How I use AI in naming

Like any other reference point, AI is a useful springboard. Yes, I use it, despite its love affair with the em-dash. It helps me think bigger, more tangentially and to rule out dud ideas. All very essential to the naming process. So, let’s break it down.

I love a good tangent

Tangents are important. I love it when AI hallucinates. It’s scarily like our own brains and those unexpected trains of thought are often juicy and fruitful. If you’re brainstorming with AI, go for it, just remember to edit with an eagle eye. Or make this your mantra:

“Write drunk. Edit Sober”

—Supposedly Hemingway

Prompts are key

You’ve heard it before, but work on your prompts. Quality in, quality out. Your prompt is essentially your brief. Us creatives love a good brief, but we always layer it with our own experience and intuition, and the same applies to AI prompts. Your lived experience is what separates you from AI, so use it. It’s what makes you valuable.

AI as your harshest critic

I also enjoy using AI to poke holes in my thinking. It’s not natural for AI to not be an echo chamber of approval, but it makes a good sparring partner when prompted. Useful for narrowing down and pitching an idea, because knowing the potential pitfalls of a name is powerful when presenting.

Side note: you won’t find me using AI for linguistic checks or availability searches, though. Too many nuances – you need to go to the source for that.

Where do I get my naming ideas from?

Hard to say, but they often come to me when I’m driving. Like New North, a new style economic advisory, and Threefold, a thermal building solutions firm built around three core specialities. Popped into my head when I was driving. My point is, these names were the result of the journey I’d been on. Research, reading, thinking. It’s like the creative side of my brain is free to think while the left side of my brain is concentrating on the road.

So whilst it’s hard to pinpoint exactly where they come from, they’re the result of the creative thinking journey.

Creative thinking vs. AI generation

That says it all. If it’s creative thinking you’re after, don’t start with generative content. Start where you’re invited to think, not where your thinking is replaced. I love the printed word. I have a thing for reference books (Schott’s Miscellany anyone?), magazines, packaging, quirky signs and being curious in the real world. For me, it’s the writing, design, and imagery that inspire new ideas and my own experience that I bring to it. This is fodder for creative thinking and at the moment, something AI can’t replace.

Ideas come from the journey

Some might say this is more authentic than using AI, but here’s the thing: they’re all out there. They all already exist, so you could argue it’s no better than AI because it’s scraping existing ideas. The difference is, where you choose to start – real world vs. AI – will determine where your imagination goes. And ideas come from the journey, so where you start matters.

So, embrace AI and keep noticing what’s around you. Both valid springboards, but in the end, you have to think your way through it and bring your own experience to each project. It’s your human experience, intuition, and nuance that can’t be artificially generated. They’re what make you a creative naming beast. And we’re here to stay!

Yours,

Unashamedly human.