Today, book sales are a nine billion-dollar business with more than19,000 bookstoresacross the United States.
Each store has a unique identity, brand, and business name. However, choosing a name for your new bookstore isn’t easy, even if you have everything else figured out. Are all the good names taken? Is the one you like available to use? Where do you start?
How do you make the final decision?
If you’re struggling to name your bookstore, don’t worry. You’re in the right place. In this article, I cover seven helpful tips for naming your new bookstore business as well as how to make sure it’s the right choice before settling on a name.
Let’s get started!
Related: How to start a bookstore
Table of Contents
7 Helpful Tips and Tricks for Naming Your Store
Coming up with good bookstore names can be hard, especially if you don’t have any ideas or a place to start. So, before you dive in, grab a piece of paper and a pen or open up a blank spreadsheet.
Then, use it as a place to brainstorm ideas and write down words or phrases that come to mind as you go through the tips below.
From there, we’ll talk about how to narrow things down and land on the perfect name.
1. Keep It as Short as Possible
Short business names are usually snappier, catchier, and easier to remember. Ideally, you want to stick to two to five syllables with no more than 25 characters total.
However, the shorter the name, the better.
With that said, there are exceptions to this and it’s not a hard rule. But, when you think about huge, notable brands, which ones come to mind?
Nike. Apple. Ikea. Febreeze. Target. Honeywell.
They’re easy to remember because they’re short, simple, and brandable.
2. Avoid Words That Are Hard to Hear and Pronounce
Voice to text and voice search is more popular now than ever before. So, it’s important to consider making your name easy to pronounce and hear.
To do this, avoid using:
- Commonly misspelled words
- Complex terms that are hard to spell
- Words that have several pronunciations
- hom*ophones like to, too, and two
Try to keep things as concise and simple as possible.
3. Consider Book-Related Terms
Since you’re opening a book store, it makes sense to use literary and book-related terms in the name, especially if you’re feeling stuck. It may help to just start brainstorming terms, phrases, and words to get all your ideas down on paper.
From there, you can cross off bad ideas or any terms you don’t like.
4. What’s Your Specialty?
Do you specialize in a particular genre or niche? Maybe you sell used books, discount books or you want to be a children’s bookstore. Perhaps you want to sell rare, unique literary works of art. Some bookstores will also have a coffee shop or gift shop, which could be incorporated into your bookstore name.
Regardless of your specialty, consider alluding to it in the name of your business.
5. Neighborhoods, Cities, and Nicknames
Including the name of your city, street, or neighborhood is an excellent way to encourage local shopping and create a strong sense of community in your area.
You can also think about nicknames for your city or neighborhood, as well. Here are some examples to use as inspiration:
- Riverside Books
- College Hill Books
- Westside Book-a-Holic
- Midtown Used Books
- South Congress Books
With that said, make sure the name you choose isn’t limiting if you decide to move or expand your bookstore down the road.
6. Tap Into Your Audience
Your target audience probably has a lot to say about books and reading in general. And you may be able to use what they’re already saying as inspiration for the name of your business.
Directly asking them is a great option, especially if you know someone you can sit down and talk with for 15 – 20 minutes. But, you can also consider looking at:
- Social media posts
- Online community forums
- Amazon book reviews
- Book-related blogs
- Comments on those blogs
It might take a bit of time and mining the internet, but even just a few unique phrases can be enough to spark an excellent idea.
7. Incorporate Your Name
If you’re still struggling to find the perfect name, consider using your name, a nickname, or something personal and unique to you.
This is a fantastic way to build a personal brand if that’s something you want to do. Some great examples of this in action, include:
- Al’s Old and New Bookstore
- Charlie’s Books
- The Book Lady
If you go this route, keep in mind it may make it harder to sell your bookstore later on.
List of Unique Bookstore Business Name Ideas
The following list has some names taken from existing bookstores that can help you generate some creative bookstore name ideas. While many of these names may be available for you to use, be sure to check first to be sure they can be used.
Tips on how to check business name availability are after the list of names!
- $1 Dollar Plus Book Shop
- A Book by It’s Cover
- A Daily Walk Bookstore
- A Pile Of Books
- Adventures In Literature
- Amazing Books
- Amber Lane Books
- Aria’s Book Nook
- Author’s Library
- Bargain Book World
- Barn Owl Books & Gifts
- Beautiful News Christian Books
- Bee Hive Book Shop
- Belmont Books
- Benchmark Books
- Beyond Book Store
- Big Apple Books
- Blue Baboon Books
- Book Attic
- Book Carden
- Book Cellar
- Book Emporium
- Book Haven
- Book Lady Bookstore
- Book Pedaler
- Book Rack
- Book Train
- Book Warehouse
- Book WERX
- Book Worm
- Booknuk
- Books & Gifts
- Books 4 Purpose
- Books Are Us
- Books Brothers
- Books Galore
- Books Of Faith
- Bookzilla
- Bound Together Bookstore
- Calvin’s Used Book Store
- Canterbury Book Store
- Capitol Books
- Catherine’s Book Corner
- Celtic Cove Catholic Bookstore
- Charm City Books
- Chronicle Books
- Coffee House Book Store
- Connie’s Bookshelf
- Constant Reader
- Corner Books
- Country Bookshelf
- Country Bookshop
- Crossroads Book
- Dancing Goat Bookshop
- Defunct Books
- Discover Books
- Dog Ear Books
- Donna’s Book Stop
- Dusty Bookshelf
- Easy Books Maui
- Eighth Day Books
- Eli The Book Guy
- Enchanted Book Box
- Ernest & Hadley Booksellers
- Escape Through Books
- Fact & Fiction Bookstore
- Fluffy Book Store
- Great Wall Bookstore
- Happy Booker
- Hartfield Book Co
- Hemingway Home Bookstore
- House of Books
- Houseful of Stories
- I Love Books
- It’s A Book Thing
- Jo Jo’s Book Barn
- Johns Creek Books & Gifts
- Ken’s Book World
- Liberty Books
- Likely Story
- Little Bookworm
- Little Read Book
- Little Shop of Books
- Lookin’ Books
- Looziana Book Co
- Melville Park Books
- Miss Juliet’s Books
- Murder,Mystery,and Mayhem Novel Paradise
- New Dominion Bookshop
- Next Step Bookstore
- Novel Idea Bookstore
- Oak Mountain Books
- Oasis Bookstore & Kaffe
- Offline Books
- Old Town Books
- Once Upon A Book
- Open Book
- Paducah Books
- Pied Piper
- Plot Twist Bookstore
- Politics & Prose
- Poseidon Books
- Purple House Books
- Quantum Storey Co
- Rainy Day Books
- Read More Books
- Red Dog Books
- River Bend Bookshop
- Roberts Street Books
- Rock Books
- Scribble & Spark Bookworks
- Second Chance Books
- Second Story
- Second Story Bookstore
- Starving For Books
- Story On The Square
- Story Shop
- Tales Retold
- Tall Tales Book Shop
- The Book Exchange
- The Book House
- The Bookworm
- The Old Curiosity Shop
- Turn The Page
- Twenty-Fifth Street Book
- Twice Read Tales
- Twice Sold Tales
- Twim Bookstore
- Walden Pond
- Walls Of Books
- Wild Geese Bookshop
- Willow Lane Books
- Windy City Books
- Word After Word Books
- Word Of Life Bookstore
- Wordsmith Bookshoppe
- Wordsworth Books
- Writer’s Block Bookstore
- Yellow Book Road
Is Your Bookstore Name Available to Use?
Can the business name be registered in your state?
If you plan to register your bookstore business name as a corporation or LLC, each state requires a unique company name.
This makes it important to search the Secretary of State’s name database in the state you plan to register to ensure your name isn’t already in use.
In most states, sole proprietorships and partnerships are required to register a Doing Business As (DBA) or Assumed Name if they aren’t doing business under the owner’s full first and last name. A few states require them to use a unique name, while others will let you pick just about any name you choose.
Related:How to check business name availability in your state
Is your business name already trademarked?
When searching for a name for your new bookstore, you need to make sure your new name isn’t trademarked by someone else. If it is, you may not be allowed to legally use it.
Thankfully the United States Patent Trademark Office (USPTO) makes trademark searching a breeze through their Trademark Database.
If your name is available and you want to protect it from being used by anyone else, you can register your name with the USPTO.
Related: How to check for a trademark
Is a domain name available with your business name?
A domain name is your business’s digital address. With so many people researching online, it’s crucial to make sure your bookstore business name is also available as a domain name.
Website addresses aren’t as critical as the first two searches, but it’s still worth doing as a domain can cost as little as $10 to pick up. Typically, you want your domain name to be “yourbusinessname.com” without any numbers, dashes, etc.
You can easily search for a domain usingNameCheap’s domain name search tool.
By now, you should have a lengthy list of words, phrases, and terms you can use in your business name. At this point, I highly recommend going through and removing any that are hard to spell or pronounce.
Now, you can start combining pieces together until something stands out. It may help to create a list of potential names you can use. From there, you can narrow things down to your favorites.
But before you make your final decision, it’s important that your new name passes a few tests.
Say It Out Loud
Make sure you say your new name out loud. It may look great as a logo, domain name, and on a business card. But, it also needs to sound good when you say it out loud.
You can also sit down with someone and talk about your business. Does saying the name in casual conversation sound natural? If not, you may want to consider something simpler or easier to say.
Logo Design
Lastly, think about how to incorporate your new name into a logo. Logos should be simple, memorable, and indicative of your brand.
Take Apple, for example. Their business name is easily incorporated into a logo. And today, it’s a household symbol that everyone immediately recognizes.
A logo is an important part of your brand identity, so don’t forget to consider turning your name into a memorable logo as you make your final decision.
Related: How to create a logo for your business
Hopefully, you now have some ideas to name yourbookstore.Once you have this list narrowed down to just a few and researched that they are all available, start asking friends, family, and potential customers their thoughts to get feedback and then pick your perfectbookstorename!
