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9 Comments

Chose a name!

It's hard to pick a name. All the best ones are taken or the .com isn't available or you just can't settle on one or dozens of other problems with naming. Naming is hard, as they say.

I picked Polyvars. Poly, like many. Vars, like variables. There are many variables that make up sites and apps and to change them currently takes coding and deployment. Polyvars enables people to tweak those bits with a text input and a save button.

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    Are there any projects or tips for coming up with a cool name?

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      Caleb’s tips are great! I find that a shower is a great place to brainstorm names. It’s just something about that warm water and lack of distractions.

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        🤣, naming projects is just not my thing. I'm shocked how many names have been taken or parked on the .com TLD. How important is it to have a .com address? It's preferable but surely a solid name is more vital?

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      I ended up with BugJail.com by making a small program that generates names by combining seed words, and then feeding the result list to a batch domain name checker, and then feeding list of remaining names that had a free .com domain to USPTO registered trademark search, and then walking to the supermarket while asking random people on the street what they think about my favourite of the remaining candidates.

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      Tips:

      • hyphenation e.g. the-ux-mini-course.com
      • use a TLD that completes a phrase e.g. thedailystartup.club
      • create a portmanteau by smashing words together e.g. excelerant.pro (excel + accelerant)
      • append a meaningful (or random) number to make a generic word unique e.g. cubicle6.com
      • pick a weird TLD e.g. 8bar.monster

      Tools:

      namecheap.com domain search is my sandbox for project naming. It’s so fast to try ideas, get inspiration, and see what’s available (and affordable)

      Disclaimer: those sites are all mine 😅

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    I know that https://startupnamecheck.com/ allows you to check not only whether a domain name is taken (.com, .org, .io, etc.), but also its corresponding social media accounts (Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, etc.).

    It should be able to help you.

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    you can also add app at the end.
    eg polyvarsapp.com if polvars.com is not available.

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    I've been battling with the same problem. It's one of those initial decisions that sets the tone for the rest of the project. I also ran into the constraint with the .com domain names and eventually decided it would be easier to register a "co.za" instead.

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