The 1000 names of …
One of the biggest challenges for a start-up company very often is to find a good name that fits all the important criteria like
- As meaningful and product related as possible
- Availability of the relevant domain names (mainly .com)
- Availability of the relevant trade marks
- Short and easy to say, write and remember
- No negative interference with similar words in any major language including «slang»
- …
As the first versions of our product were dedicated mainly to home control applications, we used «Kastellan» (which was the term used for the «keeper of the castle» in the middle-ages) as the name of the project and also considered it to be the name of the product. But the more we realized the power of the concepts we had gathered in our product and the quickly broadening range of applications the software was able to support, we had to look for a new name that would better reflect the power and the versatility of the product.
As it was clear, that the current incarnation of the software was all about «digital things», the group of names we have been scanning first were all based on «dings». After doing research and polls about all those potential names in October 2012 we decided that we had to look elsewhere because «dings» collided with the connotations of the English slang word «ding» as well as the German word «Ding» (a thing). So we had to give up this term after a few weeks as it turned out to be almost impossible to have a conversation about the product in German without running into misunderstandings very quickly.
Nevertheless at this point we had aggregated a rather massive array of domain names in this area already:
| dingspace.net | dingspace.info | dingspace.org | dingspace.com | dingstr.info |
| dingstr.org | dingstr.net | dingstr.com | dingsplace.info | dingsplace.org |
| dingsplace.net | dingscape.info | dingsplace.com | dingsr.info | dingsr.org |
| dingsr.net | dingsr.com | dingscape.org | dingscape.net | dingscape.com |
| dingstor.info | dingstor.org | dingstor.net | dingstor.com | dingsin.info |
| dingsin.org | dingsin.com | dingsin.net | dingsky.info | dingsky.org |
| dingsky.net | dingsky.com | dingsity.info | dingsity.org | dingsity.net |
| dingsity.com | dingsity.ch | dingspace.ch | dingsource.info | dingsource.org |
| dingsource.com | dingsource.net | dinglet.info | dinglet.org | dinglet.net |
| dinglet.com | dingbe.info | dingbe.net | dingbe.org | dingbe.com |
| dingsync.info | dingsync.net | dingspin.info | dingsync.com | dingspin.com |
| dingspin.net | dingsery.info | dingsery.org | dingsery.com | dingsery.net |
| dingzapp.info | dingzapp.org | dingzapp.net | dingzap.info | dingzapp.com |
| dingzap.org | dingzap.net | dingzap.com | dingnic.info | dingnic.org |
| dingnic.net | dingnic.com | dingfinity.info | dingfinity.net | dingfinity.org |
| dingfinity.com | dingsyn.info | dingsyn.org | dingsyn.com | dingsyn.net |
| dingset.info | dingset.org | dingset.net | dingset.com | dingzoom.info |
| dingzoom.net | dingzoom.org | dingzoom.com | dingsphere.info | dingsphere.org |
| dingsphere.net | dingsphere.com | diztributr.info | diztributr.org | diztributr.com |
| diztributr.net | diztributer.info | diztributer.org | diztributer.net | diztributer.com |
| diztributor.info | diztributor.net | diztributor.org | diztributor.com | diztros.info |
| diztros.org | diztros.net | diztros.com | diztron.info | diztron.org |
| diztron.net | diztron.com |
BTW: If you think one of those domain names could be useful for you, let us know we will be happy to transfer it to you.
So after many more brainstormings we finally came across and settled on the term «digital gizmo» or «dizmo» for the objects provided in the dizmo space. In addition to referring to «digital gizmos», we liked «dizmo» as a word and also the connotation of term in the urban dictionary was so positive, we knew we finally had found our name:
«The word / term dizmo means to have feelings/love for a person. The term largely used on IRC to symbolise love and affection for one and another. This term is also used amongst other chat communities.» Urban Dictionnary