How I name my apps • Hacker News Board

captaincrowbar wrote: post #28

braco_alva wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is actually a good way to go or at least kind of fun for killing some time.

Problem with this (and probably with the aspell version too, but I can't test that just now): $RANDOM only generates a number from 0 to 32767, but /usr/dict/words has (on my Mac) 235886 words.

    sh -c 'cat /usr/share/dict/words | sed -n $(echo $((`cat /dev/urandom | od -N3 -An -i` % `cat /usr/share/dict/words | wc -l`)))p'

This is closer, although you might get sed: illegal option occasionally, I guess. I'm yet to learn how to generate a random number within given limits with bash. Oh wait, we can use Python can't we?

    sh -c 'cat /usr/share/dict/words | sed -n $(echo $((`python -c "import random; print random.randint(1,234935)"` % `cat /usr/share/dict/words | wc -l`)))p'

Re: How I name my apps

#35

Post by andrewbaron » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 3:44 AM UTC

I always like to hit up "Ten Thousand Statistically Grammar-Average Fake Band Names": http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~bwhitman/10000.html

I'll find words I like and fit them together myself, like Rocketboom, or Humanwire, e.g.

Re: How I name my apps

#36

Post by heyimfromreddit » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 8:52 AM UTC

tbgvi wrote: post #4

GMali wrote: post #2

And if you really get stuck, try removing vowels and repeating some letters

Just curious... why would you want to do that even if you're stuck? This is more of a quick brainstorm method, I don't think he's even looked to see if the domain name is available at this point. Also, I'd rather have something like "getflint.com" or "flintapp.com" than "flnnt.com" or something. When you start getting into cutesy abstractions like that it becomes hard to remember.

http://getflint.com/ http://flintapp.com/ http://flnnt.com/

Re: How I name my apps

#37

Post by 6ren » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 9:31 AM UTC

I just number them. e.g. "4 thousand billion". Little Billy Sands we call him.

But seriously, I have given them descriptive names - inspired by the supplier of meat to MacDonalds in Australia called "The 100% Australian Beef Company". I figured it was good for googling, and informative. Also reminded me of Humpty Dumpty (my name means the shape I am). And it worked.

Though I note most people go for clever and/or zany names, with creative spellings (so they be trademarked). An amusing "story" to explain a clever name can operate as a vector for word of mouth: by passing on the story for entertainment value, you also pass on the name. It's kind of like product placement, where the story is the movie. An example is GNU. It can also operate as an in-joke, creating an artificial elite.

Re: How I name my apps

#38

Post by thetable » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 10:14 AM UTC

I find this technique works too. Come up with general ideas that describe your product, expand into metaphors. Try synonyms for the metaphors. Combine words.

In the end, the name doesn't have to be descriptive, but it does have to be unique and pronouncable.