In roughly the order they spilled out of my brain. There are lots of other considerations that go into a name of a company or product. Here are a few acid tests to throw on your names ideas.

  1. Evokes your desired brand characteristics (e.g. strength, humor, compassion): +5
  2. Is easy for most people to spell: +1
  3. Is “scalable” meaning there are a variety of natural sub-names +1
  4. You have to spell out your URL in phone conversation: -2
  5. Your 15-second radio spot uses 10 seconds to get the URL out -2
  6. You rely on interCaps as a pronounciation hint: -1
  7. It’s trademarkable: +2
  8. Is available across all relevant media +2
  9. References an obscure Dennis Miller schtick: -25
  10. Unless you’re marketing to Dennis Miller fans exclusively: +24
  11. Uses phonetic dopplegangers (e.g. Lyft) -1
  12. Unless you have a big marketing budget +1
  13. Uses easily confounded letters / numbers -1
  14. Uses 1eetspeak: -1
  15. Has punctuation in the name (hypens, periods, exclamation points etc.) -1
  16. Your mother pronounces it correctly on sight: +10
  17. Your mother spells it correctly upon hearing it: +15
  18. You overly agonize: -1