Classification of Project Name Search
The project needs a name. The name must be available, pronounceable, meaningless, meaningful, and not already a company in Estonia.
On the Classification of Project Name Search An Observational Essay, 2022
A person has an idea. The idea is at an early stage. The early stage, for purposes of this essay, means the idea has not been shared with anyone and would not survive contact with a skeptical listener, but has been considered in sufficient detail that it feels real.
The person opens a browser tab. The person types a word.
This is the beginning of Project Name Search.
The Requirements
The name must be available as a domain. The name must not belong to another company in the same category. The name must not belong to another company in a different category that is large enough to matter. The name must be short. The name must be pronounceable by people who did not choose it. The name must be memorable. The name must not mean something unfortunate in a language the person cannot currently identify.
These requirements were not written down before the search began. They are being assembled in real time as each candidate fails one of them.
The Search
The first ten names are taken. This is expected. The person adjusts.
The next phase involves modification: adding a prefix, adding a suffix, dropping a vowel, replacing a vowel with a number. Each modification produces a name that is technically available and noticeably worse than the original. The person records these in a notes document under the heading "options."
Three hours in, the person is evaluating domain extensions they did not know existed before this evening. The .io extension is available for a name that would have been rejected as too generic at the start of the search. The person is now considering it.
The Consequence
The name that will be used for the project does not yet appear in the notes document. It will appear at some point between now and the moment the project is abandoned or launched, whichever comes first. It will feel obvious in retrospect. This is normal.
The name search is the first task the project creates and the task most likely to outlast the project itself, because a domain can be renewed annually for approximately twelve dollars with no further work required, and twelve dollars is a cost that is easy to absorb relative to the cost of acknowledging that the project has stalled.
Current Status
Three names are in consideration. Two are fine. One has a vowel missing in a way that is meant to be intentional and reads as accidental. The .com extension is not available for any of them.
Progress is ongoing.