"Just because it sounds cool" is not a good reason IMO.
Any suggestions on ways to pick names?

People come up with names in different ways.. It can sound cool, catchy, professional or whatever else... I don't think there is a process involved unless you have good marketing team that come up with a name for you that will work..

You can try throwing some words in a hat and randomly picking them out?

I have had a huge difficulty coming up with a company name. I couldn't think of anything and just went with using my last name and registering "Talanov Media Inc."

If you have a recognizable/unique last name, you can go that route - but beware, if your company fails you'll be associated with it for the rest of your life!

Are you a general host? I church host? A band host? A host for teachers? Find a niche and find your name :) Don't be a general host there are too many of them and you're competing with yahoo and godaddy and I'm not sure about you but my company does not have their marketing budget.

Justin

Offtopic, but I've always wondered who in their right mind would come up with an internet solutions company called "godaddy". Worked well enough though, I s'pose.

Choosing the right domain/brand is probably one of the hardest parts of this, or any business. So many folks get this horribly wrong, and pay a price for it down the track. Once you've decided on the name, then there's trademark issues to consider, and also securing all the internet property around your domain/brand. Most get that horribly wrong too. I really feel that this is an area of business where most hosts just don't put enough effort into.

Choosing the right domain/brand is probably one of the hardest parts of this, or any business. So many folks get this horribly wrong, and pay a price for it down the track. Once you've decided on the name, then there's trademark issues to consider, and also securing all the internet property around your domain/brand. Most get that horribly wrong too. I really feel that this is an area of business where most hosts just don't put enough effort into.

Perfectly stated. And that's the reason you got 45 or more similar sounding names registered for dotable?

You can come up with several names, but you need to check if they are not already registred, that's when this process starts to suck

Try to keep away also from having host or hosting in your name as its a bit boring now

Try using space or something.

Perfectly stated. And that's the reason you got 45 or more similar sounding names registered for dotable?
Yes, you need to protect your brand by securing a lot of space around your brand.

And by "space around your brand", I mean typos, plural/singular, hyfenated and various extensions. If you're serious about your brand, you should come up with 20+ domains registered, around your brand, as a start.

Just go with your gut. You will know when you have found a name that is right for you.

Where I got mine...I have no idea.

If we could go back in time we would pick a name that didn't have hosting or host in it. We did take a long time to think about the name but we didn't think about all the different services we would end up offering.

I will be launching a new brand soon that uses my initials and last name joined together and lucky for me it makes actual words.

We'd gone for something friendly and easy to remember. Unfortunately we later found that there are numerous ways to (mis)spell it, including some fairly outrageous ones. Now that the brand is locally well known, we get lots of interest, but we still had to buy not only a number of tlds, but also a number of spelling variants.
In retrospect, we didn't choose it wisely, but we plan to stick with it because it's branded now...and we own lots of related names. Oddly enough...as bad as it is, squatters still got some of them before we could.

Try to keep away also from having host or hosting in your name as its a bit boring now

I think the main reason for most companies putting a host or hosting in their name is simply because they try to associate their name with the services they offer.

This is the main way to go for those startups that dont have major funds to spend on branding a name like Go Daddy.

We'd gone for something friendly and easy to remember. Unfortunately we later found that there are numerous ways to (mis)spell it, including some fairly outrageous ones. Now that the brand is locally well known, we get lots of interest, but we still had to buy not only a number of tlds, but also a number of spelling variants.
Yep, typos are essential, and better you get them than your competitors too! :rolleyes:

I have a bunch of typos registered and one of them gets ~100 direct type ins per mth. It's like a ledge around your main domain whereby you catch the type ins that missed your main domain and send them back to your main domain. The more of these outer ledges you have, the more brand protection you have.

I have a bunch of typos registered ...
He is not kidding! I decided to take a few minutes to type dottable, dotabl, and many dotable.extention. and they all pointed right to dotable.com
Someone who takes their own advise very serious. :) Impressed :agree:

Thanks for your comments. It's been fun checking domain name availability for the last 2 days. It's funny that the names I've really liked are taken, even better they've usually been parked domain that have no relation to the website's actual purpose.

Wouldn't you agree that I can't be "the-host-name.cc?"
I wouldn't see people returning so easy.

Wouldn't you agree that I can't be "the-host-name.cc?"
I wouldn't see people returning so easy.
Ewwwww, stay away from hyfenated and .cc domains. Brand .com and work your way down from there with your surrounding domains.

Yes stay away from dashes and non-standard extensions. I do recommend registering all extensions though to protect your brand.

Justin

Back when I first started my company I was primarily doing digital design and illustration. I came up with the name DigiSquid as sort of a reference to digital ink. This was long before the days of Web 2.0 where now just about every company has a bizarre name.

But here's something to keep in mind based on my experience. What works on the web doesn't always work everywhere else. Telling people over the phone that I'm from "DigiSquid" is usually followed by, "Digi...what?" and a four minute session in spelling. That gets annoying. On the other hand once people see my branding they do remember me. It's unique and it stands out. So the main thing is building your identity and then sticking to it. Even if you don't want to spend the money, hire a designer and get yourself a logo. It's not all that expensive ($200 or under usually) and it helps establish your brand. Even the most bizarre names can become commonplace with consistent branding.

With that said, I'd avoid things like "amazinglycoolhost.com", and anything with dashes. You wouldn't believe how many mistakes they can introduce. The shorter the better (usually) and search for companies with similar names since you don't want to dilute your brand.

Good luck. :)

Be smart!
Use a dictionary, find some great words!'
Use a thesaurus, imrpove on those words!'

Most names I see represent key issues in a good host like speed, reliability, uptime etc.

Be smart -> Space is also a good name.. representing uptime - nothing can stop in space, storage/bandwidth - there's so much room to move in space etc

Just make sure your name is relativly short and easy to spell!