Tips & Ideas For Naming A Daycare

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Last Updated on October 8, 2020

There are more than 687,000 daycares in the United States alone. So, it’s no surprise settling on a unique name when starting a new daycare business feels impossible.

Picking the right name gives potential customers an idea about your business’s services, creates a good first impression, and helps you stand out from the competition.

Are all the good daycare names already taken? How do you come up with something fresh? And what about business name best practices?

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If you’re not sure how to answer those questions, you’re in the right place. Keep reading to learn my top tips for choosing a catchy daycare name and how to make sure your favorite choices are available to use.

Let’s dive in!

Tips for Choosing the Perfect Daycare Name

If you’re struggling to choose a company name for your daycare, one of the best things to do is just to start brainstorming. As you go through the tips outlined below, make a list of words, phrases, and terms associated with your small business.

From there, you can narrow down the list and cross off ideas you don’t like.

Once you have several top considerations, we’ll walk through how to make sure you’re allowed to use them. This last step helps you narrow down your list even more so you can make a final decision.

1. Consider the Services You Plan to Offer

There are several types of services a daycare can offer, so it’s essential to consider the services you plan to offer. Maybe you want to focus on child and infant care, preschool programs, or after-school programs.

Perhaps you’re considering offering other specialty services.

Add the different types of services you want to offer to your brainstorming list.

Remember to avoid anything limiting your business’s future growth if you decide to go in another direction down the road.

2. Location-Specific Terms

Most daycares are specific to a geographic service area. So, if that’s true for your business, consider adding a location-specific term to your business name.

You can consider things like:

City nicknames
Neighborhoods
Regions or states
And descriptive terms

However, consider what happens if you expand outside your intended service area. Does the name become limiting? If so, it’s best to avoid it if you plan to expand or change directions later.

3. Try Toy or Animal Names

Toys and animals are always popular with children and can make great names for your daycare.

4. Avoid Business Names That Are Hard to Pronounce, Hear, or Spell

Despite the technological advances of voice search, assistants like Siri and Alexa struggle to understand slang and other confusing words.

This could limit how often your business shows up in voice (and text-based) search if your name is hard to spell, pronounce, or hear. Because of that, it’s important to avoid complicated words, industry jargon, and using numbers in place of letters. While having a unique and creative daycare name is good, being too creative may not be so good.

Keep your business name as simple and easy to remember as possible so potential customers can easily find you.

5. Consider Alliterations and Rhyming Words

Alliterations and rhymes are catchy and easy to remember. Because of that, they make for a cute name.

That said, it’s not always easy to come up with them. Start with choosing a few of your favorite words from your master brainstorm list.

Then, you can Google “words that start with T” to come up with a name like Toddler Time or S for Sweet Smiles or whatever letter you’re using to create an alliteration. Alternatively, you can search “words that rhyme with _____.”

It can be time-consuming, but it’s an excellent place to start.

And don’t forget to add any exciting finds to your brainstorm list while you’re at it. Try not to overthink the names you come up with during this stage. Just write them all down as some of the more interesting ones may spark better ideas later.

6. Steer Clear of Initials or Obscure Acronyms

Initials and unusual acronyms are hard to remember, so they typically don’t make great business names. They can also be challenging to pronounce and confusing for voice search as well.

Furthermore, there are 325 different two-letter combination possibilities in the English language. And the odds of your customers remembering the specific letters you chose are pretty small.

7. Imagery Words

Another consideration when brainstorming name ideas is whether there are industry-related words that could also lend themselves to be used in a logo. For instance, a daycare could use playing children or a heart and focus the name around the image

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8. Still Struggling? Try the Owner’s Name

If you’ve made it this far and are still struggling to find the best name, you can always consider using the business owner’s name. Doing so works well if the owner also plans to be the face behind the business.

Something to keep in mind is that using the owner’s name as the business name can make it more challenging to sell the business in the future.

9. See What Names Other Daycares are Using

Here is a list of existing daycare names that may help give you some daycare name ideas. While many of these names may be available for you to use, be sure to check first to be sure it can be used.

Tips on how to check business name availability are after the list of names!

24/7 Child Care
A B C Academy
A B C Daycare
A Mother Of Three Childcare
A Mother’s Love
A Place To Grow
ABC Kids Academy
ABC Learning Center
Academy 4 Kids
Advanced Early Learning
Adventure Kinderland
Afterschool Village
All 4 Kids
All About Children
All Stars Afterschool
Alley-Oop Kids
Alma Family Daycare
Aloha Playhouse
Amazing Toddlers
American Kiddo Academy
Angels Day Care
Apple Tree Daycare
Aspire Kids
Atlas Child Care
Auntie Kim’s Day Care
Baby Angel Care
Babybean Kinderhaus
Bambi Day Care
Bay Area Kidcare
Big house
Blooming Buddies Childcare
Brainiac Kids Academy
Bright Light Family Child Care
Bright Minds
Bright Moments Family Center
Bright Star Child Care Center
Bright Start Family Day Care
Brown’s Teddy Bear Child Care
Buttaflly’s Playcare
Buzy Kidz Daycare
By His Grace Daycare Learning
California Family Child Care
Care A Lot Daycare
Child Development Center
Child Play Daycare
Children’s Bundles Of Care
Children’s World
Cozy Nest Daycare
Cre8tive Kids Campus
Creative Child Care
Creative Minds Child Care
Cutie Pie’s Childcare
Desert Dreams Daycare
Developing Leaders Child Care
Dino Land Christian Daycare
Divinity Childcare
Donna’s Little Angels
Dream Kids
Dreamland Daycare
Earth Day Nursery
Elephant Family Daycare
Ellas Little Bees Daycare
Enrich Play Learn
Fairy Tale House
Farmhouse Kidz
Feeling Good Day Care
Fifteenth Street Child Care
Flower Patches Daycare
Footsteps Child Care
Fountain Kids Academy
Fun House
Future Scholars
Galaxy Kids Academy
Genius Kids Club Livermore
Gentle Heart Daycare Center
Giggles In-Da Gardenz Daycare
Giving Tree Daycare
Gold Star Kids
Golden Heart Child Care Service
Grace Infant Care Center
Gramma Sue’s Adventure Daycare
Grow With Us Childcare
Growing Hearts Home Daycare
Gummi Bear Daycare
Hands On Early Learning Center
Happy Children Home Daycare
Happy Day Care
Happy Faces Child Center
Happy Hearts Family Daycare
Happy Kids Family Childcare
Happy Kidz Childcare
Happy Little Munchkins
Happy Time Learning Academy
Happy Trails Childcare
Harmonee Childcare Center
Hearts Of The Desert
Here For Kids
Home Grown Childcare
Home Sweet Home Child Care
Hunny Bees Family Child Care
Imagination Play School
In Loving Hands Family Daycare
Jamie’s Tiny Tots
Jasmine’s Family Child Care
Josie’s Day Care
Joyful Beginnings Family Daycare
Jr Explorers
Jump Start Hero
Jungle Of Fun Daycare
Just Kids Daycare
Just Play Adventure Park
Kerri’s Corner
Kid In Me Childcare
Kid Zone
Kidopia Daycare
Kids Learning Center
Kids & Co
Kids & Krayons
Kids Are 1st
Kids Campus
Kids Country
Kids Discovery Station
Kids First East
Kid’s Kingdom
Kid’s Korner Childcare
Kids Land Child Care Center
Kids Town Academy
Kidspot
Kidstart Nation
Kidtowne
Kidz Childcare & Preschool
Kidz Zone
Kinder Buddies Daycare
Kingdom Kids
King’s Corner Childcare
Knowledge Is Power Family Day
Kreative Kids
Laceys Lil’ Learners Child Center
Lacy’s Baby Boop Child Care
Ladders 4 Learning Child Care
Ladybuggies Child Care
Lallipop Day Care
Las Vegas Rainbow Center
Laugh & Learn Childcare
Lavonda’s Crayon Box Childcare
Learn & Grow Academy
Learn Laugh-Play Family Day Care
Learning Steps Home Daycare
Lemon Tree Family Daycare
Life Tree Learning
Lil Einsteins Academy
Lil Fishers Learning Center
Lil Sprouts Daycare & Learning
Lisa’s Little Garden
Little Acorns Academy
Little Angels Daycare
Little Bee Daycare
Little Blessings Daycare
Little Blue House Home Child Care
Little Bright Stars
Little Clubhouse Long Beach
Little Ducklings
Little Elephants Kids Place
Little Feet Day Care
Little Flower Day Care
Little Foot Daycare
Little Hands
Little Heart & Soul Daycare
Little Kids On The Block
Little Kings & Queens Daycare
Little Lamb’s Day Care
Little Learners Developmental
Little Love Family Child Care
Little Munchkins Daycare
Little Panda Daycare
Little Pioneers Day Care Center
Little Rascals
Little Sprouts
Little Stars Child Care
Little Treasures Child Care
Living Spring Day Care
Lizzie’s Learning World
Love & Care Family Daycare
Love & Patience Child Care Center
Love Childcare
Loving Kids Academy
Luving My Kids Learning Center
Miracle Kids Success Academy
Nana Ruth’s Daycare
New Beginnings Child Care Center
New Journeys Daycare
Noah’s Rainbow
Patty Pat’s Daycare
Rock After School Program
Small People Preschool
Sugar Plum Child Development
Tender Hearts Learning Center
Tere’s Tots Childcare
Whizkidz Preschool
Word Of Faith Day Care
You Are My Sunshine Daycare

Checking the Availability of Your Top Considerations

At this point, you should have several top considerations to choose from. And the best way to narrow it down further is to check each one for availability.

This step is vital because using a name that someone else is using could be very costly, time-consuming to rebrand your business, and possibly embarrassing. There are several places to look to check whether a name is available to use, so let’s walk through each one.

Trademark Search

Trademarks are the most critical, so we’ll start here.

If a name or phrase is trademarked, you’re not allowed to use it in a similar capacity. So, run a trademark search for each business name you’re considering and cross off those that aren’t available.

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Local Search

Just because there isn’t a federal trademark on a name doesn’t mean the name you want is available. That’s because there is a trademark known as a common law trademark. A common law trademark isn’t filed anywhere but provides someone who uses that name in commerce some limited rights in their geographical area to use the name. It can be hard to define how far geographically these rights extend as each industry is different. Still, at a basic level, someone can’t open a business and name it the same or similar name as a competing business in town. If you think the name could potentially create confusion with customers, it is usually best to just find another one to use to avoid potential legal issues down the road.

To do a local search, open up the phone book (if you still have one), and do a Google search to see if there are any local competitors with a similar business name to the one you want to use.

Cross off any similar names from your list and take the rest and let’s keep checking.

State Entity Search (If Applicable)

If you plan to register your daycare as a corporation or LLC, you must register with a unique business name. Each state requires every corporation or LLC to register a unique name for their entity. This doesn’t necessarily protect your name from anyone else using it, but nobody can register a corporation or LLC under the same name in your state.

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If you find the name is in use, cross it off your list and move on.

Domain Name Availability

Website addresses aren’t as critical as the first three searches, but it’s still worth doing. Typically, you want your domain name to be “yourbusinessname.com” without any numbers, dashes, etc.

It’s easiest for customers to remember, but these are hard to come by.

However, you can explore other configurations and extensions if your preferred domain name isn’t available. Just remember your customers may have a more difficult time finding you online.

You can start with . Type in the domain name you want to use to see if it’s available. The tool also returns other possibilities you may want to consider.

Social Media Profiles

Next, especially if you are stuck between a couple of names, check and see if anyone is already using your potential daycare names on social media. Consider which platforms you plan to use and start with those.

Keep in mind you may have to shorten your company name for some platforms. Twitter only allows 15 characters, for example.

Start with your preferred platforms and do a quick search for your name. If nothing pops up, that likely means no one is using it, and you’re good to go.

Example: Someone is using startingyourbusiness on Instagram, so I would have to choose a different handle, making it more difficult for customers to find me.

Hopefully, you now have some great name ideas for your daycare. Once you have this list narrowed down to just a few and researched that they are all available, start asking friends, family, and potential customers their thoughts to get feedback and then pick your perfect daycare name!