• DISTINCTIVENESS - always important in branding.  You must standout.  Ive seen some pretty interesting names lately that have been creative with spelling - apptizr.com as an example.  This company provides a smart way to find iphone apps.
  • BREVITY - Often you want to have your brand name be your domain name.   So some brand names or company names are just too long and you are forced to have a domain that is different from your brand.  Not that good. The shorter the name the easier it is to remember.   And it fits in small spaces.
  • APPROPRIATENESS - It should reflect what you are providing.  It should remind you of what you are getting.
  • EASY SPELLING - You want people to be able to spell your name particularly when doing a Google search.
  • EASY PRONOUNCIATION - Man I hate it when I cant pronounce the brand name.
  • LIKEABILITY - If possible it should make your customer feel good.  I think medicine names have been pretty good at this.  But I think Cheetos might be a better example.
  • EXTENDABILITY - This insures that your company can extend into other categories.
  • PROTECTABILITY - You dont want your name taken from you later after you have established yourself.
  • PRINTABILITY - You have to think about where you are going to place your brand name.  It should be easily reproduced in text and on various type of swag.