The clever name versus the obvious one.

Strategy · 5 min read

I call it the Souvlaki case. You're hungry, you want a souvlaki, and you pull out your phone. What do you search for? You search "souvlaki near me." You don't search for the name of that one place your mate told you about three weeks ago. You search for the thing you want. That's it.

App naming works the same way. There's a tension between the name that sounds impressive in a pitch and the name that someone would actually type into the App Store when they're looking for exactly what you built. I've watched clients go back and forth on this more than almost any other decision. And the answer is almost always the same.

When nobody knows your name yet, the obvious name wins.

Clever names assume you're already famous

Think about the brands that get away with abstract names. Uber, Slack, Notion. Those names mean nothing on their own. They work because those companies spent millions making them mean something. When you hear "Slack," you think team chat. But that association didn't happen naturally. It was bought with years of marketing and billions of dollars.

You're not launching with a marketing budget like that. You're launching to your friends, your network, maybe a few hundred people if your launch goes well. When someone hears about your app for the first time, the name needs to tell them what it does. If your app helps tradespeople manage their jobs, and it's called something like "Apex," that tells them nothing. If it's called "TradeTrack" or "Job Manager," they get it instantly. They know whether it's for them or not without clicking a single thing.

I had a client go through exactly this. They had a name they loved. It was short, punchy, sounded great out loud. But when you heard it, you'd have no idea what the app was for. Their partner pointed out that people searching the App Store for their category wouldn't find them. And that was the turning point. They switched to a name that described the product. Less exciting in a boardroom. Far more useful in the real world.

The App Store rewards clarity

App Store Optimisation, or ASO, is how your app gets discovered in Apple and Google's stores. And one of the strongest signals for ASO is having relevant keywords in your app name and subtitle. If someone searches "budget tracker" and your app is called "Budget Tracker," you're already ahead of the one called "Zenith." That's not a branding failure. That's discoverability.

Data from AppTweak shows that apps with category keywords in their title consistently rank higher in search results. This matters most in the early days when you have no reviews, no download history, and no brand recognition. Your name is doing all the work.

There's a workaround, too. You can register a longer, keyword rich name in the App Store and still market the app under a shorter name everywhere else. So if you really love the clever name, use it on your socials, your website, your business card. But in the store, let the functional name do the heavy lifting.

Name it for the person searching, not the person pitching

The right question isn't "what sounds good?" It's "what would someone type into a search bar when they need what I've built?" That's your audience. Not investors, not your mates, not the branding agency. The person with a problem who's looking for a solution right now. Speak to them.

That said, boring and functional doesn't mean lazy. You can still have personality. "Tradify" tells you it's for tradies and it's got character. "Canva" doesn't describe what it does, but it's become synonymous with design because of the scale behind it. For your first app, you probably don't have that scale. So lean toward obvious.

If you're stuck, write down the five words someone would search to find your app. Put two of them together. See what sticks. And remember, you can always rebrand later once people actually know who you are. The name doesn't need to be forever. It just needs to work right now.

Sources
How Your App Name Impacts ASO (AppTweak) - Apps with relevant keywords in the title see higher organic rankings.
App Store Product Page Best Practices (Apple Developer) - Apple's guidance on naming, subtitles, and keyword optimisation.

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