As I noted before on my old blog, I'm working on a startup with one of my classmates, Stanton Champion. The idea has changed--we've decided to stick a little closer to home and work on super-simple tools, information, and training designed for small businesses to effectively use the internet--and now we are searching for a company name. Sitting in a room with lists of random words, we kept getting stuck on the same directions and couldn't come up with anything we really liked.
We have set this question aside for a little while, as we have to make some decisions about our direction for the next few months, but before setting it aside, I built a little Excel tool (downloads file from my site) to help us out.
This file is very simple to use...put a list of adjectives in the first column, and a list of nouns in the second column. To the right is a table that puts together random combinations of adjectives and nouns, to give you ideas to investigate. Every time you hit enter after adding a word to a column, or hit F9 (on Windows, at least), the table updates itself with new combinations.
See one you like, jot it down, and investigate it as a name!
Things to consider once you have something you like:
- Is someone already using it? This is very important, as an established entity can prevent you from using a name or trademark that infringes on their own under certain circumstances. When investigating potential names, it's always a good idea to start with a Google search to see if anything comes up for that name. Also, check your local Chamber of Commerce and State Department websites for information on searching existing registered business names.
- Is there a .com domain available? The first thing people try when looking for a company online is typing in the company's name with ".com" at the end. Check with the registrars, like Register.com or GoDaddy.com to see if yourname.com is available. When you've chosen a name, be sure to register the .com, .net, and other extensions that you want to have. This helps to reduce confusion from other entities registering a very similar name (like yourname.net) and stealing away people looking for you!
- Do you want to register the trademark? If you think you are going to register the name as a trademark, take a look at the rules for trademarkable names. Take a look at the US Patent Office site for details.
Have fun! Let me know if you come up with anything good!
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