I spent three weeks naming my first side project. I brainstormed hundreds of options. I checked domain availability obsessively. I ran my favorites past friends who had conflicting opinions about every single one. I eventually picked a name, registered it, built the thing, and launched. The name turned out to be completely irrelevant to whether people used the product.
This is the dirty secret of business naming: the name matters far less than founders think it does. Google is a misspelling. Spotify means nothing. Stripe is a common English word with no inherent connection to payments. These names work because the companies behind them built something valuable, not because the names were inherently good.
That said, a bad name can genuinely hurt you. So the goal isn't perfection. It's avoiding the pitfalls.
What makes a name functional
A business name has practical requirements that matter more than creativity.
It needs an available domain. Not .io, not .co, not a hyphenated version. The .com domain. In 2026, people still type .com by default. If yourname.com is taken by an active business, you'll spend years explaining that you're at yourname.io, not yourname.com. Some founders buy the .com later at a premium. Budget for that if your exact match isn't available at registration.
It needs to be spellable from speech. If you tell someone your business name at a conference and they can't spell it correctly to find you online, you've lost them. "Lyft" works because everyone knows it's a play on "lift." "Xobni" (inbox backwards) was clever but required explanation every time.
It needs to be searchable. If your name is a common English word, you'll compete with dictionary results, Wikipedia entries, and established brands forever. Try googling "Tailwind" the CSS framework versus "tailwind" the weather term. Tailwind CSS is established enough now, but the early SEO battle was real.
It should be trademarkable. Descriptive names ("Best Web Hosting") can't be trademarked. Made-up words and arbitrary marks (existing words used in unrelated contexts) have the strongest trademark protection. "Apple" for computers is arbitrary and fully protectable. "Computers Inc." is not.
Common naming strategies
Compound words. Take two relevant words and combine them. Facebook (face + book), YouTube (you + tube), Snapchat (snap + chat). This works because each component carries meaning, the combination is novel, and it's usually spellable. The risk is sounding generic if the words are too literal.
Modified spellings. Tumblr, Flickr, Dribbble. Dropping or adding letters makes the name unique and typically ensures domain availability. The downside is the spelling problem mentioned above. Every time someone tries to email you, they add back the vowel.
Portmanteaus. Pinterest (pin + interest), Instagram (instant + telegram), Groupon (group + coupon). When done well, they feel natural. When done poorly, they feel forced. The test is whether someone can intuit the combination without explanation.
Abstract or invented words. Kodak, Häagen-Dazs, Verizon. These have zero inherent meaning, which means zero baggage but also zero context. You'll need to build all associations from scratch through branding and marketing. This is the hardest path but offers the most trademark protection.
Founder names. Goldman Sachs, Hewlett-Packard, McKinsey. Common in professional services where personal reputation matters. Less common in tech because it doesn't scale the brand beyond the founder.
The domain reality check
I've watched founders fall in love with names only to discover that the .com is parked and the owner wants $15,000 for it. Here's the practical approach:
Start with domain availability. Go to a registrar, not a domain broker, and search. If the .com is available at standard registration price ($10-15/year), that's a green light. If it's taken, check who owns it. If it's an active business, move on. If it's parked, you can make an offer, but expect to pay $500-5,000 for a decent one-word or two-word .com.
Also check social media handles. Consistent naming across your domain, Twitter/X, GitHub, LinkedIn, and Instagram reduces confusion. The tool namechk.com can check availability across platforms simultaneously.
Four naming mistakes
Making it too long. "Artificial Intelligence Solutions Group" is not a name. It's a description. Keep it to 1-3 syllables if possible, 4 at most. Short names are easier to remember, type, and say.
Including your technology in the name. "ReactDev Studios" dates itself to whatever framework is popular this year. Technologies change. Names shouldn't.
Overthinking cleverness. Puns, double meanings, and inside jokes are fun in brainstorming but rarely work in practice. The recipient doesn't have the context you have. If the name requires explanation, it's not doing its job.
Deciding alone. You're too close to the problem. Get feedback from people outside your industry. Can they spell it? Can they remember it after hearing it once? Do they have negative associations you didn't consider? A name that sounds great in your head might sound like a pharmaceutical brand to everyone else.
When to stop deliberating
The naming process has diminishing returns. After a few days of serious brainstorming, you've probably generated your best candidates. The ones that survive the practical filters (domain available, spellable, searchable, trademarkable) are all viable. Pick one and move forward.
For generating name candidates and checking domain availability patterns, I built a business name generator at zovo.one/free-tools/business-name-generator that produces options based on keywords and naming styles.
The name is a container. What you put inside it determines whether people remember it. Ship the product, not the brainstorm.
I'm Michael Lip. I build free developer tools at zovo.one. 350+ tools, all private, all free.
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