Tips for naming your startup

Keep it short

One or two syllables stick in people's minds. The best startup names are easy to say, spell, and remember — think Slack, Stripe, or Zoom.

Secure the domain early

A .com domain is still the gold standard for startups. Once you find a name you like, click through to check availability across the most popular extensions.

Skip the acronyms

Acronyms say nothing about what you do and are nearly impossible to rank for in search. Pick a real word — invented or not — that carries meaning.

Frequently asked questions

A good startup name is short (ideally one or two syllables), easy to spell from hearing it, available as a .com domain, and distinctive enough to trademark. It should work without context — someone who has never heard of you should be able to remember and find it after a single mention.

Not necessarily, and often it's better if it doesn't. Purely descriptive names are hard to trademark, tend to be generic, and can box you in if your product evolves. A name that suggests rather than states — like Stripe for a payments company — tends to age better and be more ownable.

Very important if you're building a consumer product or anything where credibility matters. Users instinctively type .com, and not owning it means permanently losing a slice of your traffic to whoever does. For developer tools or B2B SaaS, .io or .co are widely accepted alternatives.

At least twenty to thirty before you start filtering. The goal in the early stage is volume — generate broadly, then apply your criteria (domain, trademark, pronounceability) to cut the list down. Falling in love with the first name that sounds good is one of the most common naming mistakes.

Yes, but it gets harder and more expensive the longer you wait. Early on, a rename costs little more than time. Once you have users, a brand identity, and search rankings built around the name, rebranding becomes a significant project. It's worth getting it right before you launch publicly.