Master-McNeil
Master-McNeil, Inc. is a Berkeley, California-based naming agency founded in 1988 by SB Master. The company specializes in brand naming and research. Master added “McNeil” to the name because it sounded big and important, which helped attract clients even when the firm was small.
Before starting Master-McNeil, SB Master led Wordmark, a division of Landor Associates in San Francisco. At Wordmark, she named brands such as Touchstone Pictures, Westin Hotels, Pacific Telesis Group/Pacific Bell, Fleet Financial Group, and Asiana.
Master-McNeil’s process includes linguistic analysis, brand architecture, trademark searches, and domain-name acquisition.
The firm has named PayPal, We TV, Buick Lacrosse, and Quid. Its clients include AMD, Apple, Comcast, Chevron, General Motors, Kodak, Nestlé, and Volkswagen.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 13:24 (CET).