What to Name Business

[littlered03]

I have been racking my brain for a week now, trying to come up with a name for my photography business. I so badly want to create my website, make business cards, and get the ball rolling, which I cannot completely do without a name.

I am newly married, and though I love my husband and do not mind my last name, it is Laotian and very hard to pronounce and spell. It is Syhakhoun (pronounced See-ha-koon). My maiden name isn't any better - it's German and everyone thinks it's pronounced "reek" (but it's supposed be pronounced "rick") which is the opposite of the image I want my business to have. My first name is Sarah. My middle name is Ann. It's about the most generic first and middle name a person could have. I have never really liked it because I'm all for original names (and now I see why for business purposes), but it is my name and I don't want to change it for a business. I have looked up every combination of my name: Sarah S Photography, SAS Photography, SS Photography, S&S Photography (my husband's name is an S name too so we are just full of S's), Sarah Ann Photography, and everything is taken. I don't want anything someone else has because then it becomes harder to search for me. I am hesitant to use Sarah Syhakhoun because of search purposes - what are your thoughts?

Also, I thought of doing a creative name (which is hard to think of), but I came up with Spun Gold Photography because my hair is a light red and my mom used to tell me it looks like Spun Gold. A few people I talked to didn't know what spun gold is, but I do like the positive connotations nonetheless. It reminds me of the sun and golden light which is what I aim for in much of my photography. I'm hesitant to go with a creative name, however, because I may change my direction one day and it may not fit.

My other thought was to combine my name with another name. I thought of Sarah June Photography because June is my birth month and I also love Sarah Rae which will be one of our children's middle names when we eventually have kids. I just really want to stay true to myself and be authentic, which I feel this kind of name will not do, but I'm willing to hear people's responses.

I would greatly appreciate any help! Thank you!

[Niresangwa]

Originally Posted by littlered03

SS Photography

While this may get you a lot of inadvertent traffic, I'm not sure you really want to be associated with it...

Just make sure whatever you choose it's easy to remember, available enough to get a clean URL, and that it suits your brand...

[dnpayne]

I had the same problem when I was creating the name for my business. I wanted something with my name, but I was trying to get a direct URL to match. Thats hard to do any more. I ended up with Payne Photography Studio. I don't really like the studio on there per say, but it worked for the web URL.

Sarah Ann Photography sounds good. What about Photography by Sarah?

[littlered03]

Thank you for the suggestions! I love Sarah Ann, but it's taken as both Sarah Ann Photography and Sarah Ann Photo. I don't want to add Studio to the title because I don't have a studio (yet). Photography by Sarah is also taken and, to me, says nothing extra about me to make it a little more unique. Sarah is such a common name - if my name were really unique I wouldn't mind the Photography by X name.

Thank you for your input!

[jen2swt]

I like your forum name...What about Little Red's Photography?

[littlered03]

I like Little Red (I'm a short redhead), but I worry about the day when I'm not so little anymore. Plus, it makes me seem kind of childish, don't you think? I just don't want the wrong perception. If others like it though, then maybe I should consider it. It is memorable.

[Gulf Coast Girl]

Originally Posted by littlered03

Thank you for the suggestions! I love Sarah Ann, but it's taken as both Sarah Ann Photography and Sarah Ann Photo.

How would you feel about just changing up the spelling a bit.....


Sarah Anne Photography

Cerah Ann Photography


Keep your real name but just spell it differently maybe

[littlered03]

Great idea - I thought of doing Sarah Anne, but it's taken, but did think of Sarah Annie or Sarah Anna. I'm just dying to find the perfect solution and it seems by the responses that there isn't one. I just have to pick something! I'm not a huge fan of changing the spelling of my first name just because legally a first name is important and I'd like it to match what the government has on file for me.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[SierraPhotog]

Maybe I missed it above, but what kind of photography is your business focused on? What image are you trying to impress upon people when they read the name for the first time? Do you do only children's photography? Maybe Spun Gold Photography works, but if you do photojournalist style work, that name doesn't work (IMHO) at all. Just look at what you do, decide for yourself if the name will still work if you change your style in ten years, and go from there.

SteveB

[mokka]

How about shortening your last name to make it more easy to work with.

Sarah Sy
Sarah Syhak

something like that.