Last Updated on October 13, 2020
Considering there are so many candle companies in the market, it’s no surprise settling on a unique name when starting a candle business is no easy task.
Picking the right name gives potential customers an idea about the products your business provides, creates a good first impression, and helps you stand out from the competition.
What candle company names are you allowed to use? How do you come up with something the represents your brand best? And what about small business name best practices?
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If you’re not sure how to answer those questions, you’re in the right place. Keep reading to learn my top tips for choosing the perfect business name and how to make sure your favorite choices are available.
Let’s dive in!
Tips for Choosing the Perfect Candle Company Name
If you’re struggling to choose a creative name for your candle company, one of the best things to do is just to start brainstorming. As you go through the tips outlined below, make a list of words, phrases, and terms associated with your business.
From there, you can narrow down the list and cross off ideas you don’t like.
Once you have several top considerations, we’ll walk through how to make sure you’re allowed to use them. This last step helps you narrow down your list even more so you can make a final decision.
1. Location-Specific Terms
Some candle companies are specific to a geographic service area. So, if that’s true for your business, consider adding a location-specific term to your business name.
You can consider things like:
- City nicknames
- Neighborhoods
- Regions or states
- And descriptive terms
However, consider what happens if you expand outside your intended service area. Does the name become limiting? If so, it’s best to avoid it if you plan to expand or change directions later.
2. Avoid Business Names That Are Hard to Pronounce, Hear, or Spell
Despite the technological advances of voice search, assistants like Siri and Alexa struggle to understand slang and other confusing words.
This could limit how often your business shows up in voice (and text-based) search if your name is hard to spell, pronounce, or hear. Because of that, it’s important to avoid complicated words, industry jargon, and using numbers in place of letters. While having a unique candle business name is good, being too unique may not be so good.
Keep your business name as simple and easy to remember as possible so potential customers can easily find you.
3. Consider Alliterations and Rhyming Words
Alliterations and rhymes are catchy and easy to remember. Because of that, they make for great business names.
That said, it’s not always easy to come up with them. Start with choosing a few of your favorite words from your master brainstorm list.
Then, you can Google “words that start with W” to come up with a name like Wax Works or S for Sensuous Smells or whatever letter you’re using to create an alliteration. Alternatively, you can search “words that rhyme with _____.”
It can be time-consuming, but it’s an excellent place to start.
And don’t forget to add any exciting finds to your brainstorm list while you’re at it. Try not to overthink the names you come up with. Just write them all down as some of the more interesting ones may spark better ideas later.
4. Steer Clear of Initials or Obscure Acronyms
Initials and unusual acronyms are hard to remember, so they typically don’t make great business names. They can also be challenging to pronounce and confusing for voice search as well.
Furthermore, there are 325 different two-letter combination possibilities in the English language. And the odds of your customers remembering the specific letters you chose are pretty small.
5. Imagery Words
When brainstorming name ideas, there are industry-related words that could also lend themselves to being a great brand name and logo. For instance, a candle company could use a candle or flame and focus the name around the image.
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6. Try the Owner’s Name
If you’ve made it this far and are still struggling to find the best name, you can always consider using the business owner’s name or name of an important family member. Doing so works well if the owner also plans to be the face behind the business.
Something to keep in mind is that using the owner’s name as the business name can make it more challenging to sell the business in the future.
7. Look at the Names of Other Candle Businesses
Here is a list of candle company names from existing business names that may help give you some catchy name ideas. While many of these names may be available for you to use, be sure to check first to be sure it can be used.
Tips on how to check business name availability are after the list of names!
- 1203 Candle Co
- 2 Candles Burning
- 69 Wicked Scents Candles
- 7th Street Candle Co
- A Frangrance Of Heaven Candles
- Agape Candles
- Almost Edible Gourmet Candles
- Amarillo Candle Co
- Ambient Glow Candles
- American Candle Factory
- Anchor Hill Candle Co
- Aroma Candle Shop
- Aroma Flame Candles
- Autumn Mist Candle Creations
- Bad Candle Co
- Bay Ridge Candle Co
- Beeswax Candle Studio
- Bella Candle Factory
- Birthday Candles For Kids
- Bits & Wicks Candle Co
- Black Top Candles
- Blow Out The Candles
- Blue Flame Candles
- Bluff Mountain Candles
- Botanicandles
- Bougie Candle Co
- Bow & Arrow Candle Co
- Bright Scents
- Burn Out Candle Co
- California Candle Studio
- Cameo Classic Candles
- Candle & Soap Central
- Candle Carvers
- Candle Co Of Texas
- Candle Crush Studio
- Candle Fire
- Candle For You
- Candle Moments
- Candle Nook
- Candle Pier Co
- Candle Studio
- Candlelit Candle Co
- Candles & Melts
- Candles & Such
- Candles By Kahlil
- Candles Relax Me
- Chic Illuminations Candle Co
- Coastal Lights Candle Co
- Colorful Candles
- Cosmic Candle Co
- Cotton Wick Candles
- Country Cowboy Candles
- Country Scents Candles
- Covered Bridge Candle
- Crave Candle Co
- Crazy Bear Candle Co
- Created Energy Candles
- Creative Candles
- Custom Candle Creations By Kim
- Desert Park Candles
- Dream Work Candles
- Eastern Shore Candles
- Faith Hope & Love Candle Co
- Flambeaux Candle Co
- Flickerwix
- Fliquor Candles
- Florida Candles
- Full Moon Candle Co
- Fusion Scents
- Gillmore Candle Shoppe
- Girlfriends Candle Co
- Glimmer Of Hope Candles
- Gluttony Candles
- God & Country Candles
- Golden Bee Candleworks
- Good Heart Candle Co
- Good Spirits Candle Co
- Gulf Coast Candle Co
- Happy Lily Soy Candle Co
- Happy Place Candle Co
- Have A Candle
- Healthy Habits Candle Co
- Heavenly Glow Candles
- Hippy Wick Chick
- Holy Cross Candle Co
- Homefront Candles
- Homespun Candle Co
- House Of Candles
- Just Because Candle Closet
- Just Make Scents Candles & Gifts
- Kandlestix Of Atlanta
- Kansas Earth & Sky Candle
- Keep It Lit Candles & Designs
- Kelley’s Quality Candles
- Kentucky Girl Candles
- Knox’s Favorite Candle Co
- Life Scents Candle Co
- Lifted Light Candle
- Light Of Mine Rock Candles
- Lighthouse Candleworks
- Lit Candles
- Little Sun Candle Co
- Little Torch Candle Co
- Lotus Soy Candles
- Lowcntry Candles N More
- Lucky Dog Candles
- Malicious Women Candle Co
- Melt Candle Co
- Merry Candles
- Midnight Oil Candle Co
- Mom’s Homemade Candles
- Moody Candle Co
- Moving Flame Candles
- Mystic Candles & More
- Nature’s Glow Candles
- New Orleans Bontanical Candle
- North Carolina Candle Outlet
- Oaklawn Candle Shop
- Olde Towne Candle Co
- Orange Blossom Candle Co
- Orchard Candles
- Outside The Box Candle Shop
- Pacific Candle Co
- Paddywax Candle Bar
- Panhandle Candles
- Peace & Light Candle Co
- Positive Aroma Candles
- Prairie Girl Candle Co
- Prime Candles
- Pure Health Candles
- Refresh Candle Co
- Renu Candle Co
- Rustic Heart Candles
- Scenic Route Candle Co
- Sierra Princess Candle Co
- Simple Soy Candle Co
- Soul Good Naturals
- Southern California Candle
- Southern Lights Scented Candle
- Southern Peach Candle Co
- Southern Porch Scents
- Soy Candles By Tasha
- Soyciety Candles
- Star Light Candle
- Stella Love Candles
- Succulent Candle Co
- Sugar’s Candle Co
- Sunday Dinner Candle Co
- Supreme Lights Candle
- Surprise Me Candles
- Sword & Crown Candle Co
- Texas Wicks Candle Co
- Truly Haute Candles
- Twisted Wix Candle Co
- Urban Wax Candles
- Vivid Aromas
- Wax Coast Candles
- Waxaholic Candles
- We Make Scents
- White Dove Candles
- Wick & Wine Candle Co
- Wicky Wax Candle Studio
- Wixology Candle Co
- Yo Soy Candle
- Zany Candle Creations
Checking the Availability of Your Top Considerations
At this point, you should have several top considerations to choose from. And the best way to narrow it down further is to check each one for availability.
This step is vital because using a name that someone else is using could be very costly, time-consuming to rebrand your business, and possibly embarrassing. There are several places to look to check whether a name is available to use, so let’s walk through each one.
Trademark Search
Trademarks are the most critical, so we’ll start here.
If a name or phrase is trademarked, you’re not allowed to use it in a similar capacity. So, run a trademark search for each business name you’re considering and cross off those that aren’t available.
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Local Search
Just because there isn’t a federal trademark on a name doesn’t mean the name you want is available. That’s because there is a trademark known as a common law trademark. A common law trademark isn’t filed anywhere but provides someone who uses that name in commerce some limited rights in their geographical area to use the name. It can be hard to define how far geographically these rights extend as each industry is different. Still, at a basic level, someone can’t open a business and name it the same or similar name as a competing business in town. If you think the name could potentially create confusion with customers, it is usually best to just find another one to use to avoid potential legal issues down the road.
To do a local search, open up the phone book (if you still have one), and do a Google search to see if there are any local competitors with a similar business name to the one you want to use.
Cross off any similar names from your list and take the rest and let’s keep checking.
State Entity Search (If Applicable)
If you plan to register your candle company as a corporation or LLC, you must register with a unique business name. Each state requires every corporation or LLC to register a unique name for their entity. This doesn’t necessarily protect your name from anyone else using it, but nobody can register a corporation or LLC under the same name in your state.
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If you find the name is in use, cross it off your list and move on.
Domain Name Availability
Website addresses aren’t as critical as the first three searches, but it’s still worth doing. Typically, you want your domain name to be “yourbusinessname.com” without any numbers, dashes, etc.
It’s easiest for customers to remember, but these are hard to come by.
However, you can explore other configurations and extensions if your preferred domain name isn’t available. Just remember your customers may have a more difficult time finding you online.
You can start with . Type in the domain name you want to use to see if it’s available. The tool also returns other possibilities you may want to consider.
Social Media Profiles
Next, especially if you are stuck between a couple of names, check and see if anyone is already using your potential candle company names on social media. Consider which platforms you plan to use and start with those.
Keep in mind a long name may not work, so you may have to shorten your company name for some platforms. Twitter only allows 15 characters, for example.
Start with your preferred platforms and do a quick search for your name. If nothing pops up, that likely means no one is using it, and you’re good to go.
Example: Someone is using startingyourbusiness on Instagram, so I would have to choose a different handle, making it more difficult for customers to find me.
Vanity Phone Number
An inexpensive way to make your business stick out and is easier for your customers to remember is to get a custom phone number with your business name. How much more of a memorable name would you have if the phone number was 814-8CA-NDLE? These numbers are affordable, too, with pricing typically around $10-$25 per month, depending on the level of features you need.
Companies like and let you type in words to see if a local or toll-free number is available quickly.
Hopefully, you now have some great candle business name ideas. 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 perfect candle company name!
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