Insights / How to check a brand name in India
7 checks before you finalise your brand name (and move on to identity)
Google, trademark classes, company names, handles, pronunciation, languages and room to grow: the checks every name should pass first.
Most founders fall in love with a name in an afternoon and spend the next month discovering why they can't have it. A handle is taken, a trademark already exists in their class, or the name means something unfortunate in a language half their customers speak. Every one of those problems is cheaper to find before the logo is designed.
Here are the seven checks we run on every name before it moves on to brand identity.
1. Search it the way a customer would
Type the name into Google, the app stores, Instagram, YouTube and the marketplaces in your category. Is someone already using it, or something close? Would you be buried under a bigger brand, a film or a common word? If your name can't be found, it can't be recommended.
2. Run an Indian trademark search in your classes
Trademarks in India are registered by class under the Nice Classification: 45 classes, 1 to 34 for goods and 35 to 45 for services. First work out which classes your business falls into, then search IP India's public trademark records for your name and for names that look or sound similar in those classes. An exact match isn't the only risk; a phonetic near-match can be just as serious.
A name you can't protect is a name you are renting.
Find the problems before the logo, not after.
3. Check company and LLP name availability
If you are incorporating, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has to approve your company or LLP name, through its name reservation service. Names identical or too similar to existing companies are usually refused, so check early. Your trading name and your registered name don't have to match, but it helps when they do.
4. Secure the domain and the handles
Check the .com and the .in, and the handles on Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and X. Ideally they match exactly. If they don't, decide on one consistent modifier, such as adding your city or "hq", and use it everywhere. A name that needs a different spelling on every platform will be typed wrong on all of them.
5. Say it, then spell it
Say the name to someone over the phone and ask them to spell it back. Send it as a WhatsApp voice note. Ask someone to remember it an hour later. In India, also try it in the accents of the cities you'll sell in. If people keep asking "how do you spell that?", the name is costing you every time it's spoken.
6. Check what it means in every language that matters
Run the name past native speakers of the languages your customers use: Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, and any market you plan to enter abroad. Look for slang, unfortunate sounds and accidental meanings. A name can be perfect in English and awkward in Hyderabad, Chennai or Pune.
7. Make sure it has room to grow
Will the name still fit if you add a product, open in a second city or move online? Will it work on a shop sign, an app icon, a packaging label and a social profile? Names tied to one product, one place or one trend often have to be changed just when the business is getting known.
Then, and only then, design
Once a name passes all seven checks, write down why it was chosen: what it means, how it sounds, where it can grow. That rationale becomes the brief for the brand identity, and the story you will tell customers for years. This checklist is not legal advice: for filing, speak to a trademark attorney.
We screen every name this way before we design a single letter. See how we work as a naming agency in India, or read how we named High & Dry.
