Were I being cynical (it's a hobby:-), I would say that he's asking you to put some thought into the process. He should offer some kind of prize, even if it's not really a big deal... a blurb on the new site, a t-shirt, a bottle of wine... something like that.
I tried offering prizes, paying $50 to a name-choosing service, asking everyone I could, spending many hours myself. All results sucked.
For my latest startup I spent just a few minutes on it will resist all urges spend more. I'm not allowing myself to get pulled into that time-sink black hole again.
Want it to be easy? Simple. Have $2000 to $10000 to blow on some squatter scum. Or just choose an uncommon topic area. Probably both are unreasonable for most of us.
Were I being cynical (it's a hobby:-), I would say that he's asking you to put some thought into the process. He should offer some kind of prize, even if it's not really a big deal... a blurb on the new site, a t-shirt, a bottle of wine... something like that.