AI has accelerated ideation and stripped away inefficiencies. Models can now generate thousands of name ideas in seconds—each tailored to a brand’s strategy, tone, industry, and identity—far beyond what human brainstorming alone can produce.
Did you know there’s no decent synonym for the word wink in English? (Yes, you can go and check.) Especially if it’s being considered as a name. That was the issue we faced about 18 years ago when my client, a global retailer, had fallen in love with the name, but we’d run into a wee trademark issue.
Around the same time, I was pitched the first real “machine” solution designed to help with naming. A fabulously moody and intellectual French mathematician had developed it, and it was being sold to me and my agency as the solution to all our naming woes. So, we gave it a challenge: find us a great alternative to Wink. Not surprisingly, it failed. It failed several other tests too, and the only conclusion we reached was that it might have some value in areas like pharma, where highly coined names rule.
That moment marked the start of many smart people trying to engineer a shortcut to brainstorming and ideation. Back then, I would’ve bet serious money that there would never be a machine capable of replicating the human brain—the creativity, intuition, and sheer patience it takes to sift through thousands of words to land on a name that truly breaks through.
ENTER ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS.
So, imagine my surprise when I found myself the Co-founder of an AI-accelerated naming agency (here comes the pitch: AKA Naming). It’s still fair to say that AI hasn’t replaced the human brain, creativity, or the persistence required to be a great namer. What it has replaced are the shelves upon shelves of language dictionaries (yes, I have been naming that long) that were eventually replaced by endless open tabs of online thesauri, language databases, and other linguistic rabbit holes that we use to inspire creative ideation on every naming project.
Instead, AI has accelerated ideation and stripped away inefficiencies. Models can now generate thousands of name ideas in seconds—each tailored to a brand’s strategy, tone, industry, and identity—far beyond what human brainstorming alone can produce.
AMPLIFYING CREATIVITY AND STREAMLINING PROCESSES.
That’s the real power: AI isn’t replacing namers; it’s amplifying them. It’s become the ultimate creative tool—one that never gets stuck, and can uncover linguistic, cultural, and conceptual connections that would take humans hours (or days) to find. Instead of rummaging through digital rabbit holes or juggling 27 open browser tabs, we can now focus our energy where it matters most: shaping, refining, and elevating ideas into names that truly resonate.
AI has become what dictionaries and language resources once were for namers—but infinitely more dynamic, contextual, and intuitive. It doesn’t just list words; it understands tone, nuance, emotion, and even market context. And beyond ideation, it’s beginning to streamline the more tedious parts of the process—like trademark checks—making them faster, more accurate, and far less expensive.
Currently, no AI solution has yet provided a suitable synonym for Wink. So I know it won’t replace namers anytime soon. What it has given us is a serious upgrade in tools. The craft is still human, but the toolkit is smarter than ever.
PS, if you’re wondering what name the retailer finally picked, all I can tell you is that it wasn’t Wink. 😉
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