Use a portmanteau generator for inspiration. Think about what words represent your company holistically. Think about content you're providing. Consider your audience. When you think of something don't tell anyone until it's registered.
I'm no good at picking names. I'm better at "code names", where I basically just find a pop culture reference that makes me laugh, like for an RSS feed reader, I might name it "Seymour" after the character from Little Shop of Horrors ("Feed me, Seymour!"), just as a contrived example.
But my one piece of advice is to make sure your startup name and domain name pass what I call the Bar Test. If your name passes the Bar Test, it'll probably be memorable enough to turn into some conversions.
The test is simple: imagine you're in a loud bar or a concert, and someone asks the name of your company. You yell the name at them, and they scream back "COOL! I'LL CHECK IT OUT ON MY PHONE"
Can they spell it correctly without you having to yell out the letters one-by one?
If your company name is "Onederful" (YC startup), then you'll yell "WONDERFUL" and they'll try and spell it that way -- and be wrong. The obvious tell that your name fails the bar test is if you find yourself constantly spelling it for people: "I work at Wonderful -- O-N-E-D-E-R-F-U-L".
Examples of names that pass the bar test: ZipRecruiter, Zoom, Twitch, Apple, Stripe, Square, Airship, Atrium,
Names that definitely do not pass the bar test: Shypt, Scalyr, Gamelynx, Roofr, Scribd, Symple, Tipe,
To be fair, there are some very popular startups/apps that fail the Bar Test, such as Flickr, but IMO they are the exception rather than the rule.
2 comments
[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 18.4 ms ] threadBut my one piece of advice is to make sure your startup name and domain name pass what I call the Bar Test. If your name passes the Bar Test, it'll probably be memorable enough to turn into some conversions.
The test is simple: imagine you're in a loud bar or a concert, and someone asks the name of your company. You yell the name at them, and they scream back "COOL! I'LL CHECK IT OUT ON MY PHONE"
Can they spell it correctly without you having to yell out the letters one-by one?
If your company name is "Onederful" (YC startup), then you'll yell "WONDERFUL" and they'll try and spell it that way -- and be wrong. The obvious tell that your name fails the bar test is if you find yourself constantly spelling it for people: "I work at Wonderful -- O-N-E-D-E-R-F-U-L".
Examples of names that pass the bar test: ZipRecruiter, Zoom, Twitch, Apple, Stripe, Square, Airship, Atrium,
Names that definitely do not pass the bar test: Shypt, Scalyr, Gamelynx, Roofr, Scribd, Symple, Tipe,
To be fair, there are some very popular startups/apps that fail the Bar Test, such as Flickr, but IMO they are the exception rather than the rule.
Good luck. :)