How do you name your projects? + Your project name and link

I tend to hunt for domains while thinking of project names, then I compile a list of available domains and go from there.

Sometimes it only takes a few domain look-ups and other times it takes hundreds, but there is something that clicks (no pun intended) when you find a .COM domain available for a name you really like.

I thought a lot about potential names before settling on Letterbase :)

Here are some heuristics that I look out for when choosing a name:

1. The Bar Test. Make sure other people can understand your name and how to spell it, even if you say it in a noisy, crowded bar.
2. Domain name. Make sure the name has a good domain name available. I prefer .com and .io
3. Related to your business. It's helpful if people automatically have a general idea of what you do just by hearing your name.

As for the method I use to come up with names, I generally like ideating a bunch of different words that are somehow related to my business, and then somehow combining them or tweaking them to form a brand name.

So for Letterbase, I knew I wanted to focus on asynchronous messages first, so the concept of "letters" (as in, sending a letter through the mail) made sense to me. So you can roughly think of "Letterbase" as a "base" for all of your "letters" 😄

I usually take what the project is about and then come up with a list of words (and synonyms). I'll start with some pretty basic domains (I assume have already been taken but want to check) and then go into more complex ideas (combining words for example). I prioritize .com and .io since those are my preference.

That's how I came up with https://minimaps.io

I used to try to be "clever" with names and follow the trend of removing vowels, adding extra letters, sticking letters like "ly" at the end of a word...but I'm currently much more focused on just getting to the point. The name I picked for an experiment I'm running describes the value I'm hoping to deliver: BetterProduct.co

I've done a lot of product consulting over the past decade. The outcome of that consulting is to help people build a better product...so why not just have that be the name?

I've picked Bee Informed because it was partly what it is about (about consumers being informed), but I've also made it to be "BEE", like a honey bee, bumblebee, because of the way this consumer has to collect their sources of information (promotions, deals). Like a bee, flying around from flower to flower, collecting nectar.

Anyway, we're on product hunt todah, feel free to check it out
https://www.producthunt.com/posts/bee-informed

I recently wrote an article about how I name things. I personally don't think generators work that well in coming up with final names, but they can provide some inspiration.

Here's my process: https://atay.me/posts/how-to-name-startups/

Cool! If you generated a logo as well that'd be sweet.

I settled on Portabella totally at random, was first Portobello but I thought Portabella sounded better.

I can't remember the exact word but I translated something like vault or safe or something into Samoan and that sounded great. Decided not to go with that though

Mix and matching keywords, and parts of keywords until I land on anything decent. Next, if a domain name is available, I'll write it down.

A few names over the years:
Samgine.com (enigmas backwards)
SVGBackgrounds.com (literally the keyword)
Visiwig.com (played with VIS, short for visual, and blended with the acronym Wysiwyg)

I just want to find something fun and memorable. Also, capture a business keyword at the same time. So I made VirtualMojito.com - a curated list of tools for virtual events and experience @zapzap40

I brainstormed (with my girlfriend and some alcohol) a long list of names, brought it back to 5 that I liked, check the domain names and then tested the final 2 options with a group of people that I see as potential client. The score on that was 22-3, so pretty easy choice!

I wonder why so many focus on the exact .com domain name?
The newsletter app Revue uses 'getrevue.co' - to me that's good and close enough. The exact name is a "nice to have" - a related .com domain is a "must have"
For my project, insightmatters.com was not available, but https://financeinsightmatters.com was. A bit long, but clear and easy.

In the end, it's more about if customers / users understand and resonate with the name than our internal preference!

I usually combine two words, since I want to 1/ be able to purchase .com domain 2/ I want to make it easy for people to pronounce the name (without having to guess).

Some examples:

• Contact Cache - "a secret place for your contacts"
• Textwok - I used "wok" as a the thing where you put stuff in and mix it to create something (this was inspired a little bit by Social Bakers app)