4 Tips for Brainstorming a Unique Daycare Name

While in the process of opening your daycare, coming up with its name could be the toughest part of the experience. You want the name to be fun, engaging, and start trust building with parents from the get-go just by the sound of it.

When brainstorming an unique daycare name:

1. Keep the name short.
2. Be sure it conveys a positive message.
3. Maintain professionalism.
4. Think about it’s branding potential.
5. Make sure it’s not taken already – A bonus tip!!

It may be stressful to weigh all your options and finalize the name for your daycare. But no worries! It will all come together and the name will make sense to you when it finally comes to mind.

Keep the Name Short

Names that are short and catchy stay with people better than super long names. Business names are usually made up of only 2-3 words. Any business names beyond 3 words would make it hard to remember and lose its catchiness.

Be Sure it Conveys a Positive Message

When parents look up your daycare online for the first time, you want your daycare name to convey a positive message. Make the name sound bright and inviting, so you can increase your pool of potential clients.

Think of nouns and adjectives that suggest a positive message for a daycare name. You can do this by just thinking about your Early Childhood Education background and watching popular toddler children’s shows and educational content on YouTube for ideas. Ask yourself these 3 questions to get you started.

1. What words make you think of children growing and developing?

Words that suggest growth convey your mission to help children learn overall. Patch, garden, flower, and bloom are good words for a daycare name that suggest growth. A daycare name following this suggestion could be “Baby Blooms Daycare”.

Words that suggest development show your mission to help children change in their ways of thinking and understanding their world. March, new, and start are nice examples of words that suggest development. A daycare name inspired by this suggestion could be “Marching Magnolias”.

Think about the first words that kids learn such as apple, bee, cat, and dog. Look for inspiration in these kids’ first words as you think of your daycare name. A fun and inspirational play on words could be a name like “Bee Your Best Daycare”.

2. How can you keep the message positive, but also evergreen?

Put words together that can be used year-round. For example, calling your daycare “Pumpkin Patch Kids” will only make the name work for autumn time while pumpkins are in season. Trying a name like “Playful Kids Patch” sounds more evergreen.

3. How can you make the 2-3 words flow for an even more positive message?

Try alliteration (“Fatima’s Family Daycare”) or assonance (“Apples & Apricots Daycare”). It’s a tactic that helps to make your daycare name more remarkable and memorable when done with the right words.

Put together words that make sense to convey a central theme. For example, you don’t want your daycare name to be “Playful Apples”. It just doesn’t seem to make sense because the words don’t flow together. While the message may be positive, it will not work if the name also does not flow right.

A daycare name that would flow more properly would be “Stepping Stones Daycare”. This example would flow and convey a central theme because “stepping stones” is a common term that suggests growth and development which would work for an effective business name.

Maintain Professionalism

Words speak volumes. Be sure to maintain professionalism when choosing your final name. Nothing suggestive or offensive should be in the name.

For example, while the phrase “killing it” is modern slang that you are doing awesome at something, you should not use a widely interpreted term that has more than one meaning. The name “Killing It Kids” would not be proper because parents would think that you are trying to literally kill their kids. A better name for this offensive suggestion would be “A+ Apples Childcare”.

Think About It’s Branding Potential

Close your eyes and think about the name’s possible branding potential. Attach the name with 2 colors as the theme for your logo. Doodle some possible logos for your vision to get clearer. Ask yourself:

• Can you see the name on the front of your facility?
• Will it look and sound good on you and your daycare staff’s work T-shirts?
• How will it look on a pen or the top of a notepad or even a letterhead on notices you send home to parents?

When it has branding potential, it vibes with you, your staff, and your parents. Follow these 4 steps to figure out whether a business name has branding potential or not.

1. Create a large list of possible names, maybe 25-50 or more.

Starting with a large list of possible names will make it easier to narrow down the best ones. List your ideas on a piece of paper and/or a Microsoft Word document to keep track of the names. Take down suggestions from family, friends, and co-workers to make the list more interesting.

2. Narrow down your names list to 5-10 possibilities.

This step should be done via a series of meetings with your co-workers. Since you and your staff will be the individuals working at the facility, you want them to choose the top name possibilities that will represent you all professionally. 

3. Take a poll.

Host one poll amongst your daycare staff. Submit the poll electronically to parents or have them fill it out when they visit to set up enrollment for their child. Compare both polls to see the common top 2 or 3 names that both sets of parties like the most. 

4. Finalize your decision.

Especially if these names are awesome and hard-hitting, it could be difficult to make your final decision. If you are having trouble choosing from the top 2-3 narrowed down names, you can pull a name out of a hat or roll a 6-sided die with a name assigned to 2-3 specific numbers.

If you have 2 names, you could pick the first name if the die lands on 1, 2, or 3 and you could pick the second name if the die lands on 4, 5, or 6. If you have 3 names, 1 and 2 could represent the first name, 3 and 4 could represent the second name, and 5 and 6 could represent the third name.

Make Sure It’s Not Already Taken

Once you finalize the decision for your daycare name, be sure it is not already taken. Do a search on Google with your daycare name and city and state to determine if someone already operates under the same name. For example, if your final decision for a name is “Star Student Childcare” and you live in Tampa, Florida, search it on Google as “Start Student Childcare Tampa, Florida”.

Be sure to also register your daycare name only if you are not using full name. If you are going with a daycare name that uses your full name such as “Cathy Lewis’s Childcare Center”, you usually do not have to register your daycare.

Now if the name was “Cathy’s Childcare Center” where you would only be using your first name, you would have to register this daycare name.

For more information on how to protect your daycare’s name, visit the National Association for Family Childcare.

Conclusion

It’ll take some time to finalize your daycare name, but look at it as a pleasurable part of the opening process. Incorporate some time each day-even if just a 15 minute period-to think about your future daycare’s name. Discuss it with family, friends, and co-workers, so you can see which one vibes the most with everyone.

Related Questions

1. What are some resources to help me discover my daycare name?

Try the following resources to help you discover the final name for your daycare.

• Daycare business name generator.
• Do a Google search on local daycares in your area and surrounding areas. See how their names are structured and how many words they use in the name. Draw inspiration from this search to help you generate your own name, but be sure you do not directly copy any of the daycare names that you see.
• Search “daycare name ideas” to find articles like this to get the creative juices flowing for name generation.

2. Beyond my daycare name, how can my staff and I maintain professionalism at our facility?

Maintain professionalism at your daycare facility by:

• Having you and your staff wear T-shirts with your daycare’s name and logo on them.
• Greet parents courteously immediately when they come into your daycare for whatever reason.
• Share critical updates with parents or guardians immediately about their child(ren) such as if he or she is sick, running a fever, suffered an injury, or committed a serious offense such as biting or battering a child.
• Continually training and developing yourself and staff to be able to better educate youth.

Please note: This blog post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult a legal expert to address your specific needs.

With your Daycare named, the next step is to checkout our startup course and documents here.