How to Name a Startup: The Framework That Works in 2026

Google was almost called BackRub. Slack was almost called Linefeed. Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos registered the domain "Relentless.com" before settling on Amazon — and if you visit relentless.com today, it still redirects to Amazon.com. The point is not that naming does not matter. It is that even the best founders struggle with it, and the names that become iconic rarely feel inevitable at the time.

What separates founders who find great names from those who settle for mediocre ones is not creativity — it is a systematic process. Great startup names are not discovered by brainstorming in a conference room for an afternoon. They emerge from a structured framework that balances linguistic quality, strategic fit, legal availability, and domain reality. Here is that framework.

The Five Qualities of a Name That Scales

Before generating any names, you need to know what you are optimizing for. Not all of these qualities are equally important for every company, but understanding the tradeoffs helps you make deliberate choices rather than arbitrary ones.

Brevity is the most universally important quality. Names under 10 characters are easier to remember, easier to type, and more versatile across contexts — business cards, app icons, social handles, billboard ads. Stripe, Notion, Figma, Slack, Zoom — all under 6 characters. Every character you add makes the name harder to remember and harder to fit in constrained spaces. If your name is over 12 characters, you are starting with a significant disadvantage.

Distinctiveness determines how easily your name stands out in a crowded market and how defensible it is legally. Generic or descriptive names — "QuickPay," "SmartHire," "EasyShip" — are immediately understandable but nearly impossible to trademark and easy to confuse with competitors. Invented or abstract names — "Stripe," "Lyft," "Twilio" — have no prior meaning but are highly distinctive and easy to own legally. The more distinctive your name, the stronger your trademark protection and the more memorable it becomes as you build brand equity.

Pronounceability matters more than founders expect. If someone hears your name spoken and cannot spell it, or reads it and cannot pronounce it, you lose word-of-mouth referrals — the most valuable marketing channel for early-stage companies. Test every candidate name by saying it to someone and asking them to spell it back. If they get it wrong, the name has a friction problem.

Domain availability is a practical constraint that filters most names before they even get considered seriously. The .com for any common English word or phrase has been registered for decades. Your options are: buy the .com on the aftermarket (expensive but possible), use a different extension (.ai is the strongest alternative for tech companies in 2026), add a modifier to the name (get.yourname.com, try.yourname.com), or invent a word that has an available .com. Each approach has tradeoffs, and you need to make this decision early in the process rather than falling in love with a name that has an impossible domain situation.

Trademark clearance is the quality most founders skip and later regret. A name that is already trademarked in your category — even if the domain is available — is a legal liability that can force a costly rebrand after you have built brand equity. The USPTO's TESS database is free to search and should be checked for every serious candidate before you invest in branding.

The Four Naming Archetypes

Most successful startup names fall into one of four archetypes. Understanding which archetype fits your company helps focus your generation process.

Invented words are coined terms with no prior meaning — Kodak, Xerox, Spotify, Twilio, Figma. They are maximally distinctive, easy to trademark, and often have available domains because no one registered them before you invented them. The downside is that they require significant marketing investment to build meaning — "Spotify" meant nothing before Spotify made it mean something. Invented words work best for companies with the budget and ambition to build a category-defining brand.

Real words with new meaning take existing words and apply them to a new context — Apple (computers), Amazon (e-commerce), Stripe (payments), Notion (productivity). The word has existing associations that can be leveraged, but the company redefines it in its category. These names are highly memorable because the word is already in people's vocabularies, but they require careful trademark analysis since the word already exists.

Compound words and portmanteaus combine two words or parts of words — Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, Pinterest, LinkedIn. They can be descriptive while remaining distinctive, and they often have available domains because the specific combination is unique. The risk is that they can feel dated quickly — the compound word naming trend peaked in the mid-2010s and has a slightly Web 2.0 feel today.

Founder names and initials — IBM, HP, McKinsey, Goldman Sachs — work well for professional services and legacy businesses but feel old-fashioned for consumer tech and SaaS. They are easy to trademark but hard to make memorable, and they tie the brand to individuals rather than a mission or product.

For most startups in 2026, the sweet spot is a short invented word or a real word used in a new context. These archetypes combine distinctiveness, memorability, and trademark defensibility most effectively.

The Generation Process: From Zero to 50 Candidates

The goal of the generation phase is quantity, not quality. You want 50 or more candidates before you start filtering. Here is a systematic process for getting there.

Start with semantic mapping. Write your company's core value proposition in one sentence. Then list every word associated with that proposition — synonyms, metaphors, related concepts, emotional associations. If you are building a project management tool, your map might include: flow, clarity, order, momentum, track, orbit, axis, current, stream, signal, pulse. Each of these is a naming direction, not a final name.

Apply transformations to each direction. Take a word like "pulse" and run it through: abbreviation (pls — too short), combination (pulsetrack, pulseflow), modification (pulsar, pulsio, pulsei), translation (pouls in French, puls in German, nabadi in Swahili), reversal (eslup — probably not), and phonetic play (pulze, pulss). Each transformation generates new candidates.

Use AI naming tools to accelerate generation. NameGlow, Namelix, and Squadhelp's AI generators can produce hundreds of candidates from a brief description in minutes. The output quality varies, but AI tools are excellent for breaking creative blocks and surfacing combinations you would not have thought of manually. Treat AI output as raw material to react to and refine, not finished candidates.

Mine domain expiration lists. Thousands of domains expire every day, including many that were registered for businesses that never launched. Tools like ExpiredDomains.net and GoDaddy's expired auction list surface names that are available again after years of registration. You can occasionally find genuinely excellent names this way at registration price.

After generation, you should have 50 or more candidates. Now filter ruthlessly.

The Filtering Framework: From 50 to 5

Run every candidate through this four-gate filter. A name that fails any gate is eliminated.

Gate 1 — The Spelling Test. Say the name to three people who have not seen it written. Ask them to spell it. If more than one person gets it wrong, the name has a friction problem. Eliminate it.

Gate 2 — Domain Reality Check. Check the .com and .ai availability for every surviving candidate. If the .com is taken, research the aftermarket price (use GoDaddy's appraisal tool or Estibot for a rough estimate). Decide in advance what your domain budget is and eliminate candidates where the domain cost exceeds your budget.

Gate 3 — Trademark Search. Search the USPTO TESS database for each surviving candidate in your relevant International Class (Class 42 for software, Class 36 for financial services, etc.). Look for live registrations that are identical or confusingly similar. If a direct conflict exists, eliminate the name. If there are similar but not identical marks, flag for attorney review.

Gate 4 — The Gut Test. Say the name out loud ten times. Read it in a sentence: "I use [Name] for my project management." Imagine it on a billboard, an app icon, a business card. Does it feel right for where you want the company to go in five years? Does it have energy? Names that survive the first three gates but feel flat or wrong at this stage should be eliminated — you will be saying this name thousands of times, and it needs to feel good.

After filtering, you should have 3-7 strong candidates. These are the names worth investing in — getting domain quotes, running a more thorough trademark search with an attorney, and testing with your target audience.

Domain Strategy: Getting the Name You Want

The domain situation for your top candidates will likely fall into one of three scenarios, each requiring a different approach.

If the .com is available at registration price, register it immediately — today, before you tell anyone the name. Domain squatters monitor WHOIS lookups and will register names that get searched repeatedly.

If the .com is taken but parked or held by a domain investor, it is almost certainly for sale. Use a WHOIS lookup to find the registrant's contact information or check if it is listed on Afternic, Sedo, or Dan.com. Make an offer through a domain broker if the asking price is above $10,000 — brokers typically charge 10-15% commission but can negotiate more effectively than founders who are emotionally invested in the name. Expect to pay $2,000-$50,000 for a quality one-word .com, depending on the word.

If the .com is actively used by another company, you have three options: use .ai (the strongest alternative for tech companies), add a modifier (get.yourname.com, use.yourname.com, try.yourname.com), or choose a different name. The modifier approach works reasonably well for early-stage companies but creates friction as you scale — customers will type yourname.com and land on someone else's site. Plan to acquire the .com eventually if you go this route.

Key Takeaways

• Great startup names are short (under 10 characters), distinctive, pronounceable, and available as a .com or strong alternative domain. Optimize for all four qualities, not just one.
• The four naming archetypes are invented words, real words with new meaning, compound words, and founder names. Invented words and real words used in new contexts are the strongest choices for most startups in 2026.
• Generate 50 or more candidates before filtering. Use semantic mapping, word transformations, AI naming tools, and expired domain lists to build a large candidate pool.
• Filter through four gates: spelling test, domain reality check, trademark search, and gut test. Eliminate any name that fails any gate.
• Register your domain the same day you decide on a name — before telling anyone. Domain squatters monitor search patterns and will register names that get repeated lookups.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes a great startup name?

The best startup names are short (under 10 characters), easy to spell from hearing it once, distinct from competitors, and available as a .com or strong alternative domain. They do not need to describe what the company does — Google, Apple, and Stripe are all meaningless words that became iconic through execution and marketing. What matters most is that the name is easy to remember, easy to say, and available to own legally and digitally.

Should my startup name describe what we do?

Not necessarily. Descriptive names like QuickBooks or Salesforce are easy to understand but hard to trademark and can feel limiting as you grow into new markets. Abstract or invented names like Notion or Figma are more distinctive and legally defensible but require more marketing investment to build meaning. The right choice depends on your category, budget, and growth ambitions. Most category-defining companies choose abstract names — they are building a brand, not a description.

How do I check if a startup name is available?

Check domain availability on GoDaddy or Namecheap, trademark availability on the USPTO TESS database, social media handles on Namecheckr, and App Store or Google Play if you are building a mobile app. Do all four checks before investing in branding or telling anyone the name. A name that fails any of these checks will cause expensive problems — a forced rebrand after launch can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost brand equity.

What domain extension should my startup use?

A .com is still the gold standard for credibility and memorability — when someone hears a company name, they type .com by default. If the .com is taken, .ai is the strongest alternative for tech companies in 2026, signaling innovation and widely accepted by investors and customers. Avoid obscure extensions like .biz or .info, which signal low investment. A great name on .ai beats a mediocre name on .com every time.

How much should I spend on a startup name and domain?

Budget $0-$500 for the naming process itself using AI tools and the framework above. Domain costs range from $10 per year for a new registration to $5,000-$50,000 or more for a premium aftermarket domain. Most early-stage startups should spend $500-$5,000 on a domain — enough to get something strong without over-investing before product-market fit. If you find the perfect name and the .com is $25,000, it is often worth it — the domain is a permanent asset that appreciates as your brand grows.