Personally I haven't ever created a startup, but I have been slightly successful in the marketing realm. Here's some tips:
#1: Create a Unique Name
Now I know this sounds dumb and obvious, but creating a name that sounds to similar to something else in that realm is just not a good idea.
#2: Make it either really abstract, or having an element of what you're doing in it. Microsoft has the word "soft" or software in there. Apple, on the other hand, is completely abstract. Both have been successful.
#3: Make it short. You probably don't want it to be 2 words or having a hyphen in there. Less than 10 characters is preferable.
#4: Make it rememberable. Branding is everything, and generic names like "Beats" and "Apple" have been really successful nowadays. Also, knockoffs of real words are cool too. Think of a bicycle making startup named "Byke".
As for actually coming up with names, I find it actually works best to:
#1 Think about it throughout the day, no matter what you're doing.
and #2 Sleep on it.
#3 Oh, and think about it in the shower too :P
One of my friend was starting a customer loyalty data analytics startup and had "Cube" in his company name for DataCube. Initially I was going to join him and others (all MBAs). When they kept talking about revising business plan that they created in MBA program, I decided to go on my own with a personal data analytics project. But I liked "Cube" as part of analytics project name. As I was addressing data for peer to peer lending space, my wife and I came up with combo word "PeerCube" as the name. We really liked the name. Luckily we got the PeerCube.com domain name as someone had abandoned the ownership after owning it for a few years. I believe name goes very well with what we are doing.
I call it Namestorming (play on Brainstorming). I'll come up with some key words that convey what the product does in 1 word. These will be the root words. Then I'll look up all the synonyms, and any related prefixes or suffixes. I'll put them all in a spreadsheet and try them in different combinations until I come up with some cool ones. Then I'll do a trademark search on the USPTO to make sure it's not already trademarked. Then I'll do a Google search on the name, and see if anything comes up. Then I'll search for the Domain and see if it's available. If it's a Web based product, a service, or something tangible, then I consider the .com is essential. If it's an App based product, then I'm ok with other domains, especially ones that play into the word (for example, one of my unbuilt projects is named infostre.am). Then I'll do a search in the App Store(s) and make sure it's not in use (previous example is in use in the UK, but not in the US). The last test I do is to ask 10 people if they can spell it just based on saying the word verbally. If more than 75% of the people spell it wrong, or everyone spells it different, then that's no good. About 99% of the time, one of the above will fail, and I'll toss the name and start over (usually its the .com domain squatters that ruin it).
With 3 friends, we chated for a few days and put down what we believed would be the ideal name for company of that type.
After several names and several more exclusions that ended up being similar names with other websites or the website was not available we ended up with a name.
www.fitorganizer.com
The best we could figure out to create my start up.
Although we were a team, on the name, i am the completely alone on this project.
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[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 27.1 ms ] threadAs for actually coming up with names, I find it actually works best to: #1 Think about it throughout the day, no matter what you're doing. and #2 Sleep on it. #3 Oh, and think about it in the shower too :P
I hope that helped!
Answer: One Degree (as in one degree of separation between user A and any other user).
Yes others are using the name, but I liked it and I can change it later.
But I named my corporation after a street name in Dubai that I have always liked - Mankhool.
Occasionally someone finds it offensive, but most people love the name so I'm sticking with it.
My product is called BugMuncher
www.fitorganizer.com The best we could figure out to create my start up. Although we were a team, on the name, i am the completely alone on this project.