
Exact matches aren't your only problem
You don't need an identical name to have a trademark conflict. Similar names in related spaces can cause just as many headaches—especially if they sound alike, look alike, or target the same audience in overlapping industries.
This is exactly why early screening matters.
Context is everything
A name that's totally fine in fashion might be a nightmare in fintech. Something that works for software could be off-limits for consumer goods.
Trademark risk always depends on context. Always.
Where Legal Actually Fits in the Process
Here's a mistake we see all the time: people think legal review should happen either right at the start (which crushes creativity) or at the very end (which can be catastrophic).
The truth? Legal considerations should be woven throughout the process, not tacked on as an afterthought.
Here's how we break it down at Tanj:
Phase 1: Creative Exploration (Go Wild)
Early on, you're just exploring. Throwing out ideas, testing territories, finding your direction. This is where you need to let imagination run wild.
What you need here:
- Freedom to think big
- A general sense of what works better legally (distinctive beats descriptive)
What you don't need: certainty about anything yet.
Phase 2: Screening & Narrowing (Cut the Risky Ones)
Once you've got a shortlist of names you actually like, it's time for preliminary trademark screening.
This helps you:
- Knock out anything with obvious conflicts
- Focus on names that might actually work
- Save money on legal fees down the road
Important note: this isn't full legal clearance. It's just a smart filter.
Phase 3: Formal Clearance & Registration (Lock It Down)
When you're down to a few finalists, bring in a trademark attorney to do:
- Full clearance searches
- Proper risk assessments
- Filing strategy recommendations
This is where you go from "pretty confident" to "we're good to go."
Common Ways People Screw This Up
Even smart teams make these mistakes:
→ Picking overly descriptive names
They feel intuitive and safe. They're also weak, hard to protect, and easy for competitors to rip off.
→ Thinking a free domain means you're in the clear
An available URL doesn't tell you anything about trademark safety. These are completely separate things.
→ Only thinking about today
A name that boxes you into one narrow category now might create legal problems when you inevitably want to expand later.
→ Ignoring the rest of the world
If there's even a chance you'll go global eventually, you need to think about international trademark and linguistic issues early.
The Goal: Creative AND Clearable
The best brand names hit all three marks:
- They mean something strategically
- They feel right emotionally
- They work legally
This is where good naming partners actually earn their money—not by killing every risk, but by designing for durability from the start.
Legal Doesn't Have to Kill Good Ideas
Done right, legal and trademark considerations don't squash creativity. They actually make the work sharper. They push you toward names that are more distinctive, more ownable, and more likely to still work five years from now.
Naming matters. A lot. But it doesn't need to be painful.
Thinking About Naming—or Renaming?
If you're working through a naming decision and want to balance creativity with real confidence, let's talk. At Tanj, we build names that resonate with people and stand the test of time.