Separate the launch wedge from the brand boundary
Write down the first buyer, first painful job, and first promise. Then write the credible next two products or customer groups. The name should fit the launch wedge and still make sense if those adjacent bets work.
A narrow landing page can speak to one vertical. The company name does not need to repeat that vertical unless the business intends to stay there.
Map the category before generating
List the naming patterns already crowded in the category: repeated prefixes, familiar suffixes, vague AI terms, or stacks of the same benefit word. This map shows what will blend in and which roots may carry active trademark or search collisions.
Distinctiveness matters most when the category is full of similar names. Clarity still matters, but it can come from the pairing of name, headline, and product description rather than from a generic compound.
Generate across different structures
Use at least four directions: function, outcome, metaphor, and coined or phonetic forms. Do not count fifty suffix swaps as fifty independent ideas. Keep the direction and short rationale attached to each candidate so a promising territory can be expanded on purpose.
Reject candidates that repeat an avoided root, mimic a direct competitor, or describe a feature that the roadmap will soon outgrow.
Check software collisions and domains together
Search each survivor with the category term and inspect active products, abandoned products, developer tools, packages, and matching domains. An active same-category product is a stronger warning than an unrelated dictionary use. A dead company can still create search confusion.
- Check the exact launch domain and acceptable alternatives.
- Check GitHub, npm, PyPI, and app stores when they match the product channel.
- Test pronunciation, spelling, and spoken recall.
- Keep preliminary trademark findings outside the average score.
Make the final tradeoff explicit
Compare no more than three serious finalists. For each one, record why it fits, what may confuse a buyer, which domains and namespaces were checked, what remains unknown, and what requires legal or registrar review.
A slightly lower-scoring name may be the right choice when it is easier to say, more distinct in the category, or better suited to the roadmap. Write down that decision so the team does not restart the debate every month.