Updated on October 6, 2023
If there is one thing that the COVID-19 pandemic taught us over the last two years, it’s that chatbots are an indispensable communication channel for businesses across industries.
Healthcare, automotive, manufacturing, travel, hospitality, real estate – you name it, and we can assure you that you are bound to find a friendly chatbot to assist you on their website, social media, or any other channel.
In fact, chatbots are one of the fastest growing brand communications channels. The market size of chatbots has increased by 92% over the last few years.
As popular as chatbots are, we’re sure that most of you, if not all, must have interacted with a chatbot at one point or the other. And if you did, you must have noticed that these chatbots have unique, sometimes quirky names.
And interestingly enough, that’s what we’re discussing here bot names.
If we’ve piqued your interest, give this article a spin and discover why your chatbot needs a name. We will also tell you how you can name your chatbot. Oh, and we’ve also gone ahead and put together a list of some uber cool chatbot/ virtual assistant names just in case.
So let’s dive right in.
What’s in a name?
While a chatbot is, in simple words, a sophisticated computer program, naming it serves a very important purpose.
Giving your bot a name enables your customers to feel more at ease with using it. Technical terms such as customer support assistant, virtual assistant, etc., sound quite mechanical and unrelatable. And if your customer is not able to establish an emotional connection, then chances are that he or she will most likely not be as open to chatting through a bot.
Naming your chatbot, especially with a catchy, descriptive name, lends a personality to your chatbot, making it more approachable and personal for your customers. It creates a one-to-one connection between your customer and the chatbot. Giving your chatbot a name that matches the tone of your business is also key to creating a positive brand impression in your customer’s mind.
There is a reason why Apple has Siri and Google has Alexa instead of Apple bot 2018 or Google bot 2016! Siri and Alexa are not just voice assistants. They connect with us on a personal level and respond to our commands and queries in that relatable, friendly manner that we love!
So then, how do you go about naming your chatbots? Should you give it a common name? A quirky one? A funny one?
Let’s find out!
How to name a chatbot
1. Identify the main purpose of your chatbot
Different chatbots are designed to serve different purposes.
A healthcare chatbot can have different use-cases such as collecting patient information, setting appointment reminders, assessing symptoms, and more.
Similarly, an e-commerce chatbot can be used to handle customer queries, take purchase orders, and even disseminate product information.
Based on the purpose of your bot, you can choose a name that can depict its purpose.
For instance, Woebot is a healthcare chatbot that is used to communicate with patients, check in on their mental health, and even suggest tools and techniques to help them in their current situation.
It is aptly named Woe-bot. A bot that addresses your woes!
Think about giving these bots bland, technical names such as, say, mental health bot, therapy bot, etc. Unrelatable and perhaps even slightly off-putting. Right?
2. Consider your Ideal Customer Profile
Naming your chatbot can be a fun thing to do. However, naming it without keeping your ICP in mind can be counter-productive.
For instance, a number of healthcare practices use chatbots to disseminate information about key health concerns such as cancers. Giving a quirky, funny name to such a chatbot does not make sense since the customers who might use such bots are likely to not connect or relate their situation with the name you’ve chosen. In such cases, it makes sense to go for a simple, short, and somber name.
On the other hand, when building a chatbot for a beauty platform such as Sephora, your target customers are those who relate to fashion, makeup, beauty, etc. Here, it makes sense to think of a name that closely resembles such aspects.
3. Your brand personality
When leveraging a chatbot for brand communications, it is important to remember that your chatbot name ideally should reflect your brand’s identity.
In many cases, your chatbot’s name can influence how people associate with your brand’s attributes.
Depending on whether your brand’s tone is funny, eccentric, or serious, it makes sense to choose a chatbot name that closely resonates with these attributes.
Remember, the key is to communicate the purpose of your bot without losing sight of the underlying brand personality.
4. Robot or human?
Again, it all comes down to the purpose of your bot. In cases where the function of your chatbot is to largely and primarily engage with customers and provide seamless customer service, it makes sense to choose names that customers are likely to connect with.
In such situations, it makes more sense to choose unique human names so that your customers find the bot to be approachable.
Now, in cases where the chatbot is a part of the business process, not necessarily interacting with customers, you can opt-out of giving human names and go with slightly less technical robot names.
Remember, emotions are a key aspect to consider when naming a chatbot. And this is why it is important to clearly define the functionalities of your bot.
5. Brainstorm and choose easy names
Since your chatbot’s name has to reflect your brand’s personality, it makes sense then to have a few brainstorming sessions to come up with the best possible names for your chatbot.
While naming your chatbot, try to keep it as simple as you can. People tend to relate to names that are easier to remember. You need to respect the fine line between unique and difficult, quirky and obvious.
Another factor to keep in mind is to skip highly descriptive names. Ideally, your chatbot’s name should not be more than two words, if that. Steer clear of trying to add taglines, brand mottos, etc. ,in an effort to promote your brand.
Now that we’ve explored chatbot nomenclature a bit let’s move on to a fun exercise.
Below is a list of some super cool bot names that we have come up with. If you are looking to name your chatbot, this little list may come in quite handy.
Best bot names
- Hercules, Cratos, The Burn Bot, The Fit Life Bot (For health and fitness businesses)
- Cloud bot, Comet bot, Tornado bot (Meteorological industry)
- Charlotte, Vera, Shirley, Buddy bot, Gigi, Helper bot (For shopping assistants)
- Digital Doctor, Margaret, Florence, Fleming (For healthcare chatbots)
Female chatbot names
| 1. Alice | 12. Luna |
| 2. Kayla | 13. Emily |
| 3. Gabriella | 14. Chloe |
| 4. Emma | 15. Ellie |
| 5. Mia | 16. Zoe |
| 6. Isabella | 17. Lucy |
| 7. Anna | 18. Ivy |
| 8. Aurora | 19. Cora |
| 9. Olivia | 20. Eva |
| 10. Ava | 21. Clara |
| 11. Alia | 22. Iris |
Male chatbot names
| 1. Noah | 12. Chase |
| 2. Bob | 13. Enzo |
| 3. Chris | 14. Ace |
| 4. Ted | 15.Finn |
| 5. Leo | 16. Charlie |
| 6. Luke | 17. Arlo |
| 7. Phil | 18. Eric |
| 8. Tom | 19. Kyle |
| 9. Eli | 20. Liam |
| 10.Ian | 21. Henry |
| 11.Miles | 22. Alex |
Cool bot names
- Wickie
- Homer
- Yanna
- Charlie Bot
- Arch Bot
- Jimmy
- Baby Bot
- Wall-E
- Tag
- Automato
- Magneto
- Venus
- Orient
- Olympus
- Meta
- Chip
- Dale
- Pixel
- Galaxy
- Eyebot
- Trivia Bot
Cute bot names
- Chipbot
- Aida
- Chatterbot
- Wonderbot
- Mario
- Owl Bot
- Zen
- Amazebot
- Avatar
- Macro
- Omon
- Feisty Fueler
- Fishy
- The Joker
- Chuckle Bot
Catchy bot names
- Alpha Tango
- Fido
- Flasbot
- Zeus
- Angelbot
- Fitbot
- Athena
- Mind Reader
- Amigo
- Elvis
- Dottie
- Agent Smith
- RoboGeorge
- Genie
- Glad Bot
- Thor
AI bot names
- Titan
- Tech Buddy
- Zax
- Augus
- Digital Dave
- Nerdbot
- Alpha
- Celeste
- Jeeves
- Botr
- Alfred
- Mr. Spock
Conclusion
The hardest part of your chatbot journey need not be building your chatbot. Naming your chatbot can be tricky too when you are starting out. However, with a little bit of inspiration and a lot of brainstorming, you can come up with interesting bot names in no time at all.
The only thing you need to remember is to keep it short, simple, memorable, and close to the tone and personality of your brand.
If you are still having trouble coming up with unique chatbot names, there are tons of chatbot name and business name generators online. You can easily use these name generators and find a chatbot name that matches the purpose and personality of your bot!
At Kommunicate, we are envisioning a world-beating customer support solution to empower the new era of customer support. We would love to have you onboard to have a first-hand experience of Kommunicate. You can signup here and start delighting your customers right away.
