From a designers point of view designing a brand with an interesting or slick name is a real pleasure. Abbreviated company names like JVC or HTC can provide endless typographic experiments, however, slick or quirky names like Sony or Billabong can offer the chance to create an interesting play on words and graphical marks.

The problem occurs for brands when the company name is cheap sounding for want of a better word, a 'cheap brand' that sounds as though it was dreamt up by someone’s grandmother doesn't grab anyone’s attention or imagination. A brand name doesn't necessarily need to relate to what the company has to offer, for example 'Johns pen shop'(apologies to John if he owns a pen shop) offers little inspiration in terms of a brand mark and sounds like an aforementioned cheap brand, 'the pen store' however sounds a little more upmarket, as though it could be the PC world of pens.

This isn't always the case, Millies Cookies shows you can have a successful brand which is or was personal to the original founder, but the general consensus is that a company name that is unfamiliar or a little different generates more interest and credibility and also provides a designer with more inspiration.

I personally find brand names that use 'shop' 'store' et al are a little off putting, they scream 'small time business' to me, and even if that's what they are, they can still position themselves as a more upmarket brand by considering the company name. 'Card Factory' for example sounds rustic and mechanical, as if they're actually card making machine, the ideas and concepts it makes me think of from a branding perspective are plentiful.

I suppose a lot of it boils down to how you want your company and or brand to be perceived, you may wish to appeal to the bargain basement market and don't feel the need for a clever quirky title, but I think if credibility and a more professional approach is what you want to achieve, considering the name of the company and the impact it will have within different media and people’s perception are vitally important.