We’re Shelf, a strategic naming studio based in Austin, TX.

Tell Us About Your Project

Coming up with a name you love is easy.  
Coming up with the right one? That’s harder.

Because loving a name doesn’t always mean it works. The names that sound great are often already taken, too close to an existing brand, or not built to grow with you.

That’s where Shelf comes in. We look at the full picture—where your brand is headed, whether a name can be protected, how it connects with your audience, how it reflects your tone of voice, and how it shows up in the real world.

The result is a name that doesn’t just feel right, but works hard for your brand.
Nurtume Kitchun Equip SweetBandit Tough Mother Fatco Academy ChickEase

We name brands, products, flavors, scents, and services. If it needs a name, we’re in. Taglines too.

Great names come from great strategy. We’re a small, senior team with big-agency experience, known for thoughtful brainstorming rooted in strategic briefs, target audiences, and meaningful points of difference. With a background in full-service branding, we create names that can you can build a whole brand around.

FOOD & BEV

Sweet Bandit®

FOOD & BEV

Kitchun®

FOOD & BEV

Chickease®

FAMILY & PET

A-Game® for Academy Sports

So how does it work?

Here's our naming process.

1
Develop Your Naming Strategy
It starts with a conversation. We sit down with founders and teams to understand where you are and where you want to go. From there, we dig into how your business fits into the market, we study the landscape, and we synthesize everything into a clear brand personality, tone of voice, target audience, and ownable points of difference. This strategic foundation guides every name we create.
Deliverables:
  1. Discovery Findings
  2. Naming Brief
2
Let’s Get Naming
Next comes brainstorming. Through an iterative process, we generate, refine, and pressure-test name ideas while running desktop and USPTO searches along the way. We’re thoughtful and thorough—considering every option carefully and holding each name to a high standard. It’s where strategy meets creative momentum.
Deliverables:
  1. Naming Presentation Round 1
  2. Naming Presentation Round 2 (if needed)
Learn More
3
Time to Get Your Lawyer(s) Involved
While we get names most of the way there, your trademark attorney takes a deeper look—reviewing trademark classes, future intent, and planned national vs. international use to determine true availability. Once you’ve landed on a name, they’ll also help you file and protect it properly.
Deliverables:
  1. (2-4) names to hand off to your attorney for vetting availability
4
Consumer Gut Check!
Love isn’t enough. After legal vetting narrows the list, we help put names in front of consumers/clients to see what truly clicks. Internal favorites don’t always translate in the real world, and your audience will tell you what works. This can look like an online survey or in-person/virtual focus groups.
Deliverables:
  1. Prepare and conduct online survey or focus group
  2. Survey or focus group results
  3. Our final recommendation
5
Turn Your Name Into a Brand
Once you have your name, you’ll need a brand—which may include logo identity, brand messaging, social media, website, marketing & digital collateral, and possibly packaging. Head over to our sister site, Shelf Studio to see how we bring brands fully to life.

Our Packages and Pricing

Naming LIGHT

  • 1.5–2 Weeks / 2 Writers
  • Discovery
  • Name Development (Service, Brand, Product, Flavor, or Scent)
  • Trademark & URL Availability Screening
  • 2 Presentations of up to 6 Name Concepts with Supporting Stories and Mockups Including Naming Rationale & Typeset Name Mockup 


*Consumer Testing Separate (Online Survey or Focus Groups)

$4-8K

Naming FULL

  • 3–4 Weeks / 4 Writers
  • Discovery
  • Name Development (Service, Brand, Product, Flavor, or Scent)
  • Trademark & URL Availability Screening
  • 2 Presentations of up to 8 Name Concepts with Supporting Stories and Mockups Including Naming Rationale & Typeset Name Mockup


*Consumer Testing Separate (Online Survey or Focus Groups)  

$8-12K

Consumer Testing

OPTION 1: Online Survey

    • 1 Week
    • Testing Questionnaire Development
    • Upload Questions/Visuals to Digital Platform
    • Analysis Presentation + Results Deck
$600-2K

OPTION 2:Moderated Zoom Focus Groups

    • 1-2 Groups (TBD)
    • Testing Questionnaire Development & Deck
    • Consumer Recruitment Support 
(7–8 Participants per Group)
    • Zoom Session Recordings
    • Analysis Presentation + Results Deck
$6K-10K

Tagline

  • 1–2 Weeks / 2 Writers
  • Discovery
  • Tagline Development
  • Trademark & URL Availability Screening
  • 2 Presentations of up to 6 Tagline Concepts with Supporting Rationale & Typeset Mockups
$3-6K

We can meet you where you’re at with your budget. We do this in a few ways: number of writers on the project, the number of conceptual names delivered, the number of presentation rounds. 


*Client Responsible for ALL Legal Support.

Ready to Work With Us?

What our client's have to say.

I have nothing but good things to say about my experience working with SHELF studio! Alison and her team were such a joy to work with!

The naming was short, succinct and memorable. This allowed it to be welcomed by retailers, and easily adopted with no spelling issues. I never had to spell it out, but I did constantly have to explain it, just because it was such a strange concept...but I always welcomed that discussion because it provided an easy segue into educating someone about the brand!


Cassy Burnvoth,

Founder & CEO

FATCO

Shelf Studio helped us create a new name, new brand Identity, and new packaging look for our backyard sports brand, A-Game. The result was well received by our customers. Since then, we’ve expanded and added many products to the brand.

We chose Shelf Studio, a boutique shop, because we wanted direct dialogue around our needs and to avoid the big agency bureaucracy. The process was much more efficient, and we achieved excellent results faster than we would have going through a large agency. Shelf shared our passion for creating the best outdoor sports game experience.

Charles Leung,

Packaging Design Manager,

Academy Sports + Outdoors

Shelf has been an amazing branding partner, working with us since launch. During the decade that NurturMe spent on shelves, we grew the brand into a multi-million dollar business, expanded into 1,000+ stores nationwide, developed 20+ SKUs within the product family, and received numerous awards & accolades. The branding that began at Shelf contributed to all of those accomplishments.We always received compliments on our branding, from retailers, customers, and investors alike.

As we have grown into a nationally distributed brand, they have supported us with naming, logo and pack design (launching over 20 products), web design, expo booth design, marketing, and print materials, and much more. Their creativity and style are top-notch!

Caroline Freedman &

Lauren De La Rosa,

Co-Founders NurturMe

Ready for your name to stand out from the pack?

Tell us about the product or service you’re trying to name.

Stay connected.

A few times a year, we share how we work—from our process and best practices to client projects we're proud of. And hey, sometimes it's just nice to pop in and say hello.
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