What’s in a Name?

Poor Diva Thin Muffin (daughter of Frank Zappa). A name is important to an identity — for both a person and a company, and names can be highly impactful. For a company, a name is an opportunity to explain what you do/sell, to impart a feeling, or to stand out and be memorable.

Before starting the winter cohort of eForAll, I knew that I wanted to create a business that gave adults an opportunity to go to sleepaway camp for a weekend, and I spent several days hashing out a name that I could live with for the parent company registered on the LLC.

The Creative Process

Should the name tell the customers what they were buying? Was it more important for the name to impart a certain feeling? My mind was racing, searching for words on billboards, waiting for inspiration to strike. On a sunny, Saturdaycar ride, my girlfriends and I were headed to a surf break, and every 20 minutes I suggested a new, surf-themed name….Windswell? Sideshore? The Green Room?

Next, I spotted a Rhode Island license plate. What about blue wave? Blue arc? YES! Blue ARC. It seemed like the perfect parent company name — somewhat generic, yet trustworthy. The “doing business as” could be more descriptive of what I was selling, but Blue Arc would make a great business card. Upon arriving home, I did a quick search and found that Blue Arc was trademarked by General Electric, but what did that mean specifically?

Trademarks?!

At the time, I was not sure, but I knew that the TM sign made Blue Arc feel off limits, so I moved on. Lucky for me, as a participant in Entrepreneurship for All — South Shore Accelerator, my cohort and I got a crash course on trademarks, copyrights, patents, and corporate entities. Doug Denninger and Theodore Howell donated an hour each to scratch the surface of the topics. When is it appropriate, and how would a company register a trademark or copyright? How much would it cost?

Our cohort is working on a diverse mix of products and services, from allergen-free desserts to electric motorcycles to reiki/meditation to…what else? Adult sleepaway camp! Although each business is different — for me, it is encouraging and extremely helpful to be in a room full of entrepreneurs on a similar journey. We are all thinking about trademarks, and business model canvases, and potential costs and profits. It is a risk to spend time building a business, and for me, EForAll has played an integral role in inspiring progress.

So, what did you decide?

I eventually decided on a parent company name that imparts a particular feeling — Wild Child Ventures, LLC. To me, “wild child” is FUN, it reminds me of freedom and a kid in overalls running through the woods, and I hoped it would inspire in adult customers the happy feelings that they had as a kid going away to camp.

What about the Doing Business As?………I wish that I knew!

~Christin Marshall, Owner, Wild Child Ventures, LLC