Thinking of a website/trading name -- need help!

Post by **Gambit37** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 11:16 pm

[This thread was split from the changing man thread in General News]

OK, here's one for you all. Been thinking about the name for my website/business. I have got it down to 2 so far, but can't decided if they are both awful or cool:

Pocketsoup
Sibling 7

Good? bad? Utterly mind-numbingly shite?

Des · Post by **Des** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 11:52 pm

They both suck. I think you should use a monster name http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_monsters

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 12:36 am

What's wrong with resonant edge?

sucinum · Post by **sucinum** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 1:18 am

Don't like them too much as well. When you want a senseless term, why don't use one which has at least a meaning to yourself? You could use some DM term like "magenta worm" for example (not the best one actually

).

TyGuy6 · Post by **TyGuy6** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 7:12 am

I think PocketSoup sounds cool. Seems sorta surreal. But I do hope it matches your business/website somehow.

Post by **Gambit37** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 7:23 pm

Well, sibling seven is me -- I'm the seventh child. You can't get more pertinent than that -- I thought it rolled off the tongue quite well, but upon reflection, yes it sounds odd.

I just like the idea of pocketsoup -- trying to keep soup in your pocket is daft, and I'm daft, so there you go.

resonant edge is old, it never sounded quite right and everyone I have spoken it to over the phone always gets it wrong. It's an awkward mouthful.

Ideally, I'd just use my name -- then it's much easier to sell myself also. But all variations of my name as domains have been taken. Or at least, the one's I'd want anyway.

Quite like the idea of a DM name -- I did register "syra studios" once but never did anything with it, and it has connections with wine also.

I'll think some more.

Post by **Gambit37** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 8:17 pm

What about "emhill" -- it's a sort-of phonetic o0f my first initial and surname (m.hill) -- and em could mean emphasise, emphatic, empathy, and it is also an html element meaning to emphasise text (usually rendered as italics).

emhill.com

hmm... looks strange. could actually mean "emma hill." not good.

Tom Hatfield · Post by **Tom Hatfield** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 9:04 pm

I like it.

TheMormegil · Post by **TheMormegil** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 9:16 pm

How about 'Cunning Gambit LTD' ?

Post by **Gambit37** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 10:03 pm

Cute. But no.

em.hill will be more confusing than anything -- although short and sweet and available as a .com, I can just see the problems as people ask me what my web address is:

Me: It's emhill.com
Them: mhill.com? It doesn't work!
Me: No, that should be e-m-hill.com.
Them: Why didn't you say that to begin with!

Post by **Sophia** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 10:38 pm

mophus inc.

Post by **Gambit37** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 11:39 pm

Dear god no! I'd never get any work!

The phrase "tonic ten" just popped into my head. It has a ring. Hmmm...

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 2:35 am

New Mountain?

21st Idea

ian_scho · Post by **ian_scho** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:38 am

Pity that www.Gambit37.com sounds so risky...

Post by **Sophia** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 6:39 pm

Gambit37 wrote:Dear god no! I'd never get any work!

Why not, he's a friendly looking fellow...
The slogan could be "service with a smile"

Post by **Gambit37** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:39 pm

I started toying with the idea of a clever name, like del.icio.us. or last.fm.

So after a bit of checking of what's available, how about "seven.am". It's a reference to what I consider a reasonable wake up time and also a little reference to being the seventh child in my family. The digit version (7.am) is gone already, but I think the word spelled out is better anyway.

Post by **Gambit37** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:42 pm

Actually, 745.am is available and much better wake up time

Post by **Sophia** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:50 pm

moph.us?

Post by **Gambit37** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:08 pm

Funnily enough, it's available!

I still wish I could simply get my name.

matthill.name and matthewhill.name are available but I always think that's a naff extension. Hmmm... someone convince me it's not....

Post by **Gambit37** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:13 pm

Jeepers, I just tried to get ma.tt (Trinidad and Tobago) -- they want 1000 US dollars for a three year registration

Post by **Gambit37** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:07 pm

Regsitration of .am is going to be a pain. I'm thinking of copping out and just going with "matthilldesign.com" but it's so old school and naff.

Gah, why can't I come up with a cool, short, snappy name?

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:59 am

Nah, you will get an idea when you least expect it - don't try so hard.

Have you flicked through an encyclopaedia yet?

Or, have you tried just doing a wiki browse on a subject that interests you, follow the tree of weirdness and after about an hour see what weird names you have found?

Adamo · Post by **Adamo** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 1:21 am

how about mathew-hill.com, or matthew_hill.com, matthew.hill.com, matth-ew.com or matth-ew.net, etc? some of them must be avaliable!

Adamo · Post by **Adamo** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 1:24 am

matthew.com is avaliable

Post by **Gambit37** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 9:47 am

No it's not. Most first names were registered years and years ago. Where did you check?

Using hyphens is a pain in the ass for communicating web addressess to people by word of mouth or over the phone so I don't really want to do that.

I've been through dictionaries and thesauruseseses and not really come up with anything that great. I got my flat mate to help me out and we had a fun exercise, but most of the names ended in the word 'twat' for some reason... Though we did come up with a good name for a band: "Turgid nerd tip"

Here are my main criteria for getting the right name:

1) Must be short(ish) and easy to remember
2) Must not use hypens or underscores
3) The .com should preferably be available
4) Must convey an air of 'professionalism' -- so overly 'fun' names are right out

Post by **Gambit37** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:22 pm

I am quite liking "delta pavonis". It's a star about 20 light years away from earth. Pavonis means peacock which I like due to the fact it's a beautiful and coloourful bird. Although not short and probably not easy to remember, another reason I like it is that in the Revelation Space universe created by Alaistair reynolds, a planet in the star system of Delta Pavonis is called Resurgam, which is latin for "I will rise again". (Resurgam.com is taken and it's unclear how to pronounce it).

EDIT: Maybe this anagram is better "violet pandas"...

However, it's a bit long and doesn't really conjur up an image of a creative/designer/techy person (or maybe it does?), but this has inspired me to look at other star names.

Adamo · Post by **Adamo** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:28 pm

Me: It's emhill.com
Them: mhill.com? It doesn't work!
Me: No, that should be e-m-hill.com.
Them: Why didn't you say that to begin with!

I bet they would type www.e-m-hill.com and complain it doesn`t work

Most first names were registered years and years ago. Where did you check?

err.. I just typed www.matthew.com to the browser and it showed that this adress doesn`t exist, so I though it`s not used yet..

Must convey an air of 'professionalism' -- so overly 'fun' names are right out

how about professional.fun then?

Post by **Ameena** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:30 pm

Star names are cool...ever played "Frontier: Elite II"? Great game, and you have literally a whole galaxy of stars which you can visit. Some of them are real stars (Beta Hydri, Sirius, Tau Ceti, Barnard's Star, Betelgeuse, Arcturus, etc), but the rest are all made-up names.
You could also look at constellations - a lot of them have Latin names, but maybe you might find one that sounds good

.

Adamo · Post by **Adamo** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:39 pm

this stuff sounds "professional" and are concerned with stars stuff:

hydrostatic equilibrium, starburst galaxy, supernovae stellar spectral concentration, neutron universe, ultraviolet radiation spectacular explosion, radiation zone corona reaction

also you can mix them like 77ultraviolet.com or hydrogalaxy.net although these names are rather long. but doesn`t equilibriumzone.com sounds professional??

Post by **Gambit37** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:44 pm

Adamo wrote:err.. I just typed www.matthew.com to the browser and it showed that this adress doesn`t exist, so I though it`s not used yet..

Ah, having an active website is nothing to do with whether or not the domain has been bought and registered. Hundreds of thousands of domain names have been registered that don't have active websites, although these days more often than not, you'll end up on the site of the "domain parker" -- the company who registered the domain and who now want make lots of money by selling the domain name at over inflated prices.

The whole system sucks because thousands of cool names have been taken out of circulation and are now held "to ransom" by the people who registered them...

Determining if a domain is available is done using a tool like this:
http://www.domainsearch.com/cgi-bin/Domain_Search