Where to Look for New Business (and Domain) Name Inspirations

What’s in a name? Well, when it comes to business, it’s (almost) everything. Sure, some of you will say “Well, all depends on the quality of products and services…” But offering your top-notch products/services under a bad brand name won’t help, at all.

And in today’s business world where online and off line business intersect, having a great company and/or product name is not enough; you also need to have great domain name to represent your brand online.

For example: Who Represents is a great site where you can find agents representing celebrities. A decent business name, but how about the domain name? Well, here it is: www.whorepresents.com – Whore? Oh my. Not. Good. At. All. Here’s another one, for your entertainment: Speed of Art is a quirky site for designers – but the domain name is even quirkier (or funnier?) www.speedofart.com – Art… or Fart? Lol…

The bottom line, choosing your domain name is as important as the business naming itself.

Now, the next question is, where to look for a good business/domain name? Here are the web tools I regularly visit to get ideas on new business and domain name ideas…

1. Panabee

Panabee is probably the most underrated business name idea tools. It is by far the best business, app and/or domain name suggestion tools, in my opinion.

I use Panabee for brainstorming for my next projects’ naming idea. I launch websites – so I want both website brand name and domain name to look great. Panabee can offer me just that.

Just type in your keyword or any words you want as your business name, and Panabee will return you various resources: Domain name suggestions (including the availability,) alternative/related words, how the words are used on Facebook and Twitter, and so on.

Panabee’s owners must be humorous people – want the web’s best FAQ? Check out Panabee’s.

2. Dot-o-mator

In essence, Dot-o-mator is a domain (and business) name generator. There are some similar alternatives, make it not a really unique solution – but quite powerful, I think; that’s what matter most.

Just enter a combination of words from categories you choose and there you go – you will get recommendations. There’s a scratchboard on which you can take note on domain names you are interested in.

A pretty fun and useful tool is Dot-o-mator’s Web 2.0 name generator. If you are looking for a cool name for your web business startup, use this tool: Just hit “Generate names!” button and then you are recommended a “Web 2.0” business name, which you can check the domain name availability.

3. Impossibility!

Impossibility! does one and only one thing best: It helps you generate dot-com-only domain names AND shows you their availability. You can choose to register via their links to Godaddy or Namecheap (affiliate links) or simply copy and paste the name and register the domain name yourself – your choice.

4. Bust a Name

Bust a Name is offering similar services to Dot-o-mator, only more comprehensive (read: better service) in nature: Entering words into the search bar, you will then suggested similar words – including adding prefix, suffix, hyphens, and such. You can also get a list of available domain names to register, and save ideas. Bust a Name takes things a bit further: You can register domain in various extensions, such as dot-com, dot-net, dot-org, dot-info and dot-biz; you can sort the available domain names, and register to Bust a Name’s affiliated registrars if you want to.

Bust a Name also sports a cool feature: Domain maker, basically giving you a tool to generate domain names based on a single keyword. You’ll be suggested a list of domain names according to your specs; this is a great tool to find for business or app name, too.

5. NameStation

NameStation looks pretty similar to the 4 tools I mentioned above, but once you start use the tool, you will realize that it offers a different kind of tools. Firstly, just enter your keywords and you’ll be suggested a strong list of available domain names – in various extensions, including country-specific domain names. You can also mix and match keywords the way you want it: Randomize, combine keywords, blend keywords, and so on.

Probably the best feature is the ability for users to launch and participate in the naming contests. This feature is great for brainstorming ideas.

You need to register to use the tool – but that shouldn’t hinder you from enjoying the benefits of the tool.

So, there you go – top 5 domain/business name generators you can use for free. If you have any recommendations, please share with us.

Image by Natalie Maynor / Flickr