Using Family Names as Brand

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Some of the greatest names in the history of commercial enterprise are nothing more than the name of the inventor or founder of the company: Ford, DuPont, Rolls-Royce, Boeing, Gillette. These mighty names have built equity over many years and have now become inseparable from the products their companies manufacture.

Unless your name is Rockefeller, Kennedy, or Armani, it probably doesn't have the same clout, and the world has changed since those genius inventors and entrepreneurs started their empires. Still, Ua lot of law firms, architectural firms, and engineering firms go this traditional naming route. The danger? Being lost in a sea of commas and ampersands - Bradley, Cooper, Dickson, Gallagher, & Meredith; Harroldson, McKinley, Foster, Josephs, & Zelunka; etc., etc., & etc.

An important exception occurs when an unusual family name, whose very strangeness or humor makes it stand out, gives you an angle with which to differentiate yourself - e.g., Orville Redenbacher, Smucker's, Reese's Pieces.

Our rule of thumb: don't use your own name, unless there's a really good reason to do so.