1. Don't make up a name. It's good to be creative when considering names for your business. But don't bend the English language to a point where you're cooking up a purely ersatz title. Verizon and other big companies can get away with it because they have the muscle of name recognition. But calling your coin-operated laundry Cleanacopia, Sudsadelphia or some other like concoction is not merely confusing, but it also conveys nothing to a customer with sacks of muddy clothes and jingling quarters at the ready. "Unless you're some huge corporation, you should really stay away from made-up names," says marketing expert Kimberly McCall of McCall Media & Marketing, based in Freeport, Maine. "People may only look at it and say, 'What the heck does that mean?'"

2. Avoid forced alliteration. If your name is Smith and you sell highly seasoned breakfast foods, then Smith's Spicy Sausages may be a perfectly appropriate name. But, it's generally a good idea to avoid alliteration for the sake of alliteration. Again, unless it occurs naturally, you may confuse prospective customers about what it is you do. On top of that, alliteration can walk a fine line with the public — for every customer who finds Barney's Bagel Barn to be cute, there's likely another whose teeth clench at its very mention. The same goes for puns. What is a snappy play on words to one person can be fingernails on a blackboard to another. For example, an auto repair shop named "Oedipus Wrecks" may be poetry to some, profanity to others. On the other hand, "The Shady Lady" is quirky enough to work for a female lamp-shade dealer, though it wouldn't fly for a tax accountant or financial planner. Notes McCall: "The important thing is to get across what you do. Puns can come across as clever, but they can have a relatively short shelf life."

3. Never say "aaaaaa," or even "aaa." We've all seen this at the very front of the phone book — business after business naming itself AAA, Aaaabracadabra or something like it in hopes of elbowing its way to No. 1 in the listings. Sure, it's fine to be first but, once again, a hollow name that sacrifices information and persuasion for numerical order is likely to be a loser. "The name of my company is McCall Media & Marketing — that pretty much gives you a good clue as to what I do," McCall says. "But, had I named my business AAA Media and Marketing, people might think I was a cab company."

4. Wuorios need not apply. Close your eyes and try to spell my last name. If you're off by a few letters, don't be too bummed. (I have relatives who still don't get it right.) But my name illustrates another potential pitfall — attaching a name to a business that's difficult to spell or pronounce. Admittedly, it can be memorable in its own way — "Oh, yeah, you're the guy with the really weird last name!" — but a tricky name can often be impossible to look up in the phone book. The same holds true if you have an active Internet Web site — make certain your name is something that's likely to come up in a search, so you can hook up with prospective clients who are trying to track you down on the Web.

5. Keep it short. Unless you're a law firm with a dozen partners, it's rarely a good idea to have an unduly long name. Keeping things short and to the point makes your name easier to remember, easier to look up if need be and visually less obtrusive on everything from signs to business cards.

6. Don't limit growth. Surprisingly enough, a poorly chosen name can actually hinder your business's development. For instance, Jim's Stereo Repair might seem like a perfectly suitable name. But the trouble comes when Jimbo wants to move into televisions as well. So make sure that your name is sufficiently broad to encompass whatever direction your business may take. (For example, Jim's Electronics Repair might work much better.) And, don't fall for a trendy name or some other time-related reference whose appeal will fade with time. With apologies to Austin Powers, I don't think I'd want to be saddled with "The Groovy Nehru Jacket and Love Bead Pad" for very long. "Never put cleverness over something that's going to be steady over the long haul," McCall says. "Simple is good, solid, never trendy and is best positioned to grow with you."

7. Make sure it's for the taking. Once you've settled on a name, check to make certain you can, in fact, use it. Start by taking a look at the United States Patent and Trademark Office Web site (www.uspto.gov). To be particularly thorough, engage the services of a patent or intellectual property attorney to be absolutely certain that no one else has the legal rights to a particular name. You might be surprised to find that when you try to name your restaurant "Roadkill," that someone else in the region has beaten you to it.