How did you come up with the name of your product? Share link + story
I came across @sergeyk's post last week about choosing the name for his website, and I thought it was really interesting. Product names are so critical, yet there is no real formula for coming up with one. It seems like the best ones are a blend of the descriptive and the imaginative. I'm curious to hear from others in the community about how they came up with their name.
So how about it? How did you come up with your name? And do you think you came up with a good one, or would you rebrand if you were doing it all over again?
For those who have rebranded: what was your name initially, and what made you change it?
Here's Sergey's post about Singing Carrots: https://www.indiehackers.com/post/growing-carrots-how-i-chose-a-brand-name-that-drives-100k-sessions-month-cff9df2205?commentId=-Mv4zF8IO-GpOaegang6
PS His website is super fun... I'd recommend checking it out if you've got ten minutes and want a laugh!
For Indie Hackers, I spent an entire day brainstorming names.
The best decision I made early on was a strategic one -- to make the name a demonym. A demonym is a noun used to denote the members of a particular place or group, e.g. "Americans" for people in the USA, "Stripes" for people who work at Stripe, "Redditors" for people who are members of Reddit, etc. I know I wanted to create a website about a particular type of person, so I figured it'd be smart to give these people a name as a group, a demonym that I could "own." Then it'd be free marketing for my site in the future, if it ever got popular and people started referring to themselves with the demonym.
Of course, I had no idea what the name would be. I had some truly awful ideas on my list, including "Wage Hackers," "Dream Hackers," and "Wage Breakers." Ew.
"Indie Hackers" was first on my list, but the domain was taken, so I almost went with "Indie Founders" instead, which is fine, but not as distinctive imo. I'm glad I was able to get the domain I wanted in the end.
(cc @lynnetye — You should share! You have my favorite product name ever.)
Hmmm... I just heard a similar story on a little show named Art of Product....
It really is always interesting to hear about how founders come up with their product/business names.
Some people like you puts very intentional thought into their name, thinking about the long term effects and the end goal for your business/community.
While others try to find the shortest, or most dramatic name they can. Sometimes even going with a generic word like "carrot". But even then, their can always be interesting follow on effects of it.
Great to know this! :)
I’m going to be the most boring comment ever 😅 since the names that I made are super basic for one good reason. Since I sell products in the AWS Marketplace which are basically different types of servers. I decided not to come up with proprietary names for the products, but rather pick the common ones to not create confusion:
The idea is to make sure that when people search on the AWS Marketplace they will search for the specific type of product (what do I want? Well I want a VPN server), rather than a custom name. Then in the title of the product I also include the special feature of that product to give an idea of what to expect.
Olwi
Spent a few mins with this random name. I wanted something short. It doesn't mean anything, I just like it.
https://loudness.fm
Decided to name my product after its most basic feature: loudness correction for podcasts. That, combined with the fact that the domain loudness.fm was somehow available for cheap.
A caveat is that it's hard to search for on Google—"loudness" is a common word after all. So I wouldn't be opposed to a rebrand in the future. Let me know if you have any ideas :)
Hi ! Just saw your landing page. Advice:
You can do like https://krisp.ai/ and put a concrete example to see how your soft is working 😉
Been thinkin about that but never got around to actually implementing it. Will toy with it when I get a chance. Thanks for your advice! :)
"Overmind" (www.overmind.wiki)
It's a shared note-taking app for "dumb questions" at work. Honestly, it just sounded kind of cool and made me think of my old Starcraft days. The company is called "Evil Master Plan", so making a vaguely ominous-sounding product fit right in line.
I did not consider SEO when naming - "Overmind" is an uphill battle. Lesson learned.
Name: https://ignorenomore.agency/
I own a branding agency and have pages of name ideas, but when it came to naming my company I had a hard time!
Eventually, I wrote down what my goal for the agency was in conversational terms. My branding style is fun, colorful, and very eye-catching, so I wrote "to build brands that were impossible to ignore".
As soon as I saw the alliteration in the phrase "impossible to ignore" I decided to play with it a bit and fell into "ignore no more". It rhymed just enough to get stuck in people's heads, and the phrase was unusual and recognizable.
Any keywords to do with "saaS", "startup", "branding", or "agency" around the phrase were wide open (there is an app with the same name, but zero relation so i didn't think people would get confused).
I considered the grammatically correct "ignored no more" but stuck with the present tense version.
Now I get DM's from people at least 1x a week saying how much they love my company name/site copy, so it really sells my services perfectly!
It's really amazing, Sophia. I like it.
Thank you Atul!
My pleasure!
Playgroundera.com comes from the word "playground"
It is a tool that lets people instantly launch their ideas and start smoke testing them.
The concept of "playground" where they can just play and experiment with their ideas reflects that nicely we thought. The history of it comes from my local development actually. The folder name of all code project in my computer is called "playground", all the projected I play with :)
I'm actually still kind of pleasantly surprised I managed to come up with a name I was happy with for Konbini, because it just kind of came to me after I'd been brainstorming names for a while and wasn't really coming up with anything I actually liked. It's also completely different from the direction I was going in with the other names I was brainstorming, because otherwise I was mostly coming up with boring, multi-word descriptive names.
That being said, I think it actually fits the product really well, even though it just popped into my head on its own. It's short and cute (which is an aesthetic I like), but also appropriate, because the product is something that makes it easier to integrate with ecommerce platforms, and konbini is a term for Japanese convenience stores (which, by the way, are fantastic).
I love the name Konbini!
It definitely feels cute right off the bat, and my first thought was Kanbans, which fits the products/physical goods theme. And the concept of Japanese efficiency.
FYI Konbini is a big online magazine in France! https://www.konbini.com
My identity as a service (abbreviated as idaas) solution is simply named after what it is: idaas. Or to be specific, I've named it idaas.nl (idaas dot NL) to distinguish it from other products.
I like it! Do you think you'll run into issues caused by using a country code TLD even though there's nothing actually limiting your product to that country?
There are indeed some downsides. I think I should rename the product once.
http://blockpay.tech
We brainstormed for 2-3 days but our vision was clear from the start which led us to deciding on BlockPay (Blockchain + Payment). We aim to make Google Pay but for Crypto. :)
Great topic, I'm thinking of rebranding so your post is very timely.
Original name is Exportator
It's supposed to be about "Export", as in "Exporting your digital products".
Indiehackers, we tend to think that since we sell products online, we don't need to optimize for international sales. But it's false: Languages, purchasing power parity, cultures, are very different around the world.
Therefore, Exportator helps you "export" abroad.
Unfortunately, most people have a hard time saying it or catching the meaning.
I was thinking about rebranding for something much more direct: PromoTracker, PromoNerds, PricingNerds,... But promo stuff related immediately feel cheap and salesy.
What do you think of the name "Exportator"? Do you have better ideas? We're now basically turning into a "promo code management center".
Hey Jules! The link you dropped takes me to the IH homepage. Could you link to your website instead of the IH product page, maybe?
I'll definitely give you some thoughts once I can see the site!
https://www.exportator.com/
That's it, thanks Felix!
I think your website looks really nice, and your value proposition comes across clearly... But I don't think Exportator is that descriptive of what you do. Something like "Promo Code Wizard" or "Promo Manager" or "Promo Toolkit" seems like it would be more accurate?
What do you think?
(late to the party but) I like @brandonHacker's naming ideas and actually wrote a post on my naming process for my agency.
For Exportator though, I'd start with key benefits/pain avoidance
What's the key benefit you're giving them?
What’s the key fear you’re helping them avoid?
since it’s a "promo code management center”, my thought is:
So perhaps “promodash” since it's a dashboard.
You could also go completely out of the box with something like
Fellow Econ nerd here.
SimpleX Chat: https://simplex.chat/
From "simplex communication" which describes a network where information is sent in a unidirectional manner.
See this article about the use of unidirectional messaging in military equipment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unidirectional_network?wprov=sfla1
I just rebranded my to-do list app from Complice to Intend. The old name was chosen to be like "accomplice", but nobody could pronounce or spell it.
The new name directly points at the main verb in the app, which is intending what to do today/next.
Full post here: https://intentionality.substack.com/p/complice-is-now-intend
I came up with a list of placeholder names to use temporarily, and I let my then dev at the pick one. over a year later, I've put other names up for a poll which I thought were a lot better than our current, but they keep voting for current name. so users are familiar with it or it's grown on them.
https://thetradehub.net
https://tradehub.pro
https://hardcover.app
Since we're a social network for readers, we were split between trying to use real book industry terms or trying to do a play on words. After deciding to position ourselves targeting serious book lovers (as opposed to people who only read occasionally), I focused on more luxurious standalone book-related words.
I was initially thinking about BookEnd, but didn't want to go with the uncertainty of renting a domain (shiver).
Once I found hardcover when brainstorming it was an easy choice!
Came up with the name based on the simple functionality of the product casinoonlineflash.it, which initially was about creating shorter clips from longform videos and luckily the domain was easily available but then the product has pivoted into taking timestamped notes for learning, analysis and feedback.
So, the name no longer communicates the essence of the product.
https://reclipped.com
Came up with the name based on the simple functionality of the product, which initially was about creating shorter clips from longform videos and luckily the domain was easily available but then the product has pivoted into taking timestamped notes for learning, analysis and feedback.
So, the name no longer communicates the essence of the product.
We came up with the name Squeaky because we were thinking about being a very non-intrusive and privacy-first product - 'being as quiet as a mouse' and mice only really do little squeaks haha. It's a bit silly, and our logo has a mouse (cursor) styled as a cheese. We originally thought we'd do a really cheese-themed brand, like 'un-brie-lievable prices' and stuff, but decided to keep the mouse/cheese reference to a minimum...not sure if that was a wise call or not.
Last year I needed to do my taxes for my company. I went over to my bank's website and found they only provide PDF statements. I thought "this is ridiculous", and started working on some code to extract the line items from my statements.
I assumed a lot of banks would only provide PDF statements so I figured other people would have this problem. When I came up with the name for my website I wanted something straight forward, and something that people might search for in Google.
I ended up with Bank Statement Converter:
https://bankstatementconverter.com/
That is simple, descriptive, and searchable. I think it's a good one!
Thank you @brandonHacker for the post.
I've been struggling to find a name for my '5-minute reports newsletter' about Blockchain and Crypto.
It was a cliche but, I had to take this hard decision to use the word #Crypto in the name for "The Crypto Journal" (https://www.thecryptojournal.club/)
Still not sure if it's the perfect name or not.
What about something like "Crypto in 5 minutes"? Or "Crypto News Flash"?
Although, I don't think Crypto Journal is bad... Journal just connotes longer-form material to me.
What do you think?
Makes sense :)
https://ramen.network
My co-founder came up with the name. It is a platform for freelancers where they get a free, lean marketing page. Similar to linkedin but optimised for freelance workers
She chose the name because ramen is closely linked to the start-up ecosystem. There are many stories of founders living off ramen noodles so that all their spare money goes towards building their dream
I like this a lot!
Haha, I have a love-hate relationship when it comes to naming my projects. I've spent way more time on this than I'd like to admit.
For MyCheckins, the goal was to make the name super simple and dead obvious for anyone who read it. And I think we did it right.
Getting here was not easy. I came up with 30+ options before picking this. Some were SaaS-y, some were productivity-based, but in the end - the simplest name won.
Async team check-ins for you and your team. MyCheckins.
Simple, memorable, accurate. Seems like a good one!
I posted about this on my blog earlier this week.
The etymology for Cloudgenda is based on the composition of two words: cloud and agenda.
Cloudgenda is basically a platform that enables an administrator of an organization to understand better understand its business data so that he or she can make better decisions for its customers.
The "agenda" part comes in the picture when administrators log in to their dashboard: they see everything that is important to them.
I wanted a name that had at most three syllables and that could fit in a Twitter handle without issues.
So there it is. :)
https://unzip.dev/
For the newsletter idea I came up with words that are relevant or have a nice play on the idea. Then I usually work with https://domai.nr and https://instantdomainsearch.com to find if the domains are available - you don't want a name without an amazing domain accompanying it nowadays, do you?
Before committing to a domain, I decided to see if I'm serious about this newsletter. I set a 3 issue milestone. Meaning I had to see if I managed to write 3 issues and see if it was fun. Otherwise, this would be just another project with a domain I don't use.
I had several one-word domains I liked but didn't love. Most of them were expensive. While I concentrated on creating the content for the newsletter while adding new names over time. I asked a few good friends what they thought about the names, they helped me filter out some weird ones - TIP: it's good to have friends to ground you back to reality.
One of my friends noticed unzip.dev and immediately told me he is buying it if I'm not going to, this was the first indicator 😅
Eventually, unzip.dev just grew on me, sleeping on it really helped (considering that the domain cost $180 a year, forever (!)). Unzip is a techie/developer-related word, it fits the whole “unpacking developer trends” idea. It is catchy, the
.devdomain was available, what else could I ask for?!It reminded me of when you have a relationship that starts platonically, but over some time together, in some rare cases, it changes, and the romance begins. It took more than I want to confess, but the moment I knew, I tried real hard not to buy it. Problem was, I already used it all over my material - so I felt like I have to have it at that point. Eventually I stuck to my word, only when I hit the 3 issue milestone and I pulled the trigger.
I love unzip.dev! Seems well-suited for the use case. 👌🏻
Thanks!
https://www.grepmed.com - Former software engineer, turned physician. Looking for a way to shortcut the information retrieval process as our reference resources are all overwhelming walls of text.
The few former engineers in medicine understand the "grep" origin, but in retrospect most of our users (physicians) find the name confusing. I like it though which is what matters 😋
I almost used grep too :) How do you explain it to your current customer base?
LOL Usually it goes something like this:
-- Rep Med?
-- No. GREPMed
-- What?
-- GREP.... Med... Grep is a relic of my CS days... it's a unix command that helps you quickly parse data from large text files...
Sometimes a good start is to see what domain names are available and to brainstorm ideas off that info. Check out Little.domains for a good place to start. Some example ideas that you'd find: laky.io, zide.io, ram.app, wintery.co
Seeing what is available can get the creative juices flowing.
The goal is to help people find simple, brandable domain names. I'm working on a name generator to go with it.
2 weeks ago I've joined a micro-saas hackathon(https://komunite.com.tr/micro-saas-hackathon/). the organizers matched 1 designer with 1 dev, after we team-up we started building a product for 48 hours. After 26 hours, after a little, while checking dumb domain names and extensions that nobody uses, a came up with this name; appslug.com it's pretty cool tho' it tells what it does. we generate landing pages for mobile apps in 10 seconds if you are published your app already.
Well, for Wicked Templates I wanted Bespoke Templates but it was taken...
Then I had this word that I got stuck that I liked a lot the sound and it got stuck on my head from my British friends.... and Ali G.
Also, I did some research and ask around how it sounded to them.
So I kept it.
I like the name! It sticks.
It does!
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I like it! Grind Zero is catchy and memorable.