A Brand Name Is the Longest-Living Artifact of Your Company
Products come and go. Campaigns fade. People move on. But your brand name? It stays. Of all the assets a company owns, the name lasts the longest. It’s the artifact that carries your story across generations, through changing markets and shifting customer expectations. Ignore it, and you risk weakening the one constant that ties your business together.
Think about Colgate. Today it’s synonymous with toothpaste. But William Colgate founded the company back in 1806, making starch, soap, and candles. Toothpaste wasn’t introduced until 1873. It took another 23 years before it was sold in a tube.
For decades, Colgate existed without touching a single tooth. And yet, the name endured. Today it’s one of the most recognizable brands on the planet.
🔑 Lesson: A name isn’t tied to one product line or one generation. It outlives them all.
A brand name is never just a word. Over time, it becomes a vessel—a container filled with stories, actions, and emotions.
That’s why changing it is so difficult. You’re not just swapping words; you’re trying to move meaning.
Consider Prince. In 1993, he famously abandoned his name for an unpronounceable symbol. The world didn’t let go. He became “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.” In the end, he returned to the name because it carried the weight of his identity.
🔑 Lesson: You don’t own your name alone. Your audience does. They fill it with meaning—and they won’t let go easily.
Changing a brand name can feel like hitting reset. Your reputation, history, and customer relationships are tied to the original name.
When Jeremy Miller rebranded his family business from Miller & Associates to LEAPJob, the creative work was the easy part. The hard part was transferring customers’ trust. It took 18 months of running both names in parallel and explaining the change again and again.
🔑 Lesson: Rebranding is never just about the new. It’s about carefully carrying the old into the future. Without that bridge, customers may file your brand under “lost and forgotten.”
A strong name is like a fine wine—it matures. Every customer interaction, every delivery that arrived on time, every great story told—these moments get stored inside the name.
That’s why the most powerful brands defend their names fiercely. Because a name doesn’t just describe. It remembers.
If your brand name will outlive everything else, choose—and protect—it wisely.
Everything else evolves—logos, packaging, products, even your mission. But your name casts the longest shadow.
It anchors your past. It signals your present. And it points toward your future.
👉 At Namudio, this is why we obsess over names. We know they’re not just words. They’re artifacts—living, breathing vessels that will outlast everything else you build.
