Company names are a difficult discipline. On the one hand, they should ideally be short, punchy, catchy and easy. On the other hand, they should, equally ideally, explain exactly what the company does. Those requirements can be diametrically opposed, particularly when a company has embarked upon a business model which might seem reasonably simple on the surface, but may have a large number of moving parts in the engine room.

History abounds, of course, with company names that absolutely nail it on both counts. Facebook's name change to Meta may be one recent example that even sets out the company's major future pursuit. Equally, history abounds with "difficult" names that have nonetheless been highly successful; often this is coupled with the gimmick that "insiders" know how to pronounce the difficult name correctly, and can clearly mark the "outsiders" pronouncing the name hopelessly incorrectly. But these facts tend to cover another fact, which is that the vast number of company names are neither short / punchy / catchy / easy, nor explain in a simple way what the company does.

In coming up with our name, Renable, we were very aware of both ideal requirements, but being aware does not necessarily make the task easier

So, we sat down with a couple of good friends to find a name. One is a seasoned venture capitalist with a background in engineering, IT, renewables, marketing and funding. The other is a designer and branding expert of great renown. We took a starting point in telling each other exactly what it is that Renable wants to do and why. That involves concepts such as circular economy, enabling the green transition, renewables, digitalisation, transparency and green materials. And very quickly the name Renable popped up, courtesy of our gifted designer friend. Other ideas came up, but we kept returning to Renable, so Renable it is.

We like the name Renable because it puts us in mind of many positive connotations with "re"-something and something-"able", and has the added quality of tying those positive connotations together into something that to us sounds dynamic and forward-looking, while explaining and underlining the circular, green nature of what we have set out to do.

Just a few examples of all those words with "re" and "able" in them:

And while we ourselves love the name, because we have been part of its birth, and because it has all those nice connotations for us: before we become too complacent and self-congratulatory, we do know that the proof is in the pudding. Whether it's a good name will both depend on whether we can actually perform what we have set out to do, and also on whether it is positively received and readily understood by all of you out there. We would be happy to get any feedback you might have in that respect.