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Comment by paulitex | Hacker News Reader

Hey pud, OP here.

The thing is, we never say the domain. We say the name of the company. I totally agree that "Learn dot dot com" is confusing. But "Learn dot" isn't. Vast majority of people use Google to find things on the web (that was the theory). Last couple weeks of trying it out has backed that up.

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In that case:

Learndot: "Our company is called learndot."

Customer: "Learn dot what?"

Learndot: "Learn dot nothing - that's the name of the company."

Customer: "Learn dot nothing?"

Learndot: "Well, dot com."

Customer: "Learn dot com? Why didn't you say that?"

Learndot: "No, it's learn dot dot com."

Customer: "Dot dot?"

Learndot: "No, the first dot is spelled dee-oh-tee."

Customer: "???"

I hope I'm not coming across as snarky. Naming isn't easy.

Fair enough - usually I just say "Learndot, dee oh tee" and it's no problem. Though I agree it's not perfect. The other factors balanced it out (spellability, MVP-ness and so forth).

You're right, naming is hard.

Pud is right. You would have been better off going to a naming company/consultant that does this as its trade, and also does the foreign language checks, trademark searches, and so forth. Most large companies outsource that sort of stuff because branding isn't their core competency. Sorry to be so blunt.

I understand that it may be difficult over the phone, but that would be just about the only confusing moment. Although considering they found your phone number, they already know your name. If they find it on the internet your SEO rating is helped by the name a little. If you are talking to them in person, they will have your card in hand or some visual. Also, if they have confusion with the name, you have an excuse to hand it to them. I no issues with this name.

I don't necessarily disagree, but remember that while you may be saying "learn dot," your users/customers are saying "Hey, you should check out learn dot dot com." You can train your team, but you can't train your customers.

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