How do you create names for startups, web apps, etc. that are memorable and convey what the product does?
So far I, I can only think of names that make sense, in which case the domain name is already taken, and names that don't make sense (I've started trying non-English languages).
Any suggestions?
We tried lots of languages (Greek, Spanish, Cherokee, you name it!) and even looked at cocktails (hint from Gimlet Media)...but nothing felt right...at the end we figured it needs to be something super simple but also tied into other aspects of what we're doing...
Since most of our users are traveling, we thought about things you see while traveling (animals, famous places, etc) as well as the actions you take (packing, moving, flying, etc)...in the end we loved the idea of "pack" -- it can be a noun, verb, whatever you want...but it was obviously taken across social media...
So we played around with Pak, Pakk, Pacq, Paqk, etc. We settled on Pak & Paq then ran it by some friends--good thing!!!--as apparently Pak is a racist slur for Pakistanis (never knew that)...so we went with Paq which fits into "have you Paq-ed for your trip?" "drop a Paq" and our mascot...Ally the Alpaqa!
Another tip is to think about what your core demographic is and play to those languages/strengths...While we loved "caja" (spanish for box) in Hebrew (we're based in Tel Aviv) it sounds like "cacha" which means "so-so"
Hope this helps!
* Namium - http://www.naminum.com
* The Name App - http://thenameapp.com
There are some more sites like these but more focused on domain names, all from here - https://blog.growth.supply/300-awesome-free-things-e07b3cd5f...
One of my big rules was that I didn't want it to sound too _gamey_. This is a _simulation_, not a _game_. I also wanted it to sound kind of unique. The other thing is...the .com. You wouldn't think .com domain names related to snails would be very popular, but all the snail.com stuff I tried had already been snagged! My list of brainstormed names included, but was not limited to, the following:
* Snails
* Snail Simulator (sounded too gamey because of all the other simulator games, but I registered the domain just in case)
SnailWorld.com (unavailable)
* SnailTales (too gamey and cutesy sounding)
* TheSnails
In the end I settled on...wait for it...Gastropoda.
It sounded unusual and the use of the name of the snails' taxonomic class kind of promoted the simulation over the game aspect. Ignore the fact that slugs should then also fall into this...and are not included in the simulation. But as for the .com - even gastropoda.com was already taken!! I ended up registering gastropodasim.com and learning to live with it.
But it never quite felt right. I kind of resigned myself to not being 100% happy with the name - I just needed _a_ name. And then...I learned of the .life TLD. Screw the long _gastropodasim.com_! I saw that snail.life was available!
And, urged by the sheer appropriateness of this name and domain name to the thing I am actually making, I learned to drop the .com and renamed the project to SnailLife.
In the end availability of domains and some hard rules on the message I wanted to get across (unique, not too gamey-sounding) was what drove the naming of my simulation for me.
Gastropodasim would never be the name of my choice.
Also, namestation does good job in helping to crowdsource the naming (domain names) problem.
Found an article suggesting some ideas behind choosing a good name. http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239556
The main advantages of the app over what already exists are:
- Minimalist design - Faster - Simpler - New features - Works on mobile devices
That article is useful, thanks!
Otherwise the time spent trying to think of a unique, non-taken name that is easily recalled and spelled/pronounced is a little too much trouble than it's worth at this stage I'd bet.