How did you come up with the name for your startup?

Namrata Arya
51 replies
Naming a startup can be a complex, creative and a deeply personal process. What inspired the name for your startup? Were there any memorable / challenging moments? As we prepare to launch Namify AI next week - a platform designed to simplify the naming process - we’d love to hear your stories about how you named your startup 🤗

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Vitor Seabra
This is quite intuitive: Pluga. We connect different apps to automate workflows.
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Namrata Arya
@vitor_seabra love it! It's always impressive when a name so succinctly captures the essence of a product. Were there any other names that were in contention? All the best for your launch btw. Have followed your coming soon page :)
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Vitor Seabra
@namrata_arya indeed, namrata! Pluga was the first and only choice. It was almost 10yrs ago, so it was easy by that time setting up this name. And yes! I was already following Namify. Would you follow mine too?
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Namrata Arya
@vitor_seabra That's amazing! It's always great to find an available domain for your first choice name 🙌I have followed your launch :) It sounds very cool!
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Sarah Mooney
@vitor_seabra Pluga, I love the sound of that - how it rolls off the tongue. It needs a jingle haa!
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Jan Leonovich
Our idea was to create a meal tracker that could be as simple and easy to use as possible. So "MEAL TRACKER," if to simplify the writing, turns into MLTR.
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Namrata Arya
@visionoiry Awesome! It's straightforward and easy to remember. Love it when the name so effectively conveys what the product is about. Thank you for sharing your story! 🤗
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Namrata Arya
@visionoiry I've followed MLTR btw. Excited to try it out. All the best for your launch!
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Jan Leonovich
@namrata_arya we have provided a free trial period, so you can try all the functions of MLTR, including AI recognition of meals using iPhone camera. AI update coming soon with the launch )
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Namrata Arya
@visionoiry That is so cool and kind of serendipitous since i just started following a diet and could totally use something like this!
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Jan Leonovich
@namrata_arya thanks to the diet, I lost weight from 115 to 80 kilograms. Actually based on this personal experience, came up the idea to create a convenient nutrition tracker ))
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Salar Davari
A combo of the service we're providing and the tool that we use to provide that service. ( AI HomeDesign)
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Namrata Arya
@salar__davari Such a clear and straightforward name! It communicates exactly what you do. Love that. Were there any other names in contention? What made you zero in on this? Thanks for sharing :)
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Sarah Mooney
I love made up words, they're typically the best SEO-wise too.
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Namrata Arya
@sarahthemarketer Interesting. I thought the search engine was domain agnostic when it comes to something like this?
Sarah Mooney
@namrata_arya it is easier to rank for a made a word vs. ‘Blue’. You want something that as fewer search results.
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Namrata Arya
@sarahthemarketer Ah okay! I understand what you mean now and couldn't agree more. A highly generic word is so hard to rank for when people are looking for your brand on search. In fact, more and more people have started to put the brand name in search and then click on the first URL that comes up as a way to get to the website. So this definitely is a great strategy
I had three potential names for my strategic sound design service, with one standout being "Sound Strategy." That same night, I was reading an article by Michael E. Porter before bed. As I continued reading, I encountered a striking coincidence—the next paragraph began with the words, "A sound strategy is..." At that moment, I knew I had found the perfect name for my service.
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Namrata Arya
@herwig_kusatz This is such a cool story!I love the name 'Sound Strategy'. And finding it in such a serendipitous way feels like it was meant to be :) Thanks so much for sharing this with us. Really cool model BTW. When do you launch?
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Namrata Arya
@herwig_kusatz oh! We launch 2 days after. All the very best to you. I’ll drop by on Monday to checkout your launch :)
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Konrad S.
It took a long time to find the name for my startup. I wanted a unique made-up word, not too long, which sounds beautiful. I'm really happy with the result: Skyica.
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Namrata Arya
@konrad_sx such a lovely name! Made up words often end up being the most powerful ones since they stand out so well! Also as being discussed on this thread as well, they have benefits from SEO standpoint as well. Thank you for sharing this 🙌
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Konrad S.
@namrata_arya I'm glad you like it. I also think good names are really important, and it's a great application for AI. Will support your app!
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Kabir
EVOKNOW - Evolution of Knowledge (asked my cousins) IntevoMail - Intelligent Mail (a top-5 ad agency that took $40K to come up with it) ShowNotes - Show [your] Notes (natural progression of thought)
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Namrata Arya
@shownotes those names are fantastic! Our research did show that friends and family come to the rescue more often than not in the name selection process. Also $40k is wild 😅 my favorite amongst the 3 is EVOKNOW though. Love how simple and clever it is. Also quite memorable 🙌 Thank you so much for sharing these stories with us 🤗
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Kabir
@namrata_arya Thanks! When I launched EVOKNOW 22 years ago, I thought I was creating a knowledge-based company, so I asked my cousins to think in that direction. They knew I had already published half a dozen tech books since university, so they came up with something related to knowledge. Sadly, EVOKNOW ended up being a B2B, global franchise management systems company for mid-size enterprises—one of the most boring applications of brain power, IMHO. But it became a long-lasting success and is still going strong today. I just recently ventured into B2C to share the boredom of working with enterprise folks, who are often 2-10 years behind the cutting edge.
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Namrata Arya
@shownotes What a journey this must have been! It’s funny how our plans can totally shift over time. Even if it turned out more B2B than you expected, having a successful run is amazing. Moving into B2C must be a nice change of pace
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Justin Crosbie
Mine was kinda obvious - its a service to add passkeys to your app - so Passkeyme makes sense, I guess 🤓. I was surprised the domain was available - I honestly thought this would have been done already, so I was surprised that its not - not in a SaaS way anyway 😇
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Namrata Arya
@justin_crosbie Passkeyme is a great name - straightforward and super easy to remember. Conveys what the product is effectively. Can totally imagine how great it must have been to find the domain available. That’s like hitting a jackpot 😅 exactly why we should not only the domain availability, but also trademark and username availability across every name. Thanks so much for sharing your story with us 🤗
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Daniel Zaitzow
Create content through the use of an editor that focuses on dynamic blocks. ContentBlocks.
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Namrata Arya
@dzaitzow sweet! Such a fitting name. Could you explain what dynamic content blocks are? I’m not sure if I understand this correctly
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Daniel Zaitzow
@namrata_arya totally - we've got a builder that helps users create digital assets ex: marketing pages, lead magnets, worksheets, surveys etc. There are 2 distinct types of "blocks" that we have to create content. We've got static blocks (non-interactive) ex. an image block, a list block, a timeline block, a rich text block etc. Dynamic blocks are those that we deem to be interactive ex. AI output block, text input block (where the user can edit and save information), Multiple choice block, Slider block etc.
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Vaibhav Kumar Agarwal
I found domain name cheaper and in my prev. organisation we had a team named "Falcon" so named after that.
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Namrata Arya
@mrvaibhav98 Finding a cheap domain name is always a win 🙌 And Falcon has a really nice ring to it :) Thanks for sharing this with us!
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Vaibhav Kumar Agarwal
@namrata_arya - Do checkout our product at https://www.producthunt.com/post... It's domain was bought at 1 INR haha
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Yash Gupta
For my side gig back in the day, I had to look for business names and look at domains available for it simulateously since it was a generic word (bold). I looked for phrases/words trending that time and added a word after it to see what made sense with our offerings. I reserved a couple of them immediately since I thought they would be sold out quick. I then discussed this among close friends and family before zeroing on one. However we restricted ourselves to a .in then and became pretty restricted when it came to foreign reach.
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Namrata Arya
@yash_gupta15 That’s a smart approach! Looking up business names and domains simultaneously is key, especially with something as catchy as "bold." It's awesome that you reserved a few good ones right away. Discussing with friends and family always helps. We've found a lot of people tend to do this. It's a bummer that the .in domain limited your international reach, though. At Namify AI, we aim to help folks avoid that by finding names and domains that work globally right from the start. Thanks for sharing your naming journey!