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If you’ve been charged with coming up with a new company name or new product
name and not given a budget, you might be tempted to use no-cost or low-cost
name generators to brainstorm candidates for you. Here are links to three such
programs:
http://www.iq0.com/startup.html
http://www.makewords.com
(see the "advanced search" and "name generator" options)
http://www.rhymer.com/naming.html
In addition, web sites that help you purchase and manage domains often have a
name generating utility that not only suggests possible names but checks whether
or not the corresponding dot-com is available. See nameboy.com for an example of
this kind of site.
Unfortunately, these tools usually don’t solve your naming problem. Unless you
use human intelligence in sorting through name possibilities, you could be in
for a naming disaster.
For instance, suppose we’re starting an innovative cars-for-sale business. One
possibility suggested by one of the programs above is CarCrypt. This has one
thing going for it – it sounds catchy, because of the repeated "C’s." However,
it has no less than four strikes against it:
1. "Crypt" actually means an underground vault used for burial. People who know
what this word means will think the name CarCrypt is either a museum or has to
do with burying old cars.
2. "Crypt" sounds similar to the "crip" in "crippled," which has a negative
connotation.
3. "Crypt" also misleadingly suggests "Crypto-" in the sense of codes. So some
folks will guess this business sells security systems for cars involving codes.
4. If you wanted people to visit the corresponding web site, you’d always need
to spell it in radio ads or over the telephone, to alert people to use a "y"
instead of an "i."
Name generator programs don’t warn you about dangers like those described above.
Only thinking people can sort through a list of names and choose the ones that
will get your business off to a positive start.
On the other hand, name generating programs have very limited capabilities to
suggest creative possibilities, the kind that truly capture people’s
imaginations. The programs come up with predictably patterned options that are
likely to have already been used, somewhere. It takes creativity that software
don’t have to come up with blockbuster business names like these:
* Rent-a-Wreck
* Google
* Consider it Done
* Victoria’s Secret
While more costly, hiring professional naming help is the right idea when stakes
are high, the competition is fierce, and you are determined to give your new
enterprise the very best chance it can have to succeed.
About the Author
Marcia Yudkin is the author of 6 Steps to Free Publicity and ten other books
hailed for outstanding creativity. Find out more about her new discount naming
company, Named At Last, which brainstorms new company names, new product names,
tag lines and more for entrepreneurs on a budget, at
http://www.NamedAtLast.com
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