The practice of using a brand name is the evolution of the ancient custom of branding one's belongings. Whether this meant making one's mark on clothing, weaponry, tools, or livestock, it was designed to make it obvious which person or family owned specific items. Today's brand name works basically the same way. It is used to distinguish one product, especially a competing product, from another. In other words, it is a mark used to show ownership. There is a lot of competition in the drug companies when it comes to dealing with brand names. Take for example aspirin, lots of drug manufactures use the name aspirin but it's not a brand name like Bayer. A great brand name is one of the most powerful forces in branding, marketing and advertising. It is at once the story about what makes you different from your competitors and the emotional tug that connects you with your audience--all in one or a few words. Brand names have so much riding on the--way too much to leave to already overworked brains of a few employees, tossing around ideas at lunch or entering a contest, as many companies like to approach naming. Those people simply don't have enough time to take into account the many things that must be considered when developing a brand name, such as: comprehension, memorability, ease of pronunciation, negative and positive associations, competitors, trademarks and domain name possibilities.

The Three most valuable brand names worldwide, based on an old internet survey, where Marlboro, Coca Cola and Budweiser. In a ranking conducted in 2011, Marlboro had fallen to 8th; Coca Cola has dropped to 6th place while Budweiser has dropped to 45th. The top 3 Brand names worldwide in 2011 are Apple, Google and IBM followed by McDonalds and Microsoft.