How We Name Our Vibes

photo featuring Ollie, Clutch and Puff vibrators on pink and orange gradient

Ever wonder how we landed on Puff or how the Clutch name came to be?

Believe it or not, the name is one of the last things we nail down when developing a new product. Maybe it’s superstition, but it never feels possible to name the vibe until we see it in its near-final form. By the time we’ve taken a product from the brainstorming stage through the development stage to production, we really get to know all sides of the product. Giving it a name always feels like a natural next and mostly last step.

The truth is, we don’t have a grand scheme behind the names we select. No overarching theme (though we do lean somewhat cosmic at times!) or playbook. The guardrails we do start with some simple guidelines that we always try to follow:

Something that sounds approachable, fun
Easy to pronounce
One clear way to spell it
One word (usually)
Relatively short- under 7 letters

None of these bullet points are the law, but they help us keep the names somewhat cohesive over time.

Next, we make a big ass list. Names upon names. Just throw it in. No bad ideas. We encourage everyone on the team to dump as many ideas as possible. Most are new, but sometimes you’ll see some familiar suggestions. These usual suspects have been proposed in the past, and everyone agrees are “SO US” but haven’t landed yet on a specific product. Their day will come. Maybe.

We bat these names back and forth, making compelling arguments for our personal favorites and respectful but firm arguments against ones we don’t love. We’ve named over 50 products; luckily, these meetings stay chill and fun. The stakes are high, of course, but it’s a fantastic opportunity for the entire team to be creative and give feedback. The last we want is for the name to overshadow the product on launch day.

Then, we eliminate suggestions that would present a roadblock for us. Sometimes, it has to do with other products on the market; other times, it’s as simple as “Hey, that's my childhood dog’s name, and I couldn’t get over that.”

We’ll start using our favorite names in meetings to try them on a bit. We’ll use them in a sentence to see how they flow. After all, people are likely saying this name in their most intimate moments, likely naked (!!!); you’ve got to account for that! The name has got to have a bit of dignity to it.

Finally, it’s off to the professionals (lawyers) to do a final spot check, and just like that, you’re vibrator has a name. We’ll leave you with some names that didn’t make the cut. Maybe you can guess which product they were proposed for!