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Comment by CharlesW | Hacker News Reader

The suffix "-ify" means "to become, or to make someone or something become, something". So if you make an app that allows a photo to become a virtual canvas, "Canvify" is short, unique name that's at least semi-self-descriptive.

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I understand the convention. And I don’t want to be too negative.

But it’s a really awkward sounding name. And in tech I see naming conventions in products that go in and out of fashion. ‘-ly’, ‘-fy’, ‘i-‘, ‘-(2 digit year)’.

Yeah I agree "Canvify" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue nicely. I probably could've spent more time brainstorming a better name, but mainly I wanted something unique and somewhat related to artwork/canvases. For better or for worse, it's such a unique name that this is the only app that shows up in the App Store when searching "canvify"!

You done good. NEVER let brainstorming and bikeshedding for the perfect name delay you from writing code for one nanosecond. (Just do that in your free time while you're taking a walk or riding a bike or sleeping, and rename it later.)

If your idea isn't any good without the perfect name, then you idea isn't any good.

That being said, how about Canv-O-Matic? No?

Yup agreed, I’m guilty of spending arguably wayy too much time brainstorming the “perfect” name for projects in the past and figured that time is better spent in development making the product better, worst case scenario I could probably rebrand down the line.

Now that you mention Canv-O-Matic, it’d be pretty unique and I like how it implies an automatic canvas!

It's inspired by the epic Super Bass-O-Matic '76 (Bicentennial Edition):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbIbyUdA_B4

And the Bat-O-Matic '77 (Halloween Edition):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKllBHvpZcE

And also the Super Bass-O-Matic 2150 (40th Anniversary Edition):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy3RMMUScOE

Dan Aykroyd Explains the Bass-O-Matic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c06HorsmhjY

Dan Aykroyd as Jimmy Carter explaining Letter Sorting Machines and Reassuring Panicky Teens on Acid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-68iTvhWNB0

(But I digress...)

You would have said the same thing about Spotify or even Google if they were released today. If Canvify becomes big it will feel just as natural.

Adding a suffix is an obvious way to differentiate yourself from the generic form of the word. Obnoxious complaint and strange thing to hold a grudge against.

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