When to Change a Name — and When Not to

Nancy Friedman
4 min readFeb 1, 2022
Photo by Ross Findon for Unsplash

In some ways, naming a startup is easy: you have a blank slate and nothing but potential. Renaming an established company or product can be a trickier proposition. Your customers and employees know you by the original name, and selling them on a new name can be costly, arduous, and even alienating if it isn’t done right. Remember: We all hate new names (until we don’t).

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Nancy Friedman

Writer, name developer, brand consultant, idea-ist, ex-journalist. @fritinancy on Mastodon, Instagram, Bluesky, Threads, and elsewhere.