Start with the slang.

Strategy · 4 min read

A client in the electrical trades needed a name for his app. We went back and forth for a while, trying different combinations. Then he landed on something that combined a piece of industry slang with a more professional term. The slang half immediately told every sparky in Australia what the app was about. The professional half gave it enough weight to sit comfortably in front of industry bodies and training organisations.

That combination worked because it didn't come from a brainstorming session. It came from the language his users already spoke every day. And that's the lesson I keep learning with every project. The best app names don't get invented. They get discovered inside the words people are already using.

Your users already named it for you

Every industry has its own vocabulary. Tradies have abbreviations for tools, certifications, and processes that outsiders wouldn't understand. Fleet managers refer to vehicles by their plate numbers, not their make and model. Healthcare workers have shorthand for procedures that would confuse anyone outside the ward. This language is free branding. It's sitting right there, waiting for you to use it.

Another client discovered this by accident. During early conversations with potential users, he noticed they kept referring to a specific concept using a word he hadn't considered. It wasn't in any of his planning documents. It wasn't in his competitor analysis. But every single person in the industry used it. So he built it into the app's identity. The result was instant recognition. People heard the name and immediately understood what the app was for.

Harvard Business Review research found that product names grounded in an audience's existing language consistently outperform abstract creative names. That makes sense when you think about it. A name that requires explanation is a name that starts with a disadvantage. A name that people already understand before you explain it starts with momentum.

You don't need a creative agency

I see founders get stuck on naming because they think it needs to be clever. They think it needs to be a portmanteau or a made-up word or something that sounds like a Silicon Valley startup. But your users don't care about clever. They care about familiar. They want to hear a name and think "that's for me" without having to work for it.

The slang your industry uses does that work for free. It's a signal. It says "this was built by someone who understands our world." That signal builds trust faster than any amount of polished marketing. When a sparky hears a word from the trade in your app name, they instantly know this isn't some generic tech product designed by people who've never held a pair of pliers. It's something from their world.

So before you spend weeks overthinking your app name, start with the language your users already speak. Write down the slang. Write down the abbreviations. Write down the nicknames people give to tools, processes, and roles. The name is probably already in that list, or it's a short step away from it. The best brand identity you'll ever build is the one that feels like it already existed before you showed up.

Sources
A Guide to Naming Your Product (Harvard Business Review, 2023) - Names grounded in an audience's existing language outperform abstract creative names.

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