Naming a residence: how a development finds its name
A development’s name goes on the hoarding, the sales book, the contracts and, eventually, the doorbell. It will outlive the launch campaign by decades, which is why it deserves more than an afternoon.
Start with what the name must do
Before anyone suggests a word, write down the jobs the name has to do. Most residential names have four: to be easy to say for buyers in every market you sell to, to sit well on a façade and on a letter, to be free to register and use online, and to feel right long after the last apartment is sold and the building belongs to its residents.
Then write down what the name must not do. It should not promise a view the building does not have, borrow a landmark it is not near, or sound like the development across the road.
Three places names come from
- The site. An old field name, the street’s earlier name, a tree, a stone, a family who once lived there. These names carry a story that buyers can repeat to their friends.
- The architecture. A form, a material or a gesture of the building: a loggia, a courtyard, a colonnade. Concrete and honest, as long as the building really has it.
- An idea. A coined or borrowed word that holds the feeling of living there. The hardest kind to get right, and the easiest to protect.
Test it out loud
Say each name on the shortlist in every language you sell in: on the telephone, as a postal address and in the sentence a resident would use: “we live at…”. Ask native speakers what it sounds like and whether it means anything unfortunate. A name that has to be spelled out on every call costs the sales team time for years.
Check before you fall in love
- Search the trademark registers in the classes that matter: real estate, and anything the name might later extend to, such as a residents’ club, a spa or a restaurant.
- Check the domain and the main social handles, and whether a close variation already belongs to a competitor.
- Search the area: other buildings, restaurants, agencies. Two buildings with the same name in one town confuse couriers and buyers alike.
- Ask a lawyer to confirm before the name appears on anything printed.
Give the name a family
A good name opens a small vocabulary: names for the buildings, the gardens, the residence types and the shared spaces. Plan that family of words at the same time as the name, so the sales book, the signage and the website speak the same language from the first day.
Naming and positioning are part of the studio’s brand strategy work. See brand strategy & positioning.
