Naming an app when the .com is taken: 7 patterns that work

Every one-word .com worth having was registered before 2005. If your first idea's .com is parked with a five-figure price, you're in the normal case, not a dead end. These seven patterns are how most of the apps you use got their names.

1. Two words that mean something together

Pair a noun with a verb or a second noun: DriftNote, PocketLedger, OrbitPay. Compounds are almost always free as a .com, they fit in 15 characters for X, and they say something about the product. The test is whether the two words sound like one name when spoken. "Orbit Pay" does. "Ledger Pocket" doesn't.

Pick words from the product's own world. A budgeting app wants ledger, pocket, tally, stash. A focus app wants drift, calm, lumen, still. Avoid the words every startup reaches for: cloud, hub, labs, ly.

2. A prefix that says what it is

Get, Use, Try, Hey, Join in front of the brand: getorbit.com, usetally.com. It's the oldest workaround and it still works, with two rules. The prefix goes on the domain only, never in the app name or the handle. And the prefix should be a verb people would actually type: "get" and "use" read as invitations, "the" and "my" read as consolation prizes.

3. The product-shaped suffix

App, HQ, Kit, Base, Desk, Studio after the brand: nestdesk.com, tallyhq.com. The suffix tells the visitor what they're looking at, which is worth something on its own. Keep it to one syllable and make it match the product: HQ for a tool, Kit for a bundle, Desk for something you sit with.

Suffixes to avoid: -ly, -ify, -io as part of the word, and anything that has become a joke about startups.

4. A different TLD, chosen on purpose

For an app, .app is the honest choice: it says what you are, it's HTTPS-only, and it's run by Google. .dev works the same way for developer tools. .io still reads as technical. .co works as a short .com. The difference from a decade ago is that none of these look like a compromise any more; they look like a decision.

The rule: match the extension to the product. A consumer mobile app on .dev looks off. A CLI tool on .app looks off. See which TLD to pick.

5. Drop a letter, keep the sound

Flickr, Tumblr, Grindr, Scribd. It worked because the sound survived and the spelling was one edit away. It still works for names that are already short. It fails when people can't guess the spelling from hearing it, which is the moment you say the name out loud and have to spell it.

If you go this way, buy the correctly spelled domain too when it's cheap, and redirect it.

6. Invent a word

Spotify, Trello, Zapier, Figma. An invented word is free everywhere, trademarkable everywhere, and yours forever. The cost is that it means nothing until you spend money making it mean something, which is fine for a funded company and hard for a side project.

The half-way version: a real word with an altered ending. Add -a, -o, -io, -ex to a root that relates to the product. Say ten candidates aloud and keep the two that sound like they were always words.

7. Two words from two languages

A short word from another language paired with an English one: Kōan Notes, Lumen Desk. It reads as considered rather than clever, and the foreign word is usually free as a handle. Check the meaning in the markets you plan to launch in, and check that the accent survives the store's name field, which strips some diacritics.

What not to do

• Don't buy a hyphenated .com. Nobody says the hyphen.
• Don't pay four figures for a parked .com before the app has users. If it works, you can buy the domain later with revenue. If it doesn't, you've spent the money on nothing.
• Don't pick a name that only works as a domain. The store listing and the handle are where people meet it.

The order of operations

1. Shortlist five names using the patterns above.
2. Check each one across the stores, handles and the TLDs you'd accept. One search here does all of it.
3. Register the handles the same day you decide, before the domain. Handles have no seller.
4. Buy the domain that matches the handle.