How To Name A Health Coaching Business The Right Way

The Romans had an expression, “name is destiny” — a figure of speech that also holds true for health coach business names.

The name you choose expresses your business’ personality. Is it catchy? Descriptive? Memorable?

Homing in on the perfect name takes much time and thought. If you rush the decision, you’ll shackle yourself to a name that misrepresents you and your health coaching business. The wrong name can also confuse potential clients and hurt your marketing efforts.

Consider this… the business name you choose will be used for your logo, domain name, email address, website articles, and even printed materials like books, DVDs and letter correspondence. In other words, there’s a lot at stake!

Here are some tips about how to name a health coaching business so you’ll have that big “Aha!” moment you’re looking for.

Why the Brand Name for Your Health Coaching Business is Important

Your brand’s name plays a significant role in the success or failure of your health coaching business. We patronize certain companies because we know and trust their brand names and what those names symbolize. We equate the name Target with low prices. We go to Olive Garden because the name represents that “when we’re there, we’re family.”

A brand name sets you apart from the teeming masses. If you give your business a generic name like Health Coaching By Hannah, you’ll likely have a harder time attracting clients. On the other hand, if you name your business The Health Coach Ninja, you’ll have a much better chance of effectively penetrating the health coaching market.

When you provide satisfying services, it not only influences the way clients think about you but the way they feel about you. Your brand name can elicit many positive feelings, such as joy, wellbeing, confidence, and serenity.

A vague brand name creates muddled connotations. Let’s say you named your brand something like “Eggs.” A broad word like this can have many implications. Someone may love eating eggs. Someone else may have been awestruck seeing baby birds hatching from a bright blue robin’s egg.

But what if eggs conjure negative images in a person? Someone may have had eggs thrown at them as a child. Someone else may have gotten food poisoning from eggs. You’ll stand or fall by these random associations.

Now, consider a name you’re likely unfamiliar with like Hatching Your Happiness. A name like that has no preconceptions.

A good name clearly summarizes your services. So make sure it’s not made of conflicting words. For instance, banks communicate prudence and conservatism. Nightclubs project fun and indulgence. The names Wells Fargo Dance Club or Shimmy and Shake Savings and Loans won’t be effective.

The name you choose is usually the jumping-off point for your business. Once you have a name, the rest of your business can fall into place around it.

8 Tips for Creating a Brand Name for Your Health Coaching Business

Naming your health coaching business isn’t just about choosing the right name. It’s also about avoiding the wrong one. When choosing the perfect name for your business, a rose by any other name might not smell as sweet. Here are some tips for creating that ideal name:

1. Decide Whether to Use Your Name for the Company Name

Here are a couple of advantages to naming the company after yourself:

That said, using your name for the company name also has its disadvantages:

2. Don’t Be Cutesy

People won’t think puns or goofy names are funny, and you’ll lose credibility. These are a few groan-inducing names of actual businesses:

• Hindenburger Restaurant
• Sam & Ella’s Chicken Palace
• Master Bait & Tackle
• Passmore Gas & Propane

A bad choice of acronyms could also backfire on you, such as Amazing Selfcare Services.

3. Run the Name By Friends and Family (and Ask Them to Spell it)

See if your business name idea confuses them and if so, scratch it off your list.

Jenneane’s Vacuum Cleaners sounds easy… but how many “n’s” does it have? Two? Three? Four? The spelling of vacuum could cause many eyes to glaze over too. That’s bound to be a nuisance for anyone who tries to Google it.

Word-of-mouth advertising may be the main way clients find you, so any name that isn’t easy to remember, spell or pronounce won’t help your marketing.

4. Think About How the Name Will Appeal to Your Ideal Client

No matter how attached you are to a business name, you’ll have to let it go if it doesn’t appeal to your prototype client.

5. Stick to Short Words

Not only are shorter words easier to hear and remember, but they’re also easier to fit on business cards.

6. Check Availability

Before you commit to a name, search the database of the US Patent and Trademark Office. Check out Google and other search engines to make sure that another business isn’t already using your favored name.

Part of this inquiry should also include a domain name search if you’re planning to have a website (and you should be). Explore Namecheap to see if the name you like is available.

If your favorite business name isn’t listed as an available domain for a “.com,” you may want to try a different name instead (in other words, try to avoid extensions like “.org,” “.net,” “.biz,” etc.) You may also be tempted to alter an unavailable name with hyphens or abbreviations, but these tend to look less professional so it’s best to stay clear of them.

7. Use a “Sticky” Name

Remember, words are sounds before they become printed words, so make sure to home in on the name’s sound. Here are the primary sounds your brain appreciates:

• Alliteration – The sound at the beginning of a succession of words. (“Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers.”)

• Rhyme – The same sound at the end of two or more words. (“Twinkle, twinkle, little star/How I wonder what you are.”)

• Rhythm – Words that have an appealing cadence. (“The Red Hot Chili Peppers.”)

8. Don’t Use Parts of Other Businesses’ Names or as Thinly Veiled Plays on Words

A man named Victor Moseley opened an adult toy and lingerie shop and called it Victor’s Secret. Guess who ended up suing him for trademark infringement?

Now You’re Ready to Start Brainstorming!

1. List 20 to 30 words that summarize what satisfied clients might say about your health coaching business. If you can come up with more than 30, keep going.

2. Next, think of five to 10 primary benefits your business will provide.

3. How about five or 10 things that make your business different from others?

4. Finally, what words would friends, family, and colleagues use to describe your practice?

Keep your thinking cap on and divide the words into audience, service and emotional payoff lists. From there, play with the words and see which combinations could spawn a good business name. You can compare your ideas to the health coach business names below…

Health Coach Business Name Examples

There’s definitely an art to creating an outstanding name. These businesses all have names that are well crafted, memorable and effective:

Alchemist Eating	Healthstar Coaching	Sarah’s Touch of Health
Better You Coaching	HeartyLives	True to our Makings
Feel Good Choices	Luminous Vitality	TruLife Coach
Freshliving Friend	Maven of Motivation	Radiant Rewards
GlowGuru	Me Primal Mudde	Wevolv

You’ll notice that Freshliving Friend uses alliteration. Luminous Vitality has an ethereal quality. Wevolve is a good play on words, and Sarah’s Touch of Health has a pleasant rhythm.

Now, keep in mind that you don’t have to go it alone when trying to come up with a great business name. There are online resources called name generators that can often help you find a name at the push of a button…

5 Best Health Business Name Generators for Health Coaches

A business name generator is a great resource to use when you’re baffled about what to call your business. It’s an online tool that processes names based on the keywords you enter. Here are our five favorites among the dozens we’ve tried:

Business Name Generator (BNG)

Business Name Generator is a free name generator that suggests business names as well as website and app names. You can drill down by searching within an industry category, including healthcare. If you select a domain, you’ll get a price quote for the domain and website-creating service.

Dot-o-mator

Dot-o-mator allows you to create domain name suggestions with a list of words for the beginning and end of the domain. For example, if you type “cat” in the first box and “tech” in the second, it comes up with precise, relevant results such as “catechnica” and “catwire.” There’s also an iOS smartphone app for $2.99.

Getsocio

Getsocio is an e-commerce site that generates thousands of domain names based on business type. Unfortunately, Getsocio only provides seemingly random prefix options. If you find a site through them, your domain will end in “.getsocio” instead of “.com.” That’s why we only recommend this site to find a potential domain name and then registering it with a reputable domain registrar like Namecheap (which is what we use).

Lean Domain Search

Lean Domain Search is fast, creative and creates available domain names from the keywords you enter. We typed “cat lover” and it generated 4,951 available “.com” names containing “cat lover” in 0.04 seconds, including “CatLoverDirect,” “CatLoverToday” and “DreamCatLover.” You can sort the results alphabetically, or by length or popularity. Lean Domain Search is our personal favorite from this list. The choices are endless!

Shopify

Shopify, an ecommerce platform for online stores, also offers a business name generator that produces thousands of available “.com” names. While less robust than some of the other choices on this list, you still can come across gems.

Conclusion

Figuring out how to name a health coaching business isn’t something you can just do with the flip of a coin. It’s a strategic, creative process that can sometimes take days or weeks. However, that’s a small investment of time that will result in years of running a successful business.

So, what are you thoughts about naming a health coaching business? Leave your comments below!

Sources

1. https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-6th-circuit/1524546.html