Your friends will tell you your name is great. That is exactly why you should not ask them.
Friends already know what you are building. They heard the idea over dinner, they know the story behind the word, and they pronounce it the way you do because you taught them. When you show them the name, they are not judging the name. They are judging the project they already like, and the person in front of them.
Strangers have none of that. They see the name cold, the way a real customer will, and their first reaction is the only honest test you get. If they cannot spell it after hearing it once, your customers will not be able to either. If they guess the wrong kind of business, your name is pointing at the wrong thing. If they shrug, the name is not doing any work at all, and no amount of explaining will fix that, because in real life nobody gets to explain their name first.
So run the test properly. Show the name to five people who know nothing about the project. Do not give them the pitch first. Ask three questions and write down exactly what they say. What do you think this is? How would you spell it? Would you remember it tomorrow? If three of the five get the business wrong, or spell it three different ways, the name has failed the test, no matter how much you love it.
Friends are still useful for one thing. Ask them what they would change, not whether they like it. "Do you like it" only ever gets one answer. "What confuses you about it" gets you something you can actually use.
The uncomfortable part is that a name can pass with friends and fail with strangers, and the strangers are right. They are the people you are naming it for. A name that only works for the people who already understand the idea is a private joke, not a brand.
That is the part of naming I built NamerGuide around. Describe what you are building and it shows you name candidates with domain and username availability checked together, with the date each check was made, so you can see what was actually verified and when. Run the candidates that survive the stranger test through it before you commit, not after.
Check the name everywhere before you buy it anywhere. Free, no account needed: https://namerguide.com
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