I’m trying to think of a Company Name at the moment and am looking for ideas. It doesn’t have to relate to blogging, media, communications, online activities etc – but it can.
I’m out of creative juice – any ideas?
About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Rabble Rowser :)
Unfortunately none of your choices might be available – company names and trading names are like confetti. There’s a site attached to the ATO site that will give you some idea if the name is available.
I haven’t got the link at hand but I’ll get Toni to post it when she gets home.
I wanted Software Helps for myself ;-) but when I checked a few years ago it was already taken.
yeah – a couple I was thinking of are apparently taken.
Might have to end up with something quite obscure.
Rowse Enterprises !
You could try the old favourite of taking a colour, then the name of an animal to create a company name…
Y’know, like bluemonkey.com, greendog.com, bluecow.com, orangellama.com, blackarmadillo.com, purplefish.com, etc, etc, etc.
Only problem there is that they’re all taken, too.
Heh… all except for pucegoose.com.
Go on, I dare you.
Big Blogger Corporation
BBC
Although I think there might already be a BBC out there.
I used to have several names registered for every street address I ever lived on during my life .. “(street) Enterprises Co” but, I let it lapse one year and a construction company stole one from under my nose .. so I dropped them all. Right now I just use my initials as the base “(initials) Management Consultants” it was easy to register my domain with my initials and 2 extra letters (HBSMC.com) .. it’s hard to find 5 letter domains these days.
You can always just rearrange your letters and come up with a domain or name like .. um.. NerrAdsWore.com or, RadnerWorse.com or hmm .. well, there probably aren’t too many different combinations there… maybe rearrange the letters in the ‘petname’ your BooBoo calls you.
Hi Darren,
Here is the link Stuart mentioned:
http://www.search.asic.gov.au/gns001.html
This is the one most state government business registration agencies use.
If it’s just for a non-trading company structure, just use the ACN as your company name (eg. 12345678 Pty Ltd). I know a lot of people that use that format for investment or shareholding only companies.
When in doubt, steal. Maybe adapt a phrase from the lyrics to Queen’s Drowse ( http://www.lyricsfreak.com/q/queen/112350.html ) . Restless Feet? AintEasy? Something involving the word “armchair”? RagesOfTears? Gum Bums? Hmm, maybe not.
Or you could go the parochial route and take some name which identifies you as Strayan, like Stephen Mayne did with Crikey. Big Note? Billablog? Blodger? Bodgy Blogs? Blog Razoo? Bloggy Smugglers? Blograngers? Gobful? Little Ripper? True Blog? Yoblog?
If you were Fred Flintstone you could have yabadabablogger.com
http://www.adcandy.com is a way you could find a name (I’m not affiliated with the site). Their users can come up with a name for you. Personally, I think pucegoose.com might be an irreverantly fun way to go.
I often make up a new word. If it sounds memorable, it becomes a unique identifier. Or a word from an old language.
How about Telamon, which is Greek for a pillar holding up a structure but carved into a male figure. Perfect symbol for Problogger :-)
Hyperdrive
I never used this one, but always meant to.
Ipse Dixit
It’s Latin for “he himself said it” and was usually used as part of quoting an authority on someone to back up your point. The primary domains are already taken, but it’s a different direction.
I frequently look through quote sites and books for ideas as t quotes often contain great word combinations (hence their quotability) and 2 word phrases.
Like the latin…..
is Telamon a nude ancient man type scupture??? ooh the images that come to mind for a logo….
Some one just suggested I use my first pet’s name…..
So it would be…
Pretty Boy Media
Pretty Boy Enterprises or something like that :-)
hehe – i can imagine the looks I’d get being introduced as the CEO of ‘Pretty Boy’…hehe
What about “Go Darren Enterprises”? Slips off the tongue and says it like it is.
How about:
Jedi Master Media
Stud Muffin Consulting
Sorrowfully Non-Witty Consulting
BlogMaster (like ThighMaster)
Magical Blog Mystery Machine
“rowses”
“rowsey”
…or something playing off of that general concept
Kitchensink Media ^^
Or try to steal my company name: Neteffects! :P
Hi Darren,
I like latin words too, or hellenic ones.
I’ve created a french company named “Edolone”, because eidolone is in antic greek “picture”, a picture of a man going to hades, the world after death. We’ve deleted the “i” of eidolone, for a better graphic logo.
:)
What was the name of your childhood pet? Might work for a good name? (unless it was a cat named fluffy).
I once heard that a great way to come up with a name for a fictional character for a book was to take your childhood pet’s name and combine it with street you lived on as a kid. I always thought that “Margo MonteVerde” would be a great name for a fictional heroine in a novel”.
Anyway, try it for your business.
I believe we should learn from the big boys. Nowadays, the company names are no longer associated with the products or services they provide. They don’t use owner’s lastname either unless you are running a law firm. Learn from Google, Yahoo, Overtune, Amazon, Accenture…etc… It’s a brand they are buildiing.
So, Darren, if you are trying to build a brand and look for opportunities to expand beyond blogosphere and aim at media or something even bigger, create a brand. A powerful word that is easy to remember, yet unique.
I am thinking about the samething, so I am afraid that I am not going to share my secrets. ;-)
‘Blizzard of Auz’ – sorry couldn’t resist. It is memorable though.
I suggest the name AboutToLaunch.
AboutToLaunch.com is available.
Sorry, but I’m sticking with pucegoose.com…
Me and my friends often think of the name in English and translate it to the ancient Pali. Pali is the language in which the scriptures of Theravada Buddhism were written down in Sri Lanka. We generally like the sound of the words. It’s also easier to find Pali words that is not registered anywhere for anything.
There is an online dictionary available at:
http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/index.html
Hope that helps.
I’m not great with names so I open MS Word and begin typing words that relate to what I’m trying to do (wiki, people, media, etc.). Then I open the thesaurus (Shift + F7) to find more words. After about 10 minutes I start to see if a name is coming together and check for domain avail. If not, I start the process all over again — with new words, of course.
Most recently this led me to http://www.socialwiki.com, which will soon be a Classmates.com ripoff, freebie, wiki-style, personal pages network.
BTW: Keep up the great work. I’ve been reading for about 2 months now.
Darren U
Rowsera
This is the era of Rowse!
Growse Media
Rowsetafarian?
I under how it feels trying to get a good name this days, if you dont mind I can let you have one of my nice names e.g http://www.mediarix.com for any amount you think its worth to you.
You should check out:
http://www.domainsbot.com/
This fun web site takes you through iterations of names based on the availability of the url, the name you would like, and words that you can rank as being important. It’s just the little creative boost you may need.
Alane
Dear Darren,
I suggest that you should remain descriptive and call it “The hardest working man in Ltd.”
Goes great with T-shirts too!
The Revolution Will not be Televised
Rowdar Media Enterprises Ltd
Some blogging ones I’ve been thinking about but will never actually do anything with.
Three Dollar Blog
300 Entries
I don’t know what’s up with the ‘3’. Just coincidence…
I accumulate a number of names (for which domains are available) to use for my own startups someday — or those I invest in.
I think one that might work for you is POPICO (Think “Pop Icon”).
I would happily transfer popico.com to you, at no charge, if you are interested — as a gesture of good faith.
How about: Word Earners
Subtley describes what you do. And, incredibly, is an anagaram of Darren Rowse, if I’m not mistook (I have checked it – but you know Murphy’s Law…)
And yes that took me flippin ages to work out!! lol. Your should of seen some of the others I stumbled across in the process… “Wonder Rears” made me laugh.
If we’re going into anagrams, how about Rendar Worse? Maybe not.
Think about: What makes your blog different and unique? Why is the world better for it? What would we miss if it went away tomorrow? If your blog were a famous person, who would he/she be?
What sort of name do you want? Do you want a name that can umbrella any venture you persue? A generic one or something more specific? eg DR Corp or DR Media or DR Blogging?
My own feeling is that, for a company name, something more generic would be better (despite my word Earners suggestion)
i have an event planning agency but i dont know what name to give it. i want an all encompassing name that i could use for my other companies well.