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Ask HN: What's in a name? Serious or fun?

4 points by drewcrawford ↗ HN
My startup is working on a name for a new product we're launching. We've got two "working titles" so far. We haven't registered the domains yet, so here are the descriptions:

A) This one is fun, in a sort of edgy way, and lends itself well for a metaphor for the product (which might help cut down on explanation complexity). It's seven characters, two syllables, easy to remember, interesting, and describes what we do well. It verbs well. However, we are concerned about its negative connotations: specifically, one of the words describes a felony (think along the lines of MacHeist).

B) I find this one slightly more boring, but it's fairly descriptive and is more focused on the community/userbase does with our product than on what the product actually is. A ten character, three-word three-syllable sentence. One of those del.icio.us -like names, but we can get the .com name too. Doesn't verb, not quite as interesting/edgy, but certainly won't scare anyone off. Feels good, in a sunshine-and-puppies sort of way.

I can't tell you much about our target market, primarily because we haven't launched yet and don't have any users :-)

So--would a name like MacHeist scare you off or intrigue you? Or would you prefer a name that's more friendly/neighborly?

Also: know any good (cheap) logo artists?

4 comments

[ 4.9 ms ] story [ 24.3 ms ] thread
run4yourlives
This is a little off the wall, but why don't you register them both, and then as your first users what they think? Have a vote. Get's them involved in the site, and makes them feel special, like all early adopters want.

A little off the wall, but it solves your problem with little effort.

arvernus
I'd recommend to register both domains for a few bucks and ask again with naming the actual working titles.

I think I personally would prefer the serious name.

For your logo: we got ours from http://www.designcontest.net/ - you pay $150 (or as much more as you like to) plus I think about $20 fee and describe what you want. You get several logo concepts from several artists and can comment on them. When you finally really like one of the logos, you close the contest and the logo is yours. Have a look at the forums (http://www.designcontest.net/forum/).

alex_c
For logos, you can try running a contest on a site like worth1000.com (there are other similar sites, but that's the one we used). You get a lot of choices for only a couple hundred bucks, and you can always work with the artist to refine your top choice.

edit: didn't see the comment above before I posted.

ScottWhigham
Why not run Google ads for both for 48 hours and then compare the click throughs? Let the market suggest to you which they prefer.

==============================

Ad 1:

MacHeist Can Help

Save time, money, frustration

Online help - Just $39.95

------------

Ad 2: SunshinePuppy Can Help

Save time, money, frustration

Online help - Just $39.95

==============================

All in all you'll likely spend $50 or less. One suggestion: have an email/beta signup form on the landing page to capture folks who are interested.

As for good (cheap) logo designs, there are lots of places to find good logo designers and lots of places to find cheap logo designers. Why cheapen a good product/domain name with a cheap logo? IMO logo design is a major part of branding - you shouldn't cheap out here.