The Appella Process

Find Out What Sets Our Naming Process Apart.

Appella follows a rigorous and unique process to brand naming that sets us apart from other naming companies. At the centre of this approach is our proprietary Black Box of brand name generating and filtering software. But this is only part of our competitive difference; Our many years’ experience, wide-ranging expertise and the rigour of our brand naming & validation processes all play their part in delivering the only purpose-built, software-driven, comprehensive naming and validation methodology on the market.


  • 1. Naming Brief

    In this initial stage of the naming process, we will work with you to establish a clear and detailed brief. We will provide you with a template and a name preference questionnaire to complete, and will be on-hand to guide you as you complete these.

  • 2. Name Map

    This includes competitor set analysis by word type and brand name, along with initial recommendations. 

  • 3. Test Name Phase

    We will provide you with sample names for each agreed brand pillar/essence route and each name type, in order to establish a satisfactory starting point for name types and brand criteria. A second email sample name set will also be sent as part of this stage if necessary.


  • 4. Name Compilation

    A masterlist of c. 150 names will be compiled and filtered by our team for aesthetic appeal and compatibility with the original brief. 


    This stage combines machine assisted brainstorming with the use of tri-lingual linguists.


    From here, we then have a longlist of c. 50 names which will go through rigorous checks including:


     • .COM checks

    • Global negative language filtering in the 118 most significant global languages incl. all languages of 20m+ speakers

    • Identical trademark checking

    • Structured Google checks

    • Native linguist evaluation

    • Second human filtering for aesthetic appeal, global pronounceability and compatibility with brief


  • 5. Name Presentation

    At this stage, we are down to c. 8 - 10 names which we will present to you alongside the brand story, checklist and geographical reach.

  • 6. Enhanced Validation

    From the previous list, we will have worked together to shortlist the final 2-3 names. These will undergo additional trademark and Google checks for phonetically and visually similar names. Why? To reduce the cost of latter phase trademark searches by disqualifying and names that are not available at an early stage.

  • 7. Your Chosen Name

    At the end of the process, you will leave with a brand/company name that resonates with your audience, aligns with your brand, and stands the test of time across multiple cultures.

Our Black Box

The Appella brand naming process uses our own proprietary brand name generating and filtering software to quickly generate and evaluate company and product names.

  • How it works

    We start by inputting a series of agreed keywords into the Black Box software and let the magic happen. The Black Box will find names from our tagged lexipedia of words, from which you can make an initial selection (and there’s no limit on how many you can choose at this stage!) It will then take the selected names and perform tasks such as finding potential blends and selecting the best possibilities based on factors like existing use frequency. It also filters by a database of negative words in more than 100 of the world’s key languages to eliminate names that won’t work so well across your target markets.

  • Why it’s important

    It gives you the assurance that all lexical avenues have been thoroughly explored. Some of these brand name creation programs produce words that have no formal meaning. Others use existing words and meanings.


    Using our unique Black Box, together with our outstanding lexipedia of globally recognisable words, we can produce any name type that’s required, whether made-up, pan-European, globally recognisable or even language-specific. One of our most familiar names, the London transport smart card, the Oyster Card, was a UK naming project but more typically we are scoping much more broadly (see Antelliq, Onmo, Essentra etc). 


    So, whether you are naming a business for the global market that has to fit a specific set of requirements or looking for a creative business or product name for a local market, our combination of ground-breaking software and experienced brainstormers, harnessed to a robust and objective methodology, will provide you with workable naming and validation options at a realistic price.


Our Lexicon


As a top naming company, the words we find, generate and nuance are the most critical part of our offer. The Appella lexicon of thousands of internationally recognisable words is one of the landmark features of our Black Box. Here, potential names for a brand naming or brand identity project can be rapidly reviewed and in-suite developed, with their meanings in each target language accurately assessed. Our very human brainstormers will then also craft the selected words. 


It’s a winning combination of intelligent technology and human creativity.


Trademark Checking


If you want to market a product globally, there are over 25 different legal systems to consider in the EU alone. A world market might involve three or four times as many. In the end there’s no substitute for knowledge and experience. We use ours to weed out problematic names early on by conducting fast, reliable identical trademark searching of your long list. 


Later on, our post-shortlist checks, routinely commended for their rigour and speed, can avoid costlier full availability searches.


As importantly, we will expertly assess threats from similar names, often freeing up a name for registration that someone less experienced in trademark law would consider a write-off and, at other times, sidelining a name to which someone else might have incorrectly given the green light.

Global Language & 
Linguistic Checks


Thanks to our world-leading global lexicon and our 100+ language negative word database, once your longlist arrives with our professional linguists, they will have fewer problem words to report on, yielding more available words for you to choose from.

Our Unique Approach,

Your Competitive Difference.

We have developed a unique process over the years to produce the desired outcomes for clients. Watch our video below and get in touch to find out how we can make this work for you: