20 minutes guide to naming your business, startup or side-project [with checklist]

Naming your business, side project or company can be challenging, but it does have to. You can simply follow the steps below and get to your desired name fast and easy.

  • Finding names

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  • Brainstorm names by finding short descriptions of the intended service, project or business. Attributes can be included but don't have to.

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  • Head over to thesaurus.com. It is often helpful to use an synonym. Start a list list of keywords and their alternative versions, if you haven't got one already.

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  • Maybe use a verb or adjective to describe your keyword/term better. Think about a pattern like [verb/adjective][keyword].domain. Many adjectives are available from which you can select suitale ones for your project or business.

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  • Try Google translate and see if maybe the German, Spanish, ... word works for you. Creativity doesn't hurt!

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  • Colors are magic to describe something more. Select an appropriate colour to connect with your intended branding. You could, for example, you can have something like GreenVillageHouses.com. Google "color emotion guide" for more inspiriation.

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  • Verify if your names are available.

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  • Decide which social usernames and domain names you would like, head over to startupnamecheck.com and type the first one in. Then select the desired names and domains in the configuration menu. Add all the other names and pick which one's you like. Alternative options is namechkr.com & checkusernames.com, if you don't like the results as table.

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  • Google "company register" + your country and search on their website if your desired name is already registered.

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  • Finding alternatives

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  • While “.com” domains are the king under the domain names they are also very often already registered. You might consider some alternatives. Local domains such as “.nz” for the New Zealand, “.au” for Australia, etc. are an alternatives, if your business is mostly local. Tech startups like the top-level domains “.io” and “.sh” a lot.

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  • If you desired name is registered (which is very common), you need to get creative. Check the following patterns to come up with alternatives: get[keyword], try[keyword], real[keyword].

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This checklist was created by spek

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