If you are rebranding your business or starting a new brand, there is something relatively new you should consider for your brand positioning.
That is, how do LLMs see your brand?
Below are some examples of large and small one-word brands that do well in LLM results (Google AI Mode, ChatGPT) because they are not dictionary terms.
If you are rebranding or starting a new brand, a one-word non-dictionary term (a ‘coined name’) will generally serve you best for LLM results.
Real World Brand Examples
Two-syllable brands are best, but three and four-syllable brands are fine if they roll off the tongue.
- Clearspeed
- JumpCloud
- HubSpot
- Salesforce
- Breakcold
- StackBlitz
- KeySearch
The goal is for the LLM search results to prioritize information about your brand (or display only information about your brand), as Google AI Mode did in the following search for the Aurasell brand when it was only two weeks old.
Our two-word parent brand, CRM Switch, which ranks #1 in traditional search results, is considered both a process and a brand in Google AI Mode. Until recently, the process was shown first.
Separately, consider your content’s featured images and how to optimize them for AI Overviews and AI Mode.
Exceptions to the Branding Rules
There are brands for which being a dictionary term doesn’t matter.
‘Windsurf’ is a dictionary term that appears in some LLM results about the watersport, but it did not stop OpenAI from almost acquiring the company for $3 billion.
Note: After publishing this article, we found another angle on naming from Lexicon Branding, which recommended ‘Windsurf’ over ‘Codeium.’
The BIGGEST MISTAKE when choosing your company name:
— My First Million (@myfirstmilpod) March 16, 2026
Making it safe.
David Placek of @LexiconBranding named BlackBerry, Sonos, Pentium, Impossible Foods, Vercel, Windsurf, CapCut, Azure and 4,000+ others.
P&G wanted "ProMop." He killed it and turned it into the billion-dollar… pic.twitter.com/sDXj1vzlD4
Risks & Trade-offs
There are other considerations for brand name and search.
A fully made-up or coined name may not communicate what your product or service does in the name itself, so you’ll need more branding and messaging to explain your value proposition.
If the coined name is too unusual, people might mispronounce or misspell it, which could hurt word-of-mouth, discovery, and presentation.
For brands that do business internationally, a non-dictionary brand in one language or region may have unintended meanings in other languages or regions, or may coincide with dictionary words in other languages.
As AI search evolves, the way LLMs interpret names may shift over time. Doing well in the results now doesn’t guarantee ongoing alignment.
Before committing to a new B2B brand name, run it through the LLMs and see what comes up, in addition to all the usual checks.
