A Hundred Monkeys

In short

A Hundred Monkeys is a small naming and writing studio in Berkeley, founded in 1990 by Danny Altman after he left the design and ad agency Altman + Manley. His son Eli, who ran his first naming project at 16 and later led the naming practice at MetaDesign San Francisco, is managing director, and most of the team has been there since the 2010s. Names, messaging and verbal identity are the whole offer. It is #3 on our naming ranking.

Each case study reads like a field note, down to the trademark grade and how the domain was secured. RealTimeBoard became Miro, after the painter Joan Miró, chosen by the leadership team in one room in San Francisco. Abridge, the clinical-conversation AI, was named with its founder, a practicing cardiologist, and quietly nods to Pittsburgh's bridges. Open Philanthropy became Coefficient Giving, while the studio Upstatement handled the visual side in parallel.

Startups and young products that need a name and the language around it, from a senior team that does the work itself, get the most here; eero, Imbue and Inside Weather are also on the client list. There is no visual design in-house, so a logo and identity need a partner, as Upstatement was for Coefficient. Large corporations wanting multi-country linguistic research on a big product portfolio may be better served by a larger naming firm.