General What's in a name?

[Arantor]

As I mentioned, I have a seedling of an idea forming.

What is interesting is that it hasn't yet taken a name. For me that's a key thing: the name grounds any idea I ever have into a sense of permanence. Once it gets a name, I'm stuck with it - if it's the right name.

Do you find that?

Also, do you find it hard coming up with names? I've had a go at a few this evening, trying a few speculative domain name ideas out but none of them fit, most of them are taken and a few are for sale for thousands of dollars, far more than they'd realistically be worth.

 

[joelr]

Do you find that?

I do think there's value in coming up with a name that captures the idea. There's intrinsic value in a clever name, or a catchy name, or a name that really represents the essence of what you're trying to offer.

With that said, if you execute your idea well, you manifest value into the name. And the name becomes the execution of your idea, more than the the inherent value of a clever name.

 

[Arantor]

Sure, manifesting value into a name, I have done that over the years, but I’m coming at this from also a slightly more holistic angle.

I do a lot of writing, where names are important. I have bits of novels that have stuck with me for close to 20 years, waiting to get their next draft, because the name and the concept lodged in my brain and live rent free - but the name on its own won’t carry anything.

I’m just a little old school in that department, that words - but especially names - have power.

 

[ZandraJoi]

My husband helped me come up with the acronym for my forum. A long forum name that can be shortened & people know my forum as HOST now.

 

[otis booard]

"what's in a name?" is also asked by 2pac in one of his recent tracks, as well as of course Shakespeare.

 

[Arantor]

It's one of the most poignant moments in my mind on Romeo & Juliet (Act 2 Scene 2), where they're discussing the value of a name.

The full speech:

’Tis but thy name that is my enemy.
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face. O, be some other name
Belonging to a man.
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And, for thy name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.

It's not a subtle statement that a name is, just, a name and that the name in itself doesn't have a bearing on its worth; she does not love him less because of his name.

But my hangup is that finding the right name for something feels important, because as I said, the minute something gets a name in my head it acquires a sense of permanence that never entirely goes away. I have an entire wiki of notes on ideas, and there's a page full of one-line pitches with titles, some of which are *years* old because they live rent free in my head, but for one reason or another they're not ready to be hatched into something more substantial yet. Some may never be, and that's OK too.

I've often wondered how much of an outlier I am, but naming things is hard; it is often described as one of the two hard things in computer science, right up there with cache invalidation and off-by-one errors.

 

[Ravenfreak]

It takes me a bit to come up with a name, not too long though. I just usually first come up with a few names, then see if the domain name that I want to use is available. Either way hopefully soon you can figure out the perfect name for your community.

 

[ExplorerEvan]

Coming up with clever names is great, until you find out the domain name is already taken LOL