How To Pick A Good Brand Name

Picking a good name for a business is tough — picking a good name with an available website domain is even more difficult! Snagging a good domain can be a complicated, expensive investment. If you don't have the cash, you'll have to get creative! Here are some guidelines to follow when deciding on a name for your business.

.com is the best

It's okay to use other domain endings, but a .com reigns supreme. It commands the respect and a presence that other domain endings cannot. It also shows to others you're a serious business — arcade.io is a school project; arcade.com is a respectable business.

It's easily pronounceable

Make sure someone can read the word. It's slightly annoying when people have to hesitate before saying the brand to you. When running Hermae, people would always pause... "it's pronounced 'her-may' right?" ... Yes! But they shouldn't have to ask. It makes conversations a lot easier when people are confident they know how to say it. Pronouncing "GIF" is a good example of how annoying it can be.

People know how to spell it when you say it

Brands grow through word of mouth. If someone can't figure out how to spell the domain when they're searching it, they won't ever get to use the product. I own zookeenee.com. This is probably a bad domain name because if, in real life, someone asks in passing "what is that you're using?" and the other says "oh it's zookeenee! it's awesome!" — the person might not be able to find it. They'll search "zuchini" "zuccini" "zukini" or other variations. They'll probably never guess "zookeenee."

Also, avoid starting with letters that can be interchanged; a C or K both can make the same sound. If your startup is named "Kars.com", people will probably start by searching Cars.com. Not what you want.

Avoid using a meaningless prefix

Be careful about prefixing your domain with another word. For example, when I was co-founder of Arcade, we went with the domain usearcade.com. If you've visited the website before and try to revisit by typing in the URL bar of your web browser, you probably won't remember the "use" part of the domain. And some web browsers that use string-matching won't recognize the domain from your history as you type "arca-". It adds friction and makes your website a little bit harder to find. Instead "arcadetokens.com" or "arcadeplatform.com" would've been better — even though we can't get arcade.com, we at least still get the autocomplete when someone types "arcade".

It has intrinsic meaning to the product

Maybe obvious, but the product should have a clear association to what your product actually does. "Muscle Milk" is a great example; milk with added proteins! Make sure your name is relevant to what you're building.

Avoid negative denotations & connotations

Before you buy a domain, look up what that word means in the dictionary. You might be surprised! I was once building a social network, and I really liked the word "Tomcats." My papa worked on designing the F-14 Tomcat and it followed these other rules well. When I looked up the word, imagine my face when the informal definition is "a sexually aggressive man; a womanizer" — not good for a social app! Next!

Also, beware of translations or hidden meanings. Glizzy.com rolls off the tongue, right? Well, it means "hot dogs" to a lot of people. If your brand has nothing to do with hot dogs, this would pose a problem. Make sure there isn't some underlying meaning to your word already.

Avoid competing with existing brands

I'd never call anything I'm building "Apple XYZ" because Apple is already well-known. Avoid competing with a company that has dominance in the brand space already. They will be incentivized to push you out of search engine results and race with you to claim domains and social handles with the name. If the name isn't being used by a large brand already, you might be able to compete here and snatch up some brand real estate. If you want to name your software business "Pressure.com" and the only other existing business is a pressure washing business in Wisconsin, you're probably good to go.

Pay attention to syllable count

Syllables are the key to a catchy domain name. Try to stay under five syllables.

Avoid difficult words and letters

Allower.com is for sale on Namecheap auctions right now for $340. Good deal for a .com like that. However, branding Allower is going to be difficult simply because it makes your mouth do weird things when you say it. Specifically the "w" with the "er" makes for an uncomfortable combination. If you plan on targeting international markets, be extra sensitive to this. If English is a second language, this is going to be a tough read.

Good luck! If you need some ideas, Namelix is a great generator.