The decision of what to name a YouTube channel is a tough one. Creators don’t want a name that is too cutesy, but they also don’t want one that will dampen the mood. Luckily, choosing the perfect name for your new YouTube channel is a lot easier than you are making it out to be.
Choosing the best name for a YouTube channel includes identifying the content, style, focus, goals, etc. of the channel. Try to avoid names that will distract or confuse viewers in any way. Apart from being unique, the name should be clear, simple, and easily communicable.
Below, we will discuss several tips and tricks to help you determine the perfect name for your YouTube channel.
How To Pick a Name For Your YouTube Channel
There are a lot of ways to go about choosing a name for a YouTube channel, which is perfect, because everybody is a little bit different, and each process works better for different people. With that said, though, there are a few tried-and-true methods that successful YouTube creators swear by.
YouTube channel names should be these three things: simple, clear, and easily communicable. Long names aren’t easy to remember. Tricky words like antidisestablishmentarianism, and even slightly simpler words like phenomenon, are not words that most people know. Even if your YouTube channel is about spelling or vocabulary, your channel name isn’t the place to prove that you know your stuff- your content is.
Make A List of Content that Your Channel Will Be About
First, make a list of all the content that you’ll create on your YouTube channel. For example, a spelling and vocabulary channel would list spelling drills, vocabulary introductions, spelling tests, how to memorize spellings, mnemonic devices… The list could go on for a while.
Also ask yourself other questions, like what field/industry are you communicating to? How broad or focused will your content be? What style do you want to maintain? Asking yourself questions like these will help you narrow down options for your channel’s name. For example, if the Scripps National Spelling Bee didn’t have a YouTube channel, and they were going to make one, they wouldn’t want their channel’s name to be something as vague as Spelling Whiz.
After you have your list of content ideas, fields, and industries you want to target, the broadness of your content, and your style, you can start to nail down your goals as a creator.
Get Clear On Your End Goal
Becoming clear on your end goal is essential to creating a successful YouTube channel, even if it’s something as simple as having fun.
If you’re having trouble figuring out what your end goal is, try asking yourself questions like these:
- Are you trying to build a business that will eventually have more people than just you?
- Are you trying to build a personal brand?
- Will you want to sell your YouTube channel eventually?
Can you see how, when you asked yourself these questions, it helped you figure out what names would be better? For example, if you’re planning on selling your channel at some point, you don’t want your channel’s name to just be your name. On the other hand, making your name the name of your channel is perfect if you’re trying to build a personal brand.
List Existing Channels That You Like The Name Of
If you’re still having trouble thinking of a name, or even if you have some ideas for yours, look through YouTube channels that you love to watch. What do you like about their names? Do you like the alliterations? Do you like that it rhymes? Do you like the words they used? Do you like the style of their name?
Asking yourself questions like these when you’re scrolling through YouTube is a great way to get ideas for what you want in your own YouTube channel. Obviously, you shouldn’t copy someone else’s work, or try to steal their channel’s name, but if you need to model your channel off of the basics of someone else’s while you get started, that’s okay.
List All Words That Describe Your Topic and Approach
Remember when you listed all the content that you want to create on your channel? List the words that describe this content or topic. For that hypothetical spelling and vocabulary that we were discussing, one would list words like spelling, vocabulary, memorization, memorizing, speech, definition, thesaurus, dictionary, origins of words, sentences, spelling tests, and more.
Using a thesaurus or just completing a short Google search is a great method to use to discover new words that relate to some that you might think are overused, or just don’t quite have the effect you want. When you’re using these tools, though, make sure to check the words’ dictionary definitions to ensure that they mean what you are hoping they mean.
An easy way to keep track of these words is to make a spreadsheet on Microsoft Excel or Google. Use one column for the related words, and then another for the approach words. Do you want your approach to be keeping it simple? Do you want to approach the fundamentals of the topic? What is your approach to your content going to be?
Choose Your Name
After you’ve done this, you have all the pieces to create your YouTube channel’s name. Start combining the words you’ve come up with, and make tons of combinations! Make sure to experiment, and have fun with it. Then, when you find one you like, ask yourself these questions:
- Is the topic easily recognizable?
- Is this name already taken on social media, website domains, or URLS? (use Namechk to check this)
- Is this name easily communicable (easy to spell, easy to say, concise)?
- Are there unnecessary numbers in the name?
- Does it limit you or your content too much?
Remember, you can always change your name later, so don’t procrastinate the decision for too long! The most important thing about the process is starting your channel.
