How To Name your Gym\Fitness Center?
Discover names for your Gym or Fitness Corporation using this gym business name generator
Libby A.
Naming & Branding Expert
Table of Contents
The Ultimate 8-Step Guide To Naming a Gym
The naming of your fitness business is essential to its success in the market.
Even though gym is all about the sweat and burn, there’s no reason why your gym names should be stiff and boring. With our unique gym name generator, you can have hundreds of catchy gym names generated within minutes.
Try out our gym name generator for free now.
To arrive at the best fitness center names, you need to pass through the brainstorming process. This stage will help you come up with different name ideas that are in line with your values as a fitness business.
For a clearer understanding, here’s a list of 20 fictitious gym name ideas that I came up with:
- HIIT Life
- UnFit
- Tone Shop
- Sculpt and Burn
- Zoe Fitness
- Fit Women
- Reagan Gym
- Pump
- Full Body Burn
- Power House
- Fit Factory
- Hardcore Gym
- Gym 24/7
- Work It
- The Fit House
- Woodtown Fitness Center
- Sweaty Corner
- 3 More Reps
- Truly Fit
- The Corner Gym
Step 1: Outline What the Name Should Represent
When trying to come up with good gym name idea, it’s important that you first think of them in relation to your brand.
What is in a fitness names? A lot is in a name, but what really stands out in any name is what it represents. It is what your gym ultimately stands for. You want the name to explain to the target audience who you are and how your services can be of use. That will make the business easier to find and more appealing to potential users.
At this stage of your naming process, here is a list of questions you can ask yourself and the people around you to figure out what exactly your fitness center represents. Answer each of these questions to yourself, and you’re well on your way to picking the best gym name today.
- Is the catchy gym name relevant to your business?
- Does it stand out from other fitness centers?
- Is your fitness center targeted at a specific demographic?
- Can the gym name be recalled easily?
- What picture do you want to convey to a potential customer as the result of working out at your gym?
Bottom line: There is no magic formula for explaining what your gym name represents. What’s important is to identify your target market and then focus on making positive and meaningful emotional connections with them. Find names that cannot in any way jeopardize that objective.
Step 2: Competitive Analysis
Your task in this step is to analyze local or international companies from same field and figure out what inspired their business name ideas. Then you can come up with strategies to do it better.
The big question is, “how exactly did they get their naming on point?”
An easy way to do this is to find a number of gym names on the internet, evaluate their logo and positioning. This will tell you a lot about how each one derived its name and established a brand.
An exhaustive competitive analysis will give you an objective understanding of the competition’s strengths and weaknesses. That information will help you position your fitness center in a unique way that outshines the competition.
How to Do a Competitive Name Analysis
How do you analyze competitors’ gym names and logo designs? Follow our simple template:
- Pick a few competitors (preferably industry leaders).
- Check out their name. What does the name say, and how does it relate to what they do?
- Analyze the logo. What does it represent?
- How do their name and logo contribute to their success?
To give you an idea of what we mean, please check out our analysis of these businesses:
Body Builders Gym: the vision of this fitness company is to ‘build strong bodies’. tThe name they chose, is in line with the company’s vision, and easy to understand. The logo of this gym business is an illustration of a dumbbell, in a white circle. Dumbbells are essential to bodybuilding, and they signify intense exercise- which is the message the company is trying to pass.
City of Angels Boxing: first off, this fitness company chose a niche in the vast fitness market- boxing. For its logo, this fitness company uses the illustration of angel’s wings in yellow. Between the wings, the company’s name is boldly written.
Using this method, they specified their target client base as people living in Los Angeles, which is interpreted as ‘City of Angels’.
G.I.R.L.S Gym: this gym is a female focused business. Basically, what they do is use the name, to attract women, who are interested in the martial arts, as a form of self-defense. This gym uses an illustration of the female face, with a boxing glove on the side to pass its message. In the circle encompassing the logo, the name of this gym is written.
Lloyd Athletic Club: this fitness center is a small town athletic club, mainly aimed at helping the residents of the Lloyd Area, Portland, achieve their athletic goals. This gym’s logo is a silhouette cluster of buildings (representing the town), and the words ‘Lloyd Athletic Club’ written in different colors at the bottom of the logo. From the logo, it’s easy to know that the institution targets the town residents, and the gym name is duly represented in the logo.
Iron Warrior: the name of this gym suggests a place where members receive intense strength training. This gym logo is a graphic illustration of a man lifting a dumbbell. This logo is great as it clearly explains what the establishment is about, giving no room for speculations.
Bottom line: You can tell from the five examples that it’s by no coincidence that some gym business name become so relatable and memorable. The feel in the logo and the messaging in the name help the business stand out from the crowd.
Step 3: Gather a List of Your Business Name Ideas (Brainstorm)
The next step for you is to brainstorm possible fitness business name ideas. Write them down as they come; do the weeding later.
When you have 20-40 business names that fit your niche and vision, and that can compete successfully with existing competitors.
Next, split your list of names into the 4 categories listed below. Let’s see a quick demonstration assuming you’re trying to come up with catchy gym names centered on business.
- Descriptive names: In this approach, the name should describe the service or product of your business at first glance.
Here are 5 descriptive names we brainstormed for the purpose of this article:- Gym 24/7
- Fit Women
- Hardcore Gym
- Woodtown Fitness Center
- The Corner Gym
- Suggestive names: Suggestive names create a vivid image that resonates with the prospective user. Suggestive fitness club names hint at an underlying meaning to the name, instead of just putting it out there. You can go with this category if you’re trying to get creative.
Good examples for suggestive names are:- UnFit
- Work It
- Sweaty Corner
- 3 More Reps
- Fit Factory
- Abstract names: Abstract names are memorable and catchy, but they don’t have any apparent connection with their services or products. The names are purely made up, so they easily establish dominance in the market. Google, Yahoo, Nike, and Skype are examples of abstract names.
Some abstract name ideas for gym business are;- Pump
- Tone Shop
- Power House
- Zero Level
- FUELhouse
- Legacy names: naming your fitness club with legacy in mind means that you want it to outlive you. If this is what you prefer, you can just name it after yourself or an organization you founded. The luxury sports car Ferrari, for example, is named after its founder, Enzo Ferrari.
We brainstormed these examples:- Zoe Fitness
- Reagan Gym
- Justo’s Gym
- CrossFit Gym
- K.F.C Fitness
Step 4: Generating Names
Are you still stuck on a gym name to go with? Try our gym name generator.
This gym name generator will get you name ideas using AI algorithm match. It’s unique, it’s fresh and it was made for you.
All you have to do is type your word you want to include in the name in the search bar. In a matter of seconds, you will get fitness club name ideas.
Our algorithm is designed to learn your preferred keywords over time and consequently recommend the most suitable options for you. Learn more how does it work, by clicking here.
Once you find the names you like, instant domain zone availability checker will show you what zones are available for registration. This AI based gym name generator will also get you some logo recommendations based on the name of your gym. This tool saves you a lot of time and the best part? It is totally free!
Ready to find your business name?
Step 5: Shortlisting your name ideas
It’s weeding time! This is where you prune and pick only the best names for your gym. Your shortlist should have about 3-5 names off your initial list.
Picking your favorite gym name idea may be tough, especially if you used our gym name generator. There are a few things you need to consider when creating a shortlist.
- Keep it simple. Good gym names should be unique, but mostly simple. Simple names are easily remembered.
- Check for linguistics and context. Do a quick google search of your names to find out what they mean in other languages- especially your target countries. If any of them has an offensive meaning in another language, it’s best to go with a different name.
- Sometimes owners choose names that later become controversial especially in overseas markets. Don’t make that mistake. Eliminate any chances of the name being misinterpreted as sexist, homophobic, racist, or offensive in any way to any community.
- Tagline check. If you haven’t come up with a tagline at this point, take a pause and do that. It’s important that your chosen fitness center name aligns with your tagline, which is also your slogan.
It is your prerogative to decide the elimination criteria, but this checklist should help you shorten your list:
- Is the name culturally sensitive?
- Does the name capture the values and vision of your brand?
- Does the name align with your tagline? If you don’t have a tagline ready, you need to create it at this point and align it with your preferred app name.
- How relatable is the name to the target audience?
- Of the most relatable names, which ones are the easiest to remember?
- Can your target audience pronounce the name easily and accurately?
- How original does the name sound? You don’t want clichés and plagiarized names.
Reduce your list from the original 20-40 names to about 3-5 names. For the purpose of this demonstration, I’ll select the best 5 names from my initial list, and show you how they stand out from the rest.
- UnFit: this name suggests a fitness center where unfit people in general are welcome. Their concerns are addressed, and the fitness instructors help them achieve their dream bodies.
- Fit Women: this gym name points out that the gym is targeted at women. Basically, they welcome women who are unfit, and help them discover how fit they can be, in a matter of time.
- Power House: this catchy gym name is great if you’re looking to get creative. It suggests a space where people can develop physical strength and all round health.
- Gym 24/7: looking at this gym name, one already knows that they are advertising fitness- no matter the time or day. 24/7 implies that they are open round the clock, everyday.
- Woodtown Fitness Center: this fitness business name is targeted at residents of a small town. It possibly is the only gym in that town- or not.
Step 6: Background Check
Once you have shortlisted the best gym names, background checks are necessary. A background check might just save you from future legal battles and cases of misinterpretation. Here are a few things to do in a background check.
- Research Legality: You do not want to get in trouble with the law because you’re starting a fitness center business. So, find out if your intended gym names and taglines are in accordance with the law of your home country. Do this for each name on the shortlist. If any of them does not pass the test, drop that name and move on with the others.
- Trademark Check: to avoid cases of trademark infringement down the line, find out if your gym name or logo is already trademarked by another organization. If it’s not, you have the go-ahead to register it as your own trademark.
- Readability: is your gym name easy to read and understand? You can get an external opinion on the readability of your gym name and tagline. If it’s not, you have the opportunity to fix that because you’re not creating it for yourself alone.
Step 7: Get some Feedback
You have narrowed down your 20-40 name list to 3-5 names at this point.
Simple step: It’s great to have the opinion of a third-party when you’re done with the primary checks. Their opinion may differ from yours, but it’s mostly objective criticism so that’s okay. You can show a list of your final 2 club names to;
- People who run fitness center or gym.
- Your target audience.
If you’re asking your ideal audience, ask the first thing they thought of on hearing that name. Ask a fitness center owner how they think an audience would interpret your gym name.
Once you get feedback, go back and figure out if their response was in favor of your fitness center name or not. Ask yourself if the name evoked the thoughts, you had imagined it would.
Pro Step: If you want to go deeper with the feedback step you can reach out to opinion shapers, industry leaders, your ideal customers, linguists, and tech futurists for their opinions.
- Tech futurists will help you predict and reshape the future prospects of your new gym name within the global tech space.
- Linguists will advise on the name’s readability and lingual appropriateness.
- Opinion shapers and industry leaders will help you predict the fitness name’s probable reception in the real world.
- Ideal customers will tell you whether the business name represents a need they would purchase.
Pro tip: Don’t rely too much on feedback from biased people, especially fans, friends, family members, and colleagues. Seek the opinion of brutally honest critics.
Step 8: Check if the name is available
You have come a long way in trying to name your fitness center. Now, the final step is to check if your fitness center name and extension of choice are available for domain registration. You can use our name availability checker to run a quick check after you have generated name ideas for your gym name. Our free tool shows you which domain extensions are available, and will recommend logo ideas that correspond with your business name. Or you can Google the shortlisted names to ensure that they aren’t plagiarized. Looking up the names will also give you an idea of what each name might mean to different internet users.
The gym name generator and availability checker are highly recommended, to make your gym stand out from the rest.
Ready to find your business name?
7 Things to Avoid While Naming your Gym
- Complex Names. In a bid to come off as creative or different, a lot of people come up with names they shouldn’t be using for a gym or any establishment at all. You can get creative, but don’t complicate things for yourself and your audience by using names that are difficult to read and spell.
- Copying a Competitor’s Style. The competitive analysis is for you to study the marketplace, and get inspired with ideas that are original to your brand. Copying the style, name or logo of another fitness center takes away the originality from your project.
- Skipping Background Checks. Do not for any reason, skip the background checks detailed in Step 6. That is, if you hate the discomfort of legal battles and run-ins with the law enforcement.
- Shortcuts. There are no shortcuts to success. Even when naming your gym, you have to follow through with the recommended steps. Cutting corners may cost you more in the long run.
- Don’t limit the name to a specific language or geographical location. That will in most cases minimize the future growth prospects.
- Don’t use words that are too plain or cliché to outstand from a crowd. In the same breath, don’t choose names that too obscure, technical, or difficult.
- Don’t be too stubborn or biased that you cannot accept negative feedback for the names you like.
To save time, you can use our gym name generator to quickly find good club names. Name ideas from the name generator are catchy, simple and unique to you.
