Trying to figure out what to name your cereal brand? We’re here to help!

When consumers think of cereal brands what often comes to mind is the mass-market ready to eat breakfasts of their yesteryear. Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes. Rice Krispies. And of course what child of the 90s doesn’t remember Kellogg’s Cinnamon Mini Buns! Is that stuff still around?

While cereal makers are continue to be big business in the United States ($10 billion in annual sales), sales have been on the decline for half a decade according to market research company IBIS World. There’s a combination of cross currents impacting the performance of the long-standing consumer staple.

cereal brand

Will you create the next great cereal brand?

First off, consumer tastes have changed since the 90s. Most old-school cereals are high in carbs, high in sugar, and low on nutritional value. This flies counter to the consumers preference to eat healthier meals.

Second, there are more breakfast options than they’re used to be: ready-to-eat breakfast sandwiches, oatmeal, bars. And that’s just what’s in inside consumers cupboards. Fast food chains like McDonalds, Wendy’s and others have entered the breakfast wars offering quick and affordable meals that can be picked up on the way to work for under $5.00. Wendy’s plans to spend $80 million on breakfast advertising alone due to its importance for the business. That’s a lot of Baconators!

In this period of contracting sales from established brands, it’s the ideal time to launch a disruptive cereal brand. There’s plenty of room for innovation in this category and grocery stores are ready to think outside the box by offering a breakfast option that’s local and healthy. Here are a few brand name ideas organized by theme below that you can use to start a breakfast cereal company or use for an upcoming school project.

Cereal Name Puns

Just trying to come up with a funny name for your cereal box project? If so, scoop up these pun-tastic cereal names we discovered online.

  • Cereal-osly The Best
  • Brand Flakes
  • Cereal About You!
  • Cereal-osly Sweet
  • Luda Crisp (Oh yeah!)
  • Cereal Killer
  • Are You Cereal?
  • Cap’n Morgan Crunch
  • Honey Smacks
  • Cerealsly Corny
  • Welfare Chex
  • Cereal-osly Amazing
  • Universal Cereal Bus

Creative Cereal Names

eating cereal

The most important meal of the day.

Looking for an imaginative name that gets breakfast lovers taking a second look at your box in the grocery lane? Look no further than these suggestions.

  • Kayak Grains
  • Elevate Grains
  • Red Door Whole Grains
  • Better Grains Co.
  • Sage and the Spoon
  • Janus Flakes
  • Proud Flakes
  • Bobcat Oats Co.
  • Community Oats
  • Morning Boost
  • Rise Dish
  • Front Rise
  • Pursuit Organic Breakfast
  • Remarkable Breakfast
  • Flake Seeds
  • Zenith Flakes
  • Awake and Original
  • Marble and Maple
  • Wake Up Genious
  • Wake Up Shots
  • Eating A.M.
  • The First Bite
  • Organic Riser
  • Epoch Natural Bran
  • Timber Naturals
  • Better World Wake Up
  • Life Bowls
  • Nutrition Bowl
  • Nourishing Spoon
  • Vintage Spoon
  • The Radical Cup
  • Ancient Mornings Co.
  • The Breakfast Collective

Exclusive Interview: How I Started a $25K per Month Vegan Cookie Business with My Mom

Cool Cereal Names

granola cereal

Granola cereal’s are gaining popularity.

Here are suggestions the coolest of the cool kids will appreciate. If you’re searching for an on-trend brand name, you could find it here.

  • Margaret and Maddie
  • Truthfully Made
  • Hand Crafted Cereal Company
  • The Cereal Collective
  • The Breakfast Group
  • Morning Meetups
  • The Heavy Spoon
  • Barley Beginnings
  • Wheat Withstanding
  • Resourceful Rye
  • Raising Rye
  • Charlies Corn Flakes
  • Chomping Chuck’s
  • Mary’s Organic
  • Madison’s Meals
  • Mainstay Meal
  • Essential Mornings
  • Soulful Sunrise
  • Almighty Bran
  • Milk Made
  • Respecting Rice
  • Tribal Source
  • New York Cereal Company
  • California Breakfast Group
  • Texas Mornings
  • Crispy Bites

Bad Cereal Name Ideas

We try to be as helpful as possible in helping you identify a worthy brand name. But sometimes helping you avoid the bad names is just as important. These are some of the worst cereal names of all time in our humble opinion. Steer clear!

  • Prince of Thieves Cereal: This was a limited run cereal based on the 1992 Kevin Coster film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. No explanation needed on why this is no good.
  • Mr. T Cereal: This is a fantastically entertaining commercial from the 80s listed above. But it doesn’t leave you craving the product.
  • Ghost Buster Cereal: Tying a cereal to a movie or television that will come and go does not appear to be a longterm strategy for success.
  • Grandma’s Celler
  • Auntie’s Attic
  • Seaweed Mornings
  • Morning Breath Cereal
  • Naughty Flakes
  • Freaky Flakes

Baseball Themed Cereal Names

It may seem a little strange, but there are a lot of cereals that have joint ventured with professional sports like baseball and basketball in the past. Most often this is for limited edition boxes for World Series Champions. One such example is Justin Verlander who won the Cy Young award in 2012 and got a limited release box of “Fastball Flakes.” By joint venturing with either a celebrity or athlete you can leverage the likeness of someone else to promote your breakfast.

  • Baseball Puffs
  • Fast Pitch Flakes
  • B-Ball Bites
  • The Mound Cereal
  • Dug Out Eats
  • Right Field Delight
  • The Batter’s Box Oatmeal
  • Umpire crisps
  • Home Run O’s
  • Don’t Bunt Breakfast

New Cereal Names

innovative name

Modern twists on cereal brand names.

Here are some never-been-used cereal names thunk-up by our creative team. Let us know what you think of these in the comments section below.

  • Fully Exposed Cereal
  • Bowl of Flap Jacks
  • Bite Squad Breakfast Co.
  • Breakfast Gang
  • 5 a.m. Food
  • Freedom Fruit Bowl
  • Modern Mornings
  • Meals at Dawn
  • Rice Cake Riot
  • Daybreak Spoon
  • The Sunshine Cupboard
  • First Light Bite
  • Cockcrow Kitchen
  • Break of Day Dining
  • Milk and Waffles
  • Almond Milk Magic
  • Wonderful Wheat Kernels
  • The Natural Bran Brand
  • The Breakfast Establishment
  • Presidents Bran Cereal
  • Wheat Brand VS Oat Bran: The Final Battle
  • What to Eat? Brand Cereals
  • First Meal Innovation
  • The Breakfast Nook
  • AM Feed
  • The Morning Menu
  • Flax Feast
  • 7 a.m. Chow
  • Sunrise Banquet
  • Morning Morsel
  • Breakfast Renegade
  • Taking on the Taste
  • Sunrise Spread
  • Hiker’s Breakfast
  • Early to Rise Eats
  • Nice and Nibble
  • The A.M. Diet
  • Natural Weight Loss Cereal
  • Dine with Mine
  • Bran Flake Graze
  • Snack on Oatmeal
  • Before the Sun Fare
  • Daybreak Diner
  • Modern Feed Co.
  • Plentiful Servings
  • The Wise Whisk
  • Blueberry Bizzarre
  • The Urban Farmer
  • The Strawberry Field
  • Ancient Times Breakfast Company
  • Paleo Packers
  • Morning Gulp

Healthy Cereal Names

morning routine

This category appears ready for disruption.

Cereals perceived as healthier or adhering to certain dietary guidelines like Gluten Free are a major opportunity in the cereal aisle. Breakfast cereals that provide unique health benefits or are made with higher-quality ingredients like lentils or steel cut oats instead of mass-produced corn is an example that could be well-received by today’s consumer.

  • Gluten-Free Flakes
  • Mueslie Munch
  • Gusty Organic Granola
  • Almond Butter O’s
  • Real Fruit Flakes (Could contain a variety of freeze dried fruits like strawberries and blueberry.)
  • Strong Rice Puffs
  • Vigorous Grains
  • Fit Flakes
  • Robust O’s
  • Only Organic O’s
  • Fine Mornings
  • Better Bran
  • Ancient Grains Cereal Company
  • Sweet and Natural
  • Agave Roasted O’s
  • Brown Rice Syrup
  • Enlightened Awakening
  • Good For You Granola
  • Doing Well
  • Super Food Cereal Blend
  • Healthy and Homemade
  • Natural Spice Overnight Granola
  • True Source Organic Chocolate Oatmeal
  • Paleo Cinnamon Toast Crunch
  • Good Morning Paleo
  • Paleo Puffs
  • Chia Chicks Cereal
  • The Vegan Spoon
  • The Vegan Morning
  • Whole Grain Greetings
  • Eating Wellness
  • Bright Start
  • Oat Flour Bites
  • Vegan Cookie Bites
  • Frontier Mini Pancakes
  • Premium Porridge

Related Reading: How We Started a $10 Million Dollar Spice and Seasoning Empire

Cereals of the 80s and 90s

The 80s and 90s was the golden era for big cereal manufacturers like Kellogg’s and General Mill’s. Television ads could be run after school and on weekends to children and their parents to reach pretty much the entire U.S. population. Over the past decade these brands have contracted as consumers head to other breakfast options although you can still find many on grocery store shelves.

  • Cap’n Crunch (Quaker Oats)
  • Fruit Loops (Kellogg’s)
  • Apple Jacks (Kellogg’s)
  • Cocoa Puffs (General Mills)
  • Corn Pops (Kellogg’s)
  • Lucky Charms (General Mills)
  • Frosted Flakes (by Kellogg’s)
  • Honey Nut Cheerios (General Mills)
  • French Toast Crunch (General Mills)
  • Dino Pebbles (Post)
  • Pop-Tarts Crunch (Kellogg’s)
  • Trix (General Mills)
  • Honey-Comb (Post)

Cereal Box Project Names

cereal box project

Cereal Box Project – Photo Credit: Pinterest

Have you been assigned a cereal box project for school? The cereal box project is a great way to create an educational opportunity using old cereal boxes. The project allows students to create a fictional name for their future cereal brand. This project aids student learning in a variety of ways including art, creativity, writing and marketing.

Here are a few strategies you can use to come up with an A+ name: 

  • Maggie’s Munchies – Using your personal name is a popular option for the cereal box project.
  • Alpha-Bids – Creative word play is another common approach used by students. Teachers love these!
  • Dribble Bites – Think about your favorite sport or activity to incorporate into the box design.

For added bonus points make sure to include a “best if used by” date and “manufactured by (insert your name)” fields on the box itself. Good luck!

Cereal Name Suggestion Generator

Still can’t find the right name for your cereal company? Not to worry as there are plenty of free tools out there that can help you out. There are a variety of business name generators that will spit out literally hundreds of ideas in less than a second. The tool we like best is from Shopify.

Most company suggestion tools are pretty basic. They match a core group of keywords with an extensive list of modifiers that could be used to describe almost anything. That being said, you can come up with things you never would have dreamed up on your own, which is kind of the whole point.

Here are a few suggestions I got from the tool using the term bran flake:

  • Legend Bran Flake
  • Bran Flake Local
  • Galaxy Bran Flake
  • Uncommon Bran Flake
  • Bran Flake Limited

We hope this post has provided a few good ideas on how to approach creating a brand name. We believe this lane of the grocery store is primed for a market disruptor like you. If you’re curious about starting your own packaged food company and getting retail distribution, check out our Food Business Startup Kit. It’s free and includes business plan templates, business model canvas, and exclusive interviews with proven food entrepreneurs.

200+ Cereal Brand Name Ideas

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