How I Built a Free Ship Name Generator Tool

#algorithms #showdev #sideprojects #webdev

I spent weeks building a free ship name generator and learned a lot along
the way. Here's my honest breakdown of what worked, what didn't, and what
I'd do differently.

Why I Built It

Ship names (like "Traylor" for Taylor Swift + Travis Kelce) are everywhere
— couples use them, K-pop fandoms use them, anime communities use them.
But most existing tools were either too basic, ugly, or full of ads.

I wanted to build something clean, fast, and actually useful.

The Core Challenge — Name Blending Algorithm

The hardest part wasn't the UI. It was making the name blending feel
natural.

Bad example: Emma + Jack = Emck (ugly, hard to say)
Good example: Emma + Jack = Emmack (preserves both names)

I ended up building 6 different blending styles:

Cute — soft vowel sounds, diminutive endings (-ie, -y)
Romantic — smooth transitions, liquid consonants
Playful — casual suffixes (-z, -ster)
Elegant — formal, balanced syllables
Funny — comedic suffixes (-zilla, -inator)
Fandom — K-pop style syllables, classic portmanteaus

Each style produces completely different results from the same two names.

SEO From Day One

I made a mistake on my first tool site — I ignored SEO completely and
wondered why no traffic came.

This time I did it right from the start:

JSON-LD Schema markup (WebApplication + FAQ)
Proper canonical URLs
Meta descriptions under 155 characters
Sitemap submitted to Google Search Console
Blog content targeting long-tail keywords

Tech Stack I Used

Nothing fancy:

Plain HTML + CSS + JavaScript (no framework)
No backend needed — all client-side
Hosted on shared hosting
Custom .htaccess for clean URLs

Keeping it simple meant faster load times and easier maintenance.

Features Users Actually Love

After launching, I noticed certain features got the most engagement:

Live preview — results update as you type
Save favorites — users can bookmark their favorite combinations
Shareable cards — download a PNG card to share on social media
Multiple styles — users try all 6 styles before picking one

What I'd Do Differently

Add more languages from day one (Korean and Spanish have huge ship name communities)
Build the blog section before launching (not after)
Set up Google Search Console on day one