
Ask HN: How do you name a project/product? - vulcan01
How do you go about finding a name for your side project or your product?<p>If it matters, I&#x27;m trying to name a software product, but don&#x27;t restrict yourselves :)
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noble_pleb
The traditional way of naming was to base in on the product function or
feature. For example, MS Office is literally an office suite composing of a
spreadsheet, word processor, etc. Windows is another example, "floating
bordered boxes" were quite common then but Microsoft gave them a name based on
their functionality.

But the modern hipster way is to name it something cool and different!
Android, for example, is quite futuristic and refers to a robotic machine, it
has nothing to do with a smart-phone OS, does it? Same is the case with
Ubuntu, Hadoop, MySQL, Python, Chromium, Electrum, etc. You can even name it
on a Greek God or something these days!

~~~
vulcan01
Hmm, you're right. I wonder how people come up with the "modern hipster" names
though :) Do they just name it after whatever sounds cool?

Funny you mention a Greek God, when my username is a Roman one :)

~~~
noble_pleb
"Modern hipster" is whatever goes against the conservative approach, their
thought process is based on the premise that whatever happened in the past was
bad (and there were true horrors in the past too).

So yeah, what goes against the conservative approach is really cool! For
example, naming each iteration of your product based on a funny animal like
Focal Fossa (Ubuntu), or a candy like Kitkat (Android). The conservative
approach is to be professional and let them be just versions like 1,2,3 or
code names like Longhorn or Aurora as Microsoft did but for internal purposes
only.

------
AnimalMuppet
Names are arbitrary labels. For an internal project, it can be anything -
absolutely anything. Your favorite national park, your favorite movie star or
cartoon character, your favorite mathematician, something completely random,
something vulgar or crude - anything. Just pick a name, and roll with it.

For an external name (company and/or product), names are still arbitrary
labels. But you need to avoid trademark violations, and you need something
that will attract customers rather than repel them. So avoid the vulgar and
the crude. As for actually _attracting_ customers with a name... that's
marketing. I can't help you on that.

~~~
vulcan01
Good point about the distinction between internal and external project names.

I'm having trouble with the attracting part haha.

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bitxbitxbitcoin
Step 1: Decide some parameters on what you want the name to do. Is it going to
be descriptive of the prouct? Do you want it to be a single word or multiple
words? Do you care if it gets an acronym? Do you want to use existing
vocabulary/meanings or create a new word or repurpose an old word?

Step 2: Once you have these parameters set out - come up with a list of
potential names. No name is too stupid for this step. Add to the list in as
many different mindspaces as possible (in the morning, before sleeping, after
a drink, after a smoke, after a coffee, etc).

Step 3: Seek feedback on the list of names from a trusted source. "Would you
use a software product with name X that does Y?" "When you hear of a software
product with name X, what do you think it does?"

Step 4: Hopefully the above steps narrow down the list some, with your
shortened list go and see if there are other products using the same name and
decide if you want to do a weird spelling or axe the name entirely.

Rinse and repeat and of course YMMV. I'll admit that I've only ever used this
process for coming up with names for personal blogs and usernames such as
bitbybitbybitcoin.

~~~
vulcan01
> Add to the list in as many different mind spaces as possible

Thanks for this suggestion. I've mostly been trying to think of names while
sitting in front of my computer.

