A good name is available, sayable, and wide enough to hold the company you plan to become.
Naming fails in two directions. Too descriptive and you box yourself in — a name that specifies a single service becomes a liability the moment you add a second. Too abstract and you spend years, and considerable marketing budget, teaching the market what you do.
We work between those poles. The name carries the character; the descriptor carries the clarity. "Rozi Studios — Strategy. Branding. Digital. Marketing." is the whole pattern in one line, and it lets the descriptor evolve without touching the name.
Four filters we apply to every candidate. Sayable: a stranger can spell it after hearing it once on a phone call. Ownable: a clear .ca or .com is realistically obtainable and the handles are not badly compromised. Clearable: it survives a Canadian trademark search in the relevant classes, which is a legal check, not a design opinion. Durable: it still fits after you add a service line, a second city, or a larger class of client.
Test names in use rather than on a list. Say it as a voicemail greeting. Set it as a wordmark at signage scale. Put it in an email signature and a sentence a client would actually say when referring you. Names that survive that treatment survive the market.
Two Canadian specifics worth planning for. If you serve Quebec or federal clients, check how the name reads in French before you commit. And secure the .ca alongside the .com — for local trust, the .ca often does more work than owners expect.
Finally, expect to fall out of love with the shortlist. Every good name feels arbitrary for about two weeks and then becomes obvious. The names that feel exciting immediately are usually trend-shaped, and trends date faster than businesses do.