Deal Name Generator
A free project name generator for M&A deals, fundraises, and anything else that needs a code name before it can be said out loud. Pick a theme, generate, copy. Every name is deliberately unrelated to any company, sector, or place — which is the whole point.
Pick a theme and generate names.
Names are generated in your browser. Nothing you generate or copy is sent to or stored on our servers.
Why do M&A deals use code names?
Because leaks are expensive. Before a deal is announced, price talk, staffing, and even the fact that a company is in play are market-moving information. A code name lets dozens of people — bankers, lawyers, accountants, assistants booking conference rooms — reference the transaction daily without the parties' names ever appearing in an email subject, a calendar invite, or an invoice line.
The convention is old, simple, and near-universal: “ Project” plus one neutral word. Advisors usually assign the name at kickoff, and in a multi-bidder sale process each bidder often gets its own code name so the sell-side can track workstreams without cross-contamination.
How do you choose a good deal code name?
- No connection to the target. Not the name, the industry, the geography, the founder's dog. Arbitrary is safe; clever is a leak.
- One word, easy to say and spell. It will be typed hundreds of times and said on every call.
- Safe to read in public later. Code names surface in proxy-statement background sections, litigation exhibits, and press coverage. Neutral or mildly positive; never a joke you'd regret in a filing.
- Distinct from your other active deals. Avoid sequential or same-letter names that reveal how many deals are in your pipeline.
- Used consistently everywhere. Engagement letter, working-group list, folder names, and the data room should all carry the code name — one stray real name undoes the rest.
What makes a bad code name?
The classic failure is the hint: Project Espresso for a coffee chain, Project Fjord for a Norwegian target, Project Checkout for a payments company. Anyone who sees one stray reference can narrow the field to a handful of candidates. The second failure is the joke — funny in the working group, less funny when it appears verbatim in a merger proxy or a deposition. The third is collision: reusing a name from a prior deal or picking a word that is also one of your vendors' product names, which makes email search ambiguous exactly when confidentiality matters most.
Where does the code name get used in practice?
Everywhere the deal exists before signing: email subjects, calendar invites, task trackers, fee letters — and most visibly, the data room. Naming the room after the code name is standard practice: the room a bidder enters is “Project Falcon — Diligence,” not “Acquisition of Smith Industries, Inc.”
I run Peony, a data room company, and this is how rooms across our 6,800+ customers are typically titled. The code name carries the confidentiality on the outside; inside the room, NDA gating and per-viewer watermarks do the real work — every page a bidder views carries their own identity, not the target's name. The free tier is enough to stand up a code-named room for a first diligence folder, and paid tiers are $30–$52 per admin per month with pricing published in full.
Deal name generator FAQ
What is a deal code name?
A deal code name is a neutral placeholder — usually 'Project' plus a single word, like Project Falcon — used in place of the real company names while an M&A deal, fundraise, or other confidential transaction is in progress. It lets deal teams reference the transaction in emails, calendar invites, engagement letters, and the data room without exposing who is buying or selling.
Why do M&A deals use code names?
Because leaks move prices and kill deals. Before announcement, most people who touch the process — assistants scheduling calls, IT staff, junior reviewers — do not need to know the parties' identities. A code name keeps the transaction referenceable while limiting who actually knows the names, and it keeps stray artifacts like meeting titles and folder names from revealing the deal.
How do I choose a project name for a deal?
Pick a single word with no connection to the target's name, industry, geography, or people. Keep it easy to say and spell, neutral or mildly positive in tone, and distinct from other active deals in your pipeline. In multi-bidder processes, banks often assign each bidder its own code name so workstreams stay separable.
Should the code name hint at the target company?
No — a hint defeats the purpose. A coffee-chain deal called Project Espresso, or a Helsinki target called Project Nordic, narrows the guessing pool for anyone who sees a stray email subject. The strongest code names are arbitrary: mythology, constellations, mountains, birds, gemstones.
Do deal code names ever become public?
Routinely. Code names surface later in the 'Background of the Merger' section of proxy statements and S-4 filings, in litigation exhibits, and in post-deal press coverage. Choose a name you would be comfortable reading in a public filing or a courtroom — jokes and edgy references age badly there.
Where does the code name actually get used during a deal?
Everywhere the deal is referenced before signing: email subjects, calendar invites, working-group lists, fee letters, and most visibly the data room itself. Teams typically name the room after the code name — 'Project Falcon — Diligence' — so counterparties never see the real names until they are under NDA. On Peony, 6,800+ customers run rooms this way, with NDA gating and per-viewer watermarks carrying the viewer's identity rather than the target's name.
Is this deal name generator free?
Yes. No signup, no email gate. Names are generated in your browser from curated wordlists and nothing you generate is stored. If the deal moves forward, the free tier of Peony's data room is a common next step for the first diligence folder.