To ensure your success in the market when you decide to launch an athletic store, there are a few things you should consider, especially your sports brand name. Choosing a solid sports company name is crucial, especially since it will be a long-term decision and a significant marketing factor that might mean the difference between having many or few customers. Nevertheless, this is not a simple task.
Don't worry, though—we'll give you tips and real-world examples of the best sports brands for your Shopify store inspiration in this blog post to assist you in learning how to create your own sports brand name!
Let's start now.
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What Can A Good Name Tell About Your Sports Brand?
The name you choose serves as your brand's calling card. It will leave a lasting impact on your clients and serve as a touchstone for them to recognize you and decide whether to make a purchase from your sports brand.
The first thing customers notice
Your first impression on potential consumers is shaped by your business name. A company can make a stronger first impression on potential clients by choosing names that provoke a positive mood (Ketnipz, Rainbow Vision, etc) or an image of professionalism (Rothy’s, Hiut Denim Co., etc)
Your brand’s representation
Your sports business name could describe the things you sell as well as your business's mission considering the terms you employ to define the product and the quality of the customer service. In addition to reflecting your brand's vision, target audience, and guiding concept for brand identification, a good name communicates your business's mission and values.
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Names can have power.
It is unquestionably true that your brand may be made or broken by its name. In a nutshell, you might also say that a brand name has the weight to influence, which will support the development of a consistent brand image.
Applicable Tips For Creating Sports Brand Name Ideas
Remember the characteristics of the best sports brand names
These characteristics below are the most common ones that you have to keep in mind when it comes to naming a sports business.
- Attractive: In order to distinguish yourself from other competitors, your sports brand name should be catchy and grab the attention of your target audience at first glance. (i.e: Fitbit)
- Emotional: Your use of sports names with emotional connotations will make it simpler for you to relate to your audience and can assist them in determining the tone of your brand. (i.e: Women’s Best)
- Short and easy to remember: It's best to avoid using too long or complicated sports names because short and simple names are simpler to recall after hearing. (i.e: Alphalete)
- Themes: Your sports brand name should also make a hint as to what it will be about; in other words, the name must be connected to the subject matter of your e-commerce business. (i.e: Gymshark)
Begin with brainstorming the ideas first
- Make a list of words that describe your sector of the sports industry.
Use Google to conduct a search to find even more name ideas and word suggestions. Identifying your competitors and gaining inspiration from their strategies, keep an eye out for and evaluate the names of other sports businesses with themes that are similar to yours.
- Next, come up with a few catchy phrases that connect to your niche.
- Try modifying the words by adding your name.
- Make a final list of appealing words and begin your exploration. Adjectives that describe your target audience may be included in the list.
Be mindful of aesthetics
Finding a name that looks good is crucial because few other forms of outerwear permit a brand's name to be printed on each individual item. The most aesthetically beautiful words are those with two to three syllables because they have a sense of symmetry. If you decide on a sports company name that consists of several words, try to come up with a combination that may be shortened or used as an abbreviation.
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Be direct and clear
In athletics, it's critical to let your audience know what your intentions are. Make it clear that you're a producer of sportswear or sports apparel; however, there's no need to box yourself in if you intend to later branch out into other markets. Your brand's mission can be stated right away by incorporating words related to fitness, such as "performance," "athletics," or "sport," into your company name.
Make sure potential clients don't have to search too far to find what your Shopify store has to offer. They should be able to figure out what you can provide just by reading your name.
Give yourself room to expand
Just because you currently sell football gear doesn't mean you won't, later on, want to look into other football-related clothing. If you plan to expand, use an indirect allusion to refer to your preferred sport rather than stating the brand name directly (such as "Pitch Crew"). As for your business growth, you will have the freedom to experiment with other athletic styles since your audience will be able to immediately relate your product to its intended setting.
Take SEO into account when naming your sports business
Make sure your sports business name has some sort of SEO factor when you choose it. Ensure positive Google results in the SERPs for location and specific names of locations where you offer products or services, strong local SEO based in the US includes sales, general rating of sites, and site upkeep. Learn how to use local SEO to target your city's residents. If you are doing business in a city, you must be optimized for that area. As a result, your brand will be simpler to find on both social media and search engines.
Nurture your ideal customer
Find the kind of individuals that will be interested in your brand specifically since you probably already know them. For instance, when designing sportswear for amateur athletes, avoid using words that sound confrontational or performance-focused. On the other hand, trying to appeal to their sense of competitiveness can be a superb point of connection if your sportswear brand is targeted at those who are more experienced—for example, bodybuilders or long-distance runners.
Don’t hesitate to ask people around you for feedback
When you are coming up with a desirable Shopify sports business name, do not be afraid to gather opinions from others. Have enough self-assurance to compare it to other ideas and see how it fits with other players in your industry. Be sure to choose a name that you can support and convince everyone else to support as well.
5 Free Sports Brand Name Generator
Shopify Business Name Generator
Sports Brand Name Ideas Generator is a sub-tool from Shopify Business Name Generator. This tool allows users to search for business names to select or inspire from and check domain availability instantly. The usage is very simple with only 3 steps:
- Enter a query and click 'Generate names'.
- Choose the name you want from 100 results and click the arrow on the right of that name.
- Fill in the information to reserve your Shopify sports business name.
However, in our opinion, the results are not always all creative, but since it’s free, you can give it a go to get some more ideas.
Shop Name Ideas By PageFly
Shop Name Ideas By PageFly is a clever tool to get inspiration with innovative and one-of-a-kind online business name ideas that complement your brand's mission and main offering. Unlike the other tools mentioned in this section, instead of generating brand name ideas that include the keywords you entered to choose from, this tool’s results are the top 20 sports brand names (of real stores) for you to gain ideas and get inspired by their stories.
All you have to do is choose the industry you want to launch and/or sub-industry (to be more precise) and click ‘Generate shop name”, voilà!
Business Name Generator & Ideas
Business Name Generator is an AI-based business name generator. You just need to enter all the sporty keywords you want and it will give you tons of names having those keywords. You can also filter one or two-syllable names with rhyme or not. When you get the ideas you want, save them for further research by starring them, or instantly pick them and check the domain availability.
The tool is free, so the more options we’ll have, the more ideas we’ll get, right?
Namelix Business Name Generator
Namelix Business Name Generator is actually a fascinating one. It still works by AI and keywords, however, there is a perk about it. After entering the keywords you want and clicking ‘Generate’, it will give you the options to choose about name style (Compound, non-english, brandable,etc.), randomness, and brand info (Business description). This layered filter helps the results come out more precisely.
Furthermore, as you can see from the image below, it even has the logo design for each name and we can edit them. But of course, the logo stuff is not free.
4 Brilliant Examples Of Sports Brands’ Names For Your Inspiration
Nike
Few people are aware of the unique meaning behind the word Nike, although it is one of the most well-known sportswear brands in the world. Blue Ribbon Sports was the company's initial name until it was changed to Nike in 1978. This name is derived from mythology to honor the "Winged goddess of victory" of Ancient Greek. This name refers to the idea that winning is the ultimate objective in all sports, which makes sense given that their products are intended for athletes who want to win.
The name Nike is relatively short, straightforward, and memorable. Additionally, it is simply understood by everyone in the world, regardless of the language they speak, providing the brand's international appeal. It's a fantastic keyword because it doesn't restrict them to a certain sport and gives them the freedom to grow in the future.
Reebok
Reebok has been in the athletic goods industry market for a long time and is well-liked by a certain demographic of customers. It specializes in athletic footwear, apparel, and equipment, with a primary concentration on running gear. It was established in 1895 by Joseph William Foster in England and first produced spiked running shoes. A sibling business called "Reebok" was founded in 1958 by two of the founder's grandsons, Jeff and Joe Foster. The word refers to a particular species of African antelope called a grey rhebok. Given that this animal symbolizes grace and speed, the name makes perfect sense.
Puma
Puma is a word that brings to mind images of power and speed. Instead of a brand name that merely reminds people of shoes, this makes it easier for the audience to relate to these symbolic themes.
Reebok and Puma both go through the same naming process, but Puma's name is considerably more obvious. They named Puma after a sizable mountain animal called Puma, renowned for its speed and ferocity, as one might predict. They choose it because it relates to the performance and quickness required to succeed in sports.
Due to its simplicity, Puma is a great brand name for a sports company. Puma is really simple and straightforward for a customer to understand at first hearing.
Decathlon
Decathlon is the largest sports retailer in the world. It is a great name for a sportswear company because it only has one word borrowed from the name of an Olympic competition, which makes it simple to remember. The word is also very strong and evocative, which perfectly captures the wide variety of sports and activities that are covered at the typical store.
Recently, they ran a marketing campaign for a month in three Belgian cities. Decathlon Belgium decided to change its name to "Nolhtaced," which is Decathlon spelled backward. The French sporting goods retailer believes that this action will encourage customers to engage in "reverse shopping," - which basically means that customers can resell old or unused sporting goods back to the store (even if the items sold are not from the company's brand) and be paid through Decathlon purchase vouchers (which will be valid for two years and can be spent on new equipment or other second-hand items). After that, the business will do the repairs and eventually resell the products under warranty.
This is a great illustration of how to use a brand name in marketing successfully.
How To Check Shopify’s Domain Availability
Once you have finished choosing a brand name, the next thing to do before launching your sports brand is to register a domain name. For Shopify businesses, you can check domain name availability and purchase it directly through Shopify. To check the price, authorize and buy your domain name, just enter your desired domain name in the search bar and then follow the instructions. If the name you want is already taken (the result will be shown like the pic below), Shopify will provide alternative domain names for you to consult.
With no additional costs, the domain pricing on Shopify is fairly transparent starting from $9 (The price changes according to TLDs and keywords). Your first year of domain name registration may be free, depending on the plan. The registration period for domains acquired through Shopify is one year, with the option of yearly renewal. Be mindful of the difference between the purchase price and the renewal price when calculating the costs of your domain. For Shopify, the purchase price is from $9 and the renewal price is $14 per year. The URL you selected when purchasing a domain cannot be changed once it has been registered.
You can also seek Freenom if you want to find free domain registrations. Freenom is a service that allows you to register a variety of domain names without having to pay any fees. These include the domain extensions .tk, .ml, .ga, .cf, and .gq.
Conclusion
Finding a perfect name requires effort, but it is crucial to the success of your sports business. Your brand recognition will be greatly impacted by having the right name that brings up the right associations, which will benefit your bottom line.
We hope that this article has given you some helpful ideas and creative approaches to consider when it comes to naming sports businesses. See you in the next article soon!
