The complete workflow of trademark naming has four steps: coining, self-screening, searching, and finalization. The standard of a good name is not that it sounds nice, but that it can be registered, spread, and protected. This guide systematically breaks down the methods and criteria of each step in practical order, helping operators keep rejection risk under control before filing.
Step 1: The Underlying Logic of Coining
Distinctiveness Determines the Pass Rate
The registrability of a trademark name is determined by distinctiveness, which falls into five tiers from strong to weak:
- Coined words: self-created meaningless words, such as Haier, Wahaha, and Mengniu — the strongest distinctiveness, almost never colliding with prior marks and never rejected for lack of distinctiveness; the preferred direction.
- Arbitrary words: existing words unrelated to the goods, such as Apple for mobile phones and Xiaomi (a grain word) for electronics — strong distinctiveness.
- Suggestive words: indirectly suggesting product features, such as Rejoice and Lengsuanling — usable but close to the boundary.
- Descriptive words: directly describing quality, materials, or function — in principle not registrable unless distinctiveness is acquired through use.
- Generic names: absolutely not registrable.
Naming efforts should concentrate on the first two tiers.
Common Naming Methods
- Coinage: combine meaningless syllables or characters — e.g., Pinduoduo-style reduplication or invented two-character words — ensuring a resonant pronunciation and no ambiguous homophones.
- Grafting: graft words unrelated to the industry onto it — animals, plants, celestial bodies, abstract concepts used in unfamiliar fields.
- Abbreviation: condensed from corporate philosophy or pinyin initials; mind the distinctiveness assessment of bare letter combinations.
- Personal/place names: a founder's name is registrable (others' names require authorization); little-known place names below the county level have a chance provided they are not misleading.
Communication-Level Checks
A name that passes the legal gate must also pass the market gate: two or three characters is best; resonant and not tongue-twisting; no undesirable homophones; not overly complex strokes; easy to spread orally (a name that can be spoken earns word of mouth).
Step 2: Self-Screening Against Prohibited-Signs Clauses
After coining, first screen against Article 10 of the Trademark Law for hard exclusions — touching any means absolute rejection and a ban on use:
- State names, national flags, national emblems, military flags, names of state organs, and names of landmark buildings, as well as foreign state symbols, symbols of intergovernmental international organizations, and the Red Cross and Red Crescent signs.
- Ethnically discriminatory words, deceptive expressions (e.g., using "all natural" or "organic" on ordinary food in a misleading way), and words detrimental to socialist morality or having other unhealthy influence.
- Place names of administrative divisions at or above the county level and foreign place names known to the public.
Then screen against Article 11 for distinctiveness hard flaws: generic names, signs merely and directly describing product features, and signs that are overly simple or overly complex.
In practice, several high-risk directions should be actively avoided:
- Celebrity names and well-known IPs: never touch them without authorization; even if one luckily passes preliminary examination, it will face opposition and invalidation.
- Internet buzzwords: buzzwords are a squatting disaster zone with dense similarity conflicts, and brand value returns to zero once the hype fades.
- Industry hype words: blockchain- and metaverse-style trend words collide massively in their corresponding classes.
Step 3: Similarity Searching
This is the most critical step before finalization. However good a name is, similarity to a prior trademark means rejection.
Search Channels
- The China Trademark Website of the CNIPA Trademark Office, which offers free similarity searches.
- Professional trademark search tools and agency retrieval systems, capable of figurative element code searches and finer-grained analysis.
Search Methods
- Define the search scope: search within each class to be filed, while noting cross-class similar goods groups.
- Multi-dimensional breakdown searching:
- Exact word match.
- Similar glyph search: added or removed strokes, radical substitution, structural tweaks.
- Similar pronunciation search: homophones and near-homophones, such as the characters pronounced "míng" (bright) and "míng" (to chirp).
- Similar meaning search: synonyms and Chinese–foreign correspondences, such as "tàiyáng" (sun) and "SUN."
- Status filtering: focus on valid registrations and pending prior applications; cited marks that have lapsed or been cancelled generally pose no obstacle, but watch for special circumstances within the three-year recovery window.
Reading the Results
- An identical or highly similar mark exists on identical goods: abandon decisively or revise substantially.
- Similar marks exist but the goods are dissimilar and reputation is low: filing may be viable after assessment, but prepare a refusal-review contingency plan.
- No significant conflict: proceed to finalization.
Similarity judgment carries some subjectivity; when in doubt, a professional approval-rate assessment is far more cost-effective than blindly filing and then going through refusal review (extra months and thousands of yuan).
Step 4: Finalization and Filing Strategy
The Candidate Mechanism
Always prepare 2–3 candidate names and file in order of search results. Betting on a single name that gets rejected means restarting naming and searching, wasting months of market window.
Specimen Design
- Word mark: file black-and-white words in a standard typeface for the broadest scope of protection; typeface and color can be adjusted in later use.
- Device mark: apply for the logo device separately.
- Combined mark: a supplementary filing is acceptable where words and device are used in a fixed combination, but never file only a combined mark.
Filing Rhythm
- File core classes immediately — do not wait for other business-license matters or product launch.
- Once the application is filed, the TM symbol may be used on the trademark; switch to ® upon approval.
- If the name is undecided while the product awaits launch, better to delay the launch than to go to market naked — promoting before registering is making a wedding dress for squatters.
Post-Mortem of Common Failures
- Promoting before registering: remembering to register only after the brand has gained fame, only to find it squatted — leaving no choice but to buy it back at a high price or rebrand.
- Blind faith in buzzwords: naming after trends, colliding and being rejected, wasting filing fees and time.
- Searching only for exact matches: ignoring pronunciation and meaning similarity, and discovering the cited marks only upon receiving the rejection.
- Bundling everything into a combined application: words and device packaged together, with device similarity causing total rejection.
- Names carrying industry-generic words: e.g., "XX Select" or "XX Choice" style names — weak distinctiveness and high collision rates.
Conclusion
Trademark naming is interdisciplinary work spanning law, language, and marketing. Doing three things well — the distinctiveness principle, the prohibited-signs clauses, and similarity searching — yields a pass rate significantly higher than blind filing. The day the name is finalized is the day to file; time takes priority over all perfectionism.
For the specific handling of the matters above, you may book a trademark registrability assessment on MyTMBee, with full-process assistance from a CNIPA-recorded trademark agent.