Ask HN: Naming an App is brutal, What did you consider? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Naming an App is brutal, What did you consider?

7 pointsbruceb11 comments

Trying to name an App Racked my brain for days. Of course almost everything is taken.

It is a social space (we don't have enough of those apps right)

I have a few names.

#1 Is made up word that is easy to say and a bit related to a real word I would like to use (but another app is using the real word). If you say it most people would be able to spell it when searching on app/play store

Though the made up word a few people have said it vaguely reminds them of a male body part/something dirty. One person said it could be name for gay hookup app.

If you google the made up word there are less than 75k results and nothing specific or dirty/naughty.

I wonder if the possible vague connotation would prevent people from downloading or effect branding?

#2 Is an existing word but missing an "e" (think flickr). Easy to say, can get any domain with alternative spelling (but .com)

Only problem is when searching people would most likely include the "e"

Could also use full name also though for that google returns 150m results. While there is no other app with the exact name, there are a decent amount who have it in there description. Might hurt finding it in app/play store?

#3 Same name as a generic product but with different first letter but sounds the same. Only 600k results on google, most for the generic product. Might sound too much like pure chat app, and to lite sounding for the app, not convey meaning of the app. (Though one can chat in the app).

Thoughts on what you considered when naming an app? Or thoughts on what my thinking is (and if wrong) would be great.

This decade-old guide has always been my favourite in regards to naming: https://www.igorinternational.com/process/evocative-product-...

Based on this guide "CockroachDB", a perennial favourite of HN to argue about, is one of the best out there. (Some) negative, or complex, emotions are absolutely acceptable for a product, even desirable. They highlight "Plan B" for the morning-after pill as an example.

You may want to tag on something generic/descriptive if you're going for discoverability in the AppStore (as opposed to people searching for your product specifically).

Didn't know about this guide, checking out now and the discussion on CockroachDB's naming discussion.

(I see a title: "CockroachDB Skitters into Beta" which is great).

For me it makes me think a database that can't be killed. I think it is good but will read the threads to see what others think

Yes, and check out guides by other naming agencies as well. There's a book called Don't Call It That, which I recommend.

Figured I'd offer the legal perspective on this question:

For #1, how close to the "real word" is it? And how related is your app to the other one using the real word? Are you opening yourself up to a lawsuit from the company that offers the other app?

For #2, why are there a decent number of apps that use that name in the description? Is it because the word (with the "e") is descriptive of what the app does? Is it descriptive of what your app does? If so, you'll have difficulty protecting your brand name.

For #3, is what your app does related in any way to the generic product? Again, I'd be concerned about your ability to protect the name. Changing the first letter to another that sounds the same will do almost nothing from that point of view.

I know you're really looking for more marketing-related feedback. But figured this could be helpful as well :)

I picked my name based on what I feel to be a key feature of my product: ease of use and less time from start to a finished product. That made me come up with Breakneck Install. It is installation creation software (currently EXE but the true v1 will only do MSI and will look a lot better than what the current version does) with a goal of getting out of your way to make it the easiest experience when creating a MSI.

I brought some name ideas to MTurk and asked 200 people for feedback. Very glad I did this. Was fascinating seeing similar comments come up repeatedly but entirely independently - comments I hadn't anticipated. I presented seven names. Of the best two, one was much more popular than the other, but the things that people who liked the second name liked about it were much more diverse and interesting. It didn't have the broadest support but it had the deepest support. I'll likely go with it. There are lots of necessary sources of stress when naming, but one unnecessary one is wondering how representative your own intuitions about names are. Asking people and having your fears validated (positively or negatively) feels great.

Why are you so reluctant to divulge the candidate names you've chosen? Probability of gaining valuable feedback is far greater than your concerns over stealth or theft.

I like to use naming conventions. Non-english vocabulary tends to hit my sweet spot. For a period, all my code names for internal tools were short japanese words that did not have widespread recognition in American English. "jisho", for example, which translates to "dictionary" makes a great name for a library of hash functions. Currently digging on Sanskrit. "prem" which means "love" and sounds like heaven itself is recognized around the globe. Or "autamika," perhaps less well known, but means "the highest place in the heavens where the Gods make their thrones" or "to head in a northerly direction".

Thanks for the feedback. I didnt know Prem means love, I have seen it South/South East Asia.

I may post names though for now might hold back...

Pick a name composed of two simpler names like Facebook or Snapchat. I ended up with Sublevel.net as a domain 3 years ago.

I have tried that but was coming up with things to generic and more names that where just nouns than a names that could be noun or verb.

to go further, make it sound like a bad Chinese translation (Face book, snap chat).

Let's apply this to various kinds of apps:

Dating and marriage -- Love house

Hookup -- Sexy Quick

Chat -- Talk Now

Email -- Letter Exchange

Photoshop -- Photo Change

does it work? I think so. I could see all of the above working as well as Facebook or Snapchat do. Writing the above lines took me just seconds and I could see any of them working.

Excellent advice TBH. Never thought of it before. By the way I totally forgot htat Exchange is a letter server: and a wildly successful one. (From Microsoft). For this reason you would have to choose something different for that - like Letter Trade. still, the point stands :)

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