Do you have an advice on how to come up with a good name?
I was in my beloved Alderman library when "reddit" came to mind, as in "I reddit on reddit" (although this slogan was courtesy of PG). I'd also registered reditt because I couldn't decide which one was better. Granted, I was worried about how poorly it was spelled, but it seemed easy enough to remember.
For a time, it was just added to a long list of potential names. We spent the first month of YC without a confirmed name, but I always stuck with reddit despite being repeatedly told how terrible a name it was :-)
Finally Steve acquiesced and we went with reddit. This was after wasting a solid 2 entire days just hunting for domains -- not a great use of time, I must say.
It was also before instantdomainsearch.com, which I highly recommend.
For, http://www.mobtropolis.com, it came out of the concept of collectively finding interesting things to do that were out of the norm. If they were doing it all at the same time and place, it would be likened to a mob. I figured this sort of thing would only happen in more urban areas with denser concentration of people. Hence after a short brainstorming session..."Mobs in the City" became "Mobtropolis".
I hesitated for a while since it's a 4 syllable word, and people might not remember it. But since I couldn't find anything better, I just went with it.
After a while, a name just grows on you and others, as long as you're consistent about it. It also helps you when you're pitching it if you don't feel stupid saying it. I would imagine del.icio.us wasn't exactly easy to associate with bookmarking, but as long as people consistently associate a name with a clear idea of what your product is, I think it'll be ok.
Testomatix: test + automation + "ix" added in for high-tech-soundiness and anti-domain-squatter non-obviousness.
RentRocket: I loved the alliteration, and got it cheap.
Wincognito: (privacy software and pop-up blocker for windows back before they were free) win + incognito
Ziptuck:(fashion site) I have a theory that similar known names "prime" the mind to remember other like names. (Osama, Obama, Paris Hilton, Perez Hilton) and that the other associations of the 'original name' disappear quickly, so I went with it.
Edit: Also, I suggest moniker's bulk lookup: http://www.moniker.com/domains/batch_reg.jsp
I just kept thinking about it. It is a iterative process. I like flow of consciousness. Two short words together work. Tipping, giving, paying, happy, support, joyful, micro (all all other SI prefixes)...
Shortest words there: tip pay joy
tipjoy.com was available and I immediately purchased it.
2.) Read http://www.thenameinspector.com from beginning to end
3.) Come up with words that describe your ideas then use thesaurus.com
4.) Look to chop words down by syllables and then combine. ie. a personal bookmarking service or online profile service that was described as "my highlights" would become mylights.com.
(It's also amazing to see how bad some of your ideas look a week later.)
I usually think of the idea I am working on and write as many words about it as possible. I then filter/add as needed. After I have a long enough list (and this is where it gets sketchy) I read the words aloud and then set the list aside.
At this point it's worth mentioning that I'm HIGHLY dyslexic and this is where it comes handy: I start mixing the words together in my mind by cutting them up and combining them. This is a process that is very specific to how I might create a name for a project and it might not work for you ;)
Also, I sometimes violate the first rule of the consonant-vowel pattern if I have two words that compliment each other semantically. This can yields the worst results, but it helps filter out what I don't want in a name.
When creating a list of words, I sometimes throw in adjectives that are not related to the concept but evoke a certain feeling/emotion/color. This sometimes helps, sometimes doesn't.
http://www.itanda.com/dictionary.php?Dictionary=EnglishEsper... http://www.kisa.ca/vortaro/
The name, logo type, mascot, tag line etc should all be coherent and consistent.
Here's Steve Yegge on branding: http://blip.tv/file/319044/
We struggled with ours for a while. We had several possibilities that we liked, and started telling people we'd meet at conferences and whatnot. When we talked to them again days later, they would always remember one more than the others. We had several clever names with nice flow and alliteration, but RateMyStudentRental.com is what everyone always remembered (though for us, this is most likely due to the already-existing and popular ratemyprofessors.com).
The easiest way to do this (and advice elsewhere here in the comments) is to switch up different descriptors of your idea, businees, etc into something where you can get a free domain.
I did this for my startup, Fabjectory, and it was even written up by The Name Inspector:
http://www.thenameinspector.com/fabjectory/
- Mike
It's a tools that lets you check the availability of domain names on the fly, without reloading pages. They index available domains and then display the results based on what you type in. the result is that you get the availability quickly, but it's not always up to date (as we found out after several "available" names were really taken).
It's still a powerful tool and a great brainstorming help.
Email addresses it would be really annoying to give out over the phone.
It took us months to think of a domain name we really liked. We thought we'd have to settle for something we hated. But we didn't -- we thought of something, and we love it.
Nice try...I already registered it :)!
Flickr, et al.
or perhaps, "muzzle" ??
;)
remindsyou.com (mine) routetracker.com
That's a great name, I'm sure you will get a lot of publicity if you do your PR right.
All you need is a good lawyer ;-)
Great domain right there!
Myfacebookinrtube.com