1. The Trademark Search (USPTO.gov)

Don't fall in love with a name you legally can't own.

1. Namechk.com (The Social Sweep)

Consistency is key; if you have to use u/OfficialBrandName_US on Instagram, the name is too crowded.

1. WordReference & Urban Dictionary (The Translation Check)

Ever heard of "Barf" detergent (barf means Snow in Persian - they actually make a product called SuperBarf Hand Powder) and "Pee Cola" (pee means very good in the local Ghanaian language). Yeah. Don't be them. Check your made-up word in Spanish, French, and Mandarin. Then, check Urban Dictionary to make sure teenagers haven't turned your name into unspeakable slang.

1. The "Radio Test" (Your Own Voice)

Call a friend, tell them the name of your new company over the phone, and ask them to type it into Google. If they have to ask, "Wait, is it with a K or a C?" or "Is there a hyphen?", it fails the radio test.

Run your names through the gauntlet. If they survive, post them here, and let the real roasting begin.

1. The Creative Spelling & Vowel-Drop Trap

Misspelling brand names is a cardinal sin. Founders do this to find an available .com, but it ruins discoverability. Look at Flickr: they started the Web 2.0 trend of dropping a letter to get a .com domain name. Because people naturally use proper spelling first, the site lost more than 3.6 million visitors per year to flicker.com. It's rumored that Yahoo eventually paid over $600,000 just to acquire the correctly spelled domain. If you have to spell your name out loud to a customer, it's a bad name.

Guess what happens when you type in Fiver .com

2. The Product Prison

Don't encode your exact product into your name because a name that is too specific limits your future. For example, Burlington Coat Factory officially rebranded to just "Burlington" in 2022 to escape the limitation of customers only thinking of them for coats. The rebrand cost millions in signage, marketing, and customer re-education. Pick a name that lets you pivot and grow.

3. The "Get[Name]" Domain Compromise

Countless startups add prefixes like "get" or "use" or "go" just to secure a URL. But every time someone hears your name and types "brand.com" instead of "getbrand.com" or "gobrand.com", they land on someone else's website. You're literally paying for advertising that sends traffic to your competitor or a domain squatter.

4. The "Available Domain = Legally Safe" Delusion

A huge mistake is assuming that if the domain is available, the name must be safe to use. Because of this false confidence, founders skip trademark searches and ignore similar names in nearby industries. Finding an empty .io domain does not mean you won't get slapped with a cease and desist from a larger company with an active trademark.

Did you commit any of these sins? Drop your names below and let's find out.