“Startup Names” by Paul Graham (2006) • Hacker News Board

Re: “Startup Names” by Paul Graham (2006)

#31

Post by anonfunction » Wed, Oct 22, 2014, 2:20 AM UTC

Yetanfou wrote: post #13

All you need to produce a 'good' name is a simple script, a list of adjectives and a list of critters. A few sample runs from my proprietary name generator produces these CamelCased (KamlKzed?) marvels of ingenuity: FragrantDuck CourteousOwl RecklessPig OtherMoose CaringFrog MindlessFish UpbeatLizard WhisperedHippo SlushyWhale OilyAccountant CompassionateHog InstructiveMonkey ForkedCow ... Of course I did not work on…

My startup name generator[1] does something very similar. Instead of adjectives and critters it uses tech and culinary terms. Here's the first 5 it came up with:

  SteamWare
  MountFont
  CaviarBeta
  ChipBinary
  SystemCocoa

[1] http://montanaflynn.me/lab/startup-name-generator/

Re: “Startup Names” by Paul Graham (2006)

#32

Post by anonfunction » Wed, Oct 22, 2014, 2:23 AM UTC

A while back I created a startup name generator by fusing tech and culinary terms together. I also set it up to check if the .com is available. It gets a decent amount of traffic and a few domains purchased every once in a while.

Check it out: http://montanaflynn.me/lab/startup-name-generator/

Re: “Startup Names” by Paul Graham (2006)

#33

Post by silverbax88 » Wed, Oct 22, 2014, 2:30 AM UTC

anonfunction wrote: post #32

A while back I created a startup name generator by fusing tech and culinary terms together. I also set it up to check if the .com is available. It gets a decent amount of traffic and a few domains purchased every once in a while. Check it out: http://montanaflynn.me/lab/startup-name-generator/

That is really slick.

Re: “Startup Names” by Paul Graham (2006)

#34

Post by anonfunction » Wed, Oct 22, 2014, 2:34 AM UTC

silverbax88 wrote: post #33

anonfunction wrote: post #32

A while back I created a startup name generator by fusing tech and culinary terms together. I also set it up to check if the .com is available. It gets a decent amount of traffic and a few domains purchased every once in a while. Check it out: http://montanaflynn.me/lab/startup-name-generator/

That is really slick.

Thanks, I've had a few people tell me it relieved a bunch of stress from choosing the perfect name. I plan to extend it with different term groups (space, sports, etc...) so you can fine tune the results to your specific startup industry.

I'm also proud of the way I implemented[1] the Domainr API[2] to check for domain availability. Previously I checked it in the backend but it made things very slow so now the backend generates the domains and the client lazily checks the availability.

[1] http://montanaflynn.me/lab/startup-name-generator/assets/mag...

[2] https://www.mashape.com/nbio/domainr

Re: “Startup Names” by Paul Graham (2006)

#35

Post by saturdayplace » Wed, Oct 22, 2014, 2:52 AM UTC

I'm not sure a name has that much of an impact on a business's success. I posted this comment in another thread recently: The word "Target" doesn't really carry any signal about what that company actually does. Ask yourself, in Target's infancy, did the name hurt or help them? I'd guess it had very little to do with their eventual outcome.

Re: “Startup Names” by Paul Graham (2006)

#36

Post by alexqgb » Wed, Oct 22, 2014, 3:17 AM UTC

"In a world where all the obvious names are taken, finding a good name is a test of imagination. And the name you choose tells whether or not you passed that test."

Then again, what you make of the name also matters.

Re: “Startup Names” by Paul Graham (2006)

#37

Post by dreeves » Wed, Oct 22, 2014, 3:19 AM UTC

mindcrime wrote: post #28

So, looking at the "nominology" article, and considering our name ( "Fogbeam Labs", with domain name fogbeam.com), I'd rank our name like this EVOC - neutral. Fogbeam is evocative of something to do with light and illumination, so if we were a LED bulb manufacturer or something, it would be good. But we're using it as a metaphor, since we're a software company focusing on knowledge management, integration and collabo…

As the original author of that article, I declare this nominologist-approved! :) Your analysis on each dimension seems spot on to me. Yay http://fogbeam.com !

PS: I don't think verbability is a total fail either. Hard to predict that one. Maybe some kind of "beam me up" phrasing could become the verbified version...

Re: “Startup Names” by Paul Graham (2006)

#38

Post by EGreg » Wed, Oct 22, 2014, 3:31 AM UTC

What if someone registered show.hn? :-)

Re: “Startup Names” by Paul Graham (2006)

#39

Post by vonklaus » Wed, Oct 22, 2014, 3:33 AM UTC

Man Kevin Hale is an amazing startup founder and the whole team from Wufoo was great. However, that name is properly terrible, and I think that it succeeded in spite of that name. Something about it is extremely off putting. Luckily the product and team were phenomenal.

Re: “Startup Names” by Paul Graham (2006)

#40

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Oct 22, 2014, 4:20 AM UTC

saturdayplace wrote: post #35

I'm not sure a name has that much of an impact on a business's success. I posted this comment in another thread recently: The word "Target" doesn't really carry any signal about what that company actually does. Ask yourself, in Target's infancy, did the name hurt or help them? I'd guess it had very little to do with their eventual outcome.

[deleted]