I've been trying to come up with an interesting name for my home jewelry business. I use a lot of garnets and glass beads in my work, so I had been thinking of something along the lines of Garnet Leaf Jewelry dEsign or Vitrea Design Studio. Originally I had wanted to use Pomegranate as the name (when you cut open a pomegranate, it looks very jewel-like inside), but a number of other businesses seem to already use the word pomegranate in their business name. I'm gearing my jewelry towards women in their 20s and 30s who appreciate eye-catching, delicate, artsy jewelry with a bit of an ethnic flair.

Pomegranate

or

Pomegranate Jewels

This is a fine brand. If you want to use Pomegranate as the brand and identify the brand with the product Jewels, it will be distinguished from Pomegranate Communications or whatever other businesses use this fruit as a brand. Hey, there's Apple the computer company and Apple Records, etc. No prob. Most importantly, there doesn't appear to be another jewel business using the pomegranate as a brand, as far as I could find.

www.pomegranatejewels.com is available for an Internet address.

I would recommend reducing the "product identifier" to its simplest root word "jewels" because of the various spellings of jewelry, jewellery etc.

As is often the case, your first instinctive choice may be your best brand. It makes sense and might be the one you'll be most comfortable with in the long term.

You were on the right track observing that the wet red seeds of the pomegranate resemble garnet jewels in a jewelry box. A good graphic artist could easily develop this metaphor with an illustration of a pomegranate where the seeds were actual garnets.

Natural aphrodisiac foods for romance

An aphrodisiac is a food, drug, scent or device that claims to improve libido. It is difficult to prove or disprove that aphrodisiacs help libido. The fact that someone uses something that claims to be an aphrodisiac has a powerful impact on the mind. The consequences may be due to psychological effects or the brain releasing certain chemicals to stimulate the respective organs. The effects are so diverse and vague that at this point of time, they can't be proven scientifically.

This is another good reason to use the Pomegranate as a brand for jewelry.

The pomegranate is a symbol of fertility with its abundant seeds. For the Chinese, the pomegranate symbolizes prosperity in an abundant household.

There is much to support this brand for your use at this website: http://www.pomwonderful.com/

Ancient Greeks believed that Aphodite the Goddess of Love planted the first pomegranate on the Island of Cyprus, which may be the reason this fruit is regarded as an aphrodesiac.

then there's Pomegarnet

Red e-made Jewels
Garneture
Garnet-She
Garnettos
Garnetting Your Approval
Garnet Worth

I like Pomegarnet, too.

Very original. I say Pomegarnet and I visualize that pomegranate filled with jewels. It's a creative word that captures the creativity of jewelry design. It's literal in the use of garnet and figurative in the implication of the fruit. Yer a friggin'genius, quark.

The domain name www.pomegarnet.com is available, of course.

I really, really like it!

There is a risk with Pomegarnet that we like it because we already have the association with Pomegranate in our heads. People seeing it for the first time will not. There is a strong likelihood that they will pronounce it the way it looks (poamgarnet) and not get the connection.

Worse, given that they may not understand the link with the nature of the business at first sight of the name, it could just come across as an ignorant misspelling.

Pity, because it's a wonderful play on the word and a nice image - but risky. Or perhaps I'm just being super-cautious......

This is a small home-based business. People seeing it for the first time will likely be "hearing" it for the first time, too. I think the visual graphic opportunity described by lilypond, if carried through in corporate imagery, will be a strong reinforcement of the pomegranate metaphor.

By the way, does one pronounce pomegranate like you see it (poamagranate) in England? ;)

No....in UK, the 'o' is pronounced short not long...Pommagranitt

Much less of a problem if the 'o' is long I admit.....

As a general point,however, the habit of making associations based on associations ('second jump' thinking) is one I see quite a lot, and one that is dangerous. The link may be obvious to those involved in the process, but not so obvious to anyone seeing it without the benefit of the discussion/background that led to the second jump.

I'm going to side more with abnu than chris here, but there is an issue. Personally, I suspect there will be more who mistake it for Pomegranate than something like Poam-garnet, but these inventions always cause some to stumble.

...that's partly why I like it - once someone stumbles and then figures it out, it's branded forever. You lose some who never figure it out, but you win some with the "ohhhh" factor and then the majority are likely to see it right in the first place- at least that's my speculation.

... and you cover your assets on the Internet by also registering pomegranatejewels.com and pomegarnetjewels.com and pointing those additional addresses to the main website at www.pomegarnet.com.

Chris, is wisely worrying about "addressing" the brand. That should be taken into consideration, for sure. Quark is thinking about branding.

Once again, we're all right ... or is that just alright?

My instinct is that the imagery and the strength of the potential branding probably outweigh the spelling/pronuciation thing - especially given the way you pronounce the word in the US.

...and quark is right that, once you make contact with the business, it quickly resolves itself....

But I'm not sure that I wouldn't just go for Pomegranate, which I think is very strong in its own right....great call to start with, Lilypond

lilypond mentions a number of other businesses seem to already use the word pomegranate. abnu then suggests these uses are not in the jewelry realm. If abnu is correct in that, then I say "Pomegarnet is right on target." Now, where did that lilypond go to?

Thank you for all of your astute responses. I did alas find a jewelry designer on the web who goes by the name Purple Pomegranate. I know what you mean about the potential for graphics -- it blew my mind when I thought about it, too. I also created a great image for the Garnet Leaf name. I had a friend of mine scan a dark red leaf (the kind with just the veins remaining that you buy from craft stores) and cropped 3/4 of it onto a business card. It's a really strong graphic image with all of these great garnet-colored veins running through it. I feel torn because there is an art house publisher who goes by the name Pomegranate and a graphic designer who uses the name Pomegranate Design Studio (the original name I had chosen). Oh, and believe it or not, a friend of mine came up with Pomegarnet, too!!! I had concerns about the spelling as well. Ahhh, decisions, decisions...

Again, I urge you to consider the strong symbolic connections of pomegranate to love and fertility, which directly accord with the purchasing motivators for jewelry. This is a powerful symbolic "heritage" for the brand. Marketing materials should weave the stories into the background of the product. Garnets are a commodity. Your garnets are differentiated by the brand character. The pomegranate is a naturally supportive metaphor.

A thorough read of the text and consideration of the graphics at http://www.pomwonderful.com/ are compelling to me to recommend that brand imagery. Perhaps, your graphic designer friend will work on that for you, as well, to relate it to the garnet jewelry.

I think your other friend's suggestion of Pomegarnet is confirmation that this coined word is an "intuitive" brand that will resonate with your customers.

Dear lilypond:
We can theorize to death what might work best for you, but the reality is, you will have to live it!

Whatever you decide, make sure it reflects you and your values and what you want your customers to think about you and your business. What do your instincts tell you? What rings true for you?

Think in practical terms about things like:
-is it me??
-how can I merchandise this?
-what is this all going to look like on advertising/ cards/websites/paraphanalia, etc.

All we can offer you is a think tank of many different perspectives and theories(many of which we even disagree about amoung ourselves), but, ultimately, your business is YOUR business and you have to feel you have made the best choice for you!!

This is all part of the confusion, stress & excitement of starting your own empire!!

Good luck to you!!

Lillypond
The Glass Ceiling
Facets
Bright Stuff
Silver Leaf
Arabidopsis
Aquinas
Palm-A-Garnet
Citrine
Jasper
Moonstone
Amazonia
Cloé
Blue Rabbit Designs
Delica
Burning Relics
Relique
Red Cat
The Antique Jewlery Factory
Glasshopper
Cricket
Rickets
Snatch this pebble
Accenture
Cinnamon Heart
Old Country Hippie Designs
Bangle Bungles
Ginger Snaps ;)
Girly Bear
Tangle wear
Kinky Twist
Zepher

For professional help creating company names & product names, contact Igor.

Building the Perfect Beast: The Igor Naming Guide to Creating Product and Company Names (free PDF)