Names (Forsaken) and Are We Really Running Out of Words?

Naming brands is only going to get harder. But that’s a good thing.

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By Mike Smart, Principal Strategy Director at forpeople, and Zoë Parkinson, Senior Writer  at forpeople

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We’ve all named something in our lives — a toy, a pet, a baby, an imaginary best friend. But what if every name you could possibly think of was already taken? What if every recognizable word had been trademarked? Where would that take you then?

This is a challenge we grapple with a lot. As a design studio, we’ve been naming brands, products, and experiences since uncovering what to even call ourselves. We’re called “forpeople”, a team dedicated to making the future more human — hence the name. 

So what does the future of naming look like? And how do we find meaning when the obvious choices are gone?

Where have all the words gone?

Anyone in this game will know we’re running out of names. The familiar, the recognizable, the ones that feel natural on the tongue, all trademarked.

Thankfully, we seem to have moved past the ‘move fast and break things’ era, when cheap capital and tech bros brought on a wave of naff naming hacks. You know, when Es became 3s and Zs were thrown in wherever they’d fit. But with the breakneck pace of business, some — mentioning no particular start-ups — fell into the trap of blanding. Names became so generic, they became forgettable, and thankfully forsaken.

AI isn’t going to help. It’s going to make things worse. It will push us further into echo chambers, generating names that follow the same predictable rules. It will create a democracy of sameness. So if we want to create names that truly connect, we’ll need to do what AI can’t: look deeper.

Finding Meaning in Restriction

Constraints force us to be more creative. When all the obvious names are gone, we have to slow down and dig deeper.

Brand names aren’t just words. They’re textures, sensations, emotions. They shouldn’t just be easy to say, they should feel like something.

Here’s where we start.

1. Looking to Other Languages

The NIO Story: A Name Rooted in Meaning

Language is the great connector. Every culture has words for emotions that don’t quite translate, feelings so specific, they exist only in that place, in that tongue.

We played around with this in a naming workshop, inventing words inspired by these ideas. The urge to squeeze something irresistibly cute? That’s gigil in Filipino. Speaking with absolute confidence about something you know nothing about? That’s cuñadismo in Spanish.

Asian languages, in particular, embed deep symbolism into words. We saw this firsthand when working with NIO, the Chinese electric vehicle company. Their founder looked out over the smog of Shanghai and vowed to bring blue skies back to China. That phrase — blue sky coming — became their mission. And their name.

NIO’s Chinese name, Wei Lei, means exactly that: blue sky coming.

2. Exploring the Senses

Mareel: A Name That Feels Like the Sea

Another way to move beyond blanding is to stop thinking of names as just words, and start thinking about them as sensations.

At forpeople, our naming workshops start in our library of colors, materials, and finishes. What does a sound feel like? What does a color taste like? What words belong to those feelings?

That’s how we named Mareel, the spa experience aboard Cunard cruise ships. The name comes from the phosphorescent light that shimmers on the sea at night. When you break that down, it’s a light with an almost ethereal glow. And when you see it in person it’s impossible to hold but unforgettable to witness — you can see how our thinking evolved.

A name that captures the feeling of the ocean, without ever needing to describe it.

3. Rooted Futures: Looking Back to Look Forward

Formo: A Name with Ancient Foundations

New ideas don’t always need new words. Sometimes, the past holds the perfect answer.

When the Romans expanded their empire, they wanted to take cheese with them. But soft caseus didn’t travel well. So they developed a new kind of cheese, one that could survive the journey.

A cheese designed to keep its shape and flavor, wherever it went. A new format.

They called it formaticum, meaning molded or formed.

Centuries later, we worked with a company pioneering micro-fermented dairy, creating real cheese, but without animals. The name? Formo.

A name that’s ancient and future-facing at the same time. Rooted in history, but reshaped for tomorrow.

Feel More, Create Better 

The tighter the constraints, the more creative we need to be. With every familiar name taken, we can’t just think harder — we have to feel more.

The best names aren’t just distinctive, they’re deeply human. They make us feel something. And in a world of AI-generated sameness, that’s the only thing that will ever set us apart.

Creativity in naming isn’t about quantity. It’s about resonance.