The Three-Word Method (for Names)
In May 2022 a New York fashion stylist, Allison Bornstein, posted a series of TikTok videos explaining what she called the three-word method for finding your personal style. Pull out the clothes you wear most often, she suggested, and identify three adjectives that describe them. Bornstein’s own three words are classic-Seventies-elegant; yours might be thrifty-edgy-whimsical or tailored-romantic-polished.
It didn’t take long for magazines like Glamour and Harper’s Bazaar — as well as fashion bloggers and Instagrammers — to take up Bornstein’s #threewordmethod challenge. It wasn’t merely a thesaurus-searching game; it was also a way to edit your existing wardrobe and shop more thoughtfully for a new one.
Why am I — not a fashion writer, definitely not a fashion influencer— telling you about this? Because the three-word method works for more than clothing. It’s also a helpful tool for developing a company or product name.
The magic lies in the number: three words. Not one, not two, and definitely not fifty. With name development as well as with fashion, too often we try to distill a brand, or a style, into a single word (too reductive) or to pile on a dozen or more adjectives (too noisy). Three turns out to be the Goldilocks number: just enough range, just enough rigor.
Three turns out to be the…
