Where does your company name come from?

[tunca]

Whenever I choose a name for something, I think that people are going to care about its meaning as much as I do. Therefore I spend quite an effort to choose names. Another reason for the effort I spend is that the name will live along as if it were your child.

My 'names obsession!' makes me curious about the roots of names of other people. The same curiosity is true for web site and company names.

So, where does your web site or company name come from?

My company is named as Dragonom Game Studio. Two years ago I had hard time finding a name for my company. Suddenly I went back to my roots :) and remembered my first game's name which I had developed 15 years ago. Yes! it should be the name of my company "Dragon of Mohenjo-Daro" with little tweak that could also fit as a website name "dragonom.com". The game was inspired from Prince of Persia. I had written a mythological scenario blending Indian and Turkish fairy tales (Indian here are not the American natives, but the Asian Indians. Today, as far as I know, Mohenjo-Daro is within Pakistanian land area.). My dream is one day to develop the same game with the latest technology as an AAA title (I am not sure to place the original old version as a bonus with the CD :) )

[DanMarshall]

WildeBEAST was our name, taken from a Fawlty Towers quote,

My co-designer kept on having ideas that were waaaay beyond my programming skills, and one time I said "Oh yeah, and why not animate a 3D herd of wildebeast sweeping magestically across the screen". Voila.

[papillon]

Wanted: Japanese (for fanboy/girl appeal), yet not at all hard to pronounce or spell, and with some cutesy, girly meanings, because I'm like that. :) So I basically just played around with a dictionary until I got something I liked the sound of. Hanako is a girl's name and the bits in it translate to "flower" and "child, girl". Works for me.

[alfie]

My full first name is ALFRED, split it in half and you have Red. As it happens I am like a lot of people and also colour-blind, I therefore liked the irony (if thats a word) of naming my games company Red Games. It also allows me to do the unexpected e.g. use orange instead of some red within my games logo (see my site), which will hopefully help site visitors remember Red Games.

[sordith]

Our first choice was trademarked... so was our second and third. Eventually we were just trying to come up with something so we could continue on with the days work. I was getting sick of it so I typed a word into dictionary.com's Thesaurus (idiot, stupid, or moron... not sure which). One of the synonyms was "mutton head", and within minutes we had a mascot and a number of game ideas that followed the theme.

[lexaloffle]

My company is named as Dragonom Game Studio. Two years ago I had hard time finding a name for my company. Suddenly I went back to my roots :) and remembered my first game's name which I had developed 15 years ago.
This is my story too. I went through a gazillion names before noticing that the name of a game I designed a long time ago would work well. Close contenders were curio games, yellow rocket and modern monster.

[Bad Sector]

Originally i wanted Swordstone (you know; the sword in the stone, etc), but unfortunatelly that was taken. So after a thought, i decited to use Slashstone (everything containing sword seemed to be taken too :-P). To be honest, i don't really know what it means, but i can imagine a slashed stone in some of our future products :-D.

It's a nice name, however and i like it. The only problem it has is that some people when hear it, they hear slashtone instead of slashstone (which is pronounced almost the same) - they drop the 's'.

[Ratboy]

I just remember coming across the words 'irrational designs' in some otherwise dreary article and being delighted by them. When I set up my freelance biz, it was the first business name I applied for, and I got it on the first try.

[ggambett]

See the amazingly dumb story behind Mystery Studio (previously Mr.io Software) here : http://www.mysterystudio.com/faq.php#mriomean

[PoV]

I've always enjoyed the irony of a company name that people couldn't spell, nor pronounce, and how effective it can be for a product or service when nobody can find you.


*cough*


Sykhronics is a phonetic mish mash of Psycho and Electronics. I've used the name as a personal label/branding for productions since I ditched my old one "Gamma Flare Games" some 8 years ago. Now I'm trying to make it my company.

Entertainment? Oh man, I have a looooong great story on how I derrived that word. It started with me walking in a door, "entering" in fact, and ....


Actual branding, I'll probably stick with plain old Sykhronics, but company name is a tad longer, just to be overwhelming. :D

[Ska Software]

Originally Totally Screwed Software--

Keeping the theme of a band I played drums and did some vox for, One Screw Loose (been dissolved for a long long time).

If you go to codeadamrecords.com/ (http://www.codeadamrecords.com/) you can hear me sing, and no its not the Weezer cover.

Ska Software--

I've always liked ska more than the next guy, and figured it was dead enough now to start using the name as an obscure reference. Ska Software has a nice ring to it. Oh, and Guy Ritchie has Ska Films.

[Abscissa]

I used to go by "Abscissa Software". "Abscissa" is the name of the x-axis, and I thought it sounded cool and it didn't have millions of companies using it, so that's what I went with.

But no one could spell it or pronounce it, so I needed something else. I spent over a year and couldn't come up with anything, but then my parter came up with "Twisted Pair Gaming" as a play on 1. Cat5/Cat3 cables (Ethernet and telephone, etc.) and 2. The two of us being a tad "twisted" and weird. Still haven't come up with a logo yet though.

[Robert Cummings]

My Missus chose it for me five years ago.

[soniCron]

First, I knew I wanted "Studios" in the name. It's been my longtime dream to produce enough media to warrant having multiple "studios".

Now comes the interesting part!

Originally, I had intended to call the company "Studi Soli" which, ironically, roughly translates to "Studio One" or "Single Studio". (Ironic because I really wanted the plural of "studio" in the name.) Needless to say, not only was "Studi Soli" difficult for folks to understand, write, and remember, I didn't want to sound like a knockoff of the little ole' Studio One Networks (http://www.studioone.net/).

So, after exploring a little, I decided on something to do with the Sun. I like the Sun. (Who doesn't?) It gives life. It's mythological and religious history is an interesting one. And it sounds good as, "Solari".

So, Solari Studios was born.

The End

[DrWilloughby]

My co-designer kept on having ideas that were waaaay beyond my programming skills, and one time I said "Oh yeah, and why not animate a 3D herd of wildebeast sweeping magestically across the screen". Voila.

Funny, I had that thought too... and then I decided to make that game. :)

Pocketwatch Games is easy to spell, easy to remember, it implies something small (with the word pocket), complex (watch), slightly retro, and it has good hard syllables (like Starbucks). I've also always really liked pocketwatches. I was the best man in a wedding recently, and as a gift, the groom gave me a fancy engraved pocketwatch.

The only thing about it that sucks is that www.pocketwatch.com is taken, so I had to go with www.pocketwatchgames.com, which is quite long.

[arcadetown]

We're our own town (http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=273343) so don't mess with us or we'll send the sherriff out to get ya. Seriously no joke, there's an "arcade town" in New York.

[sordith]

I'm originaly from Gowanda, about 30-45 minutes south of Arcade.... small world.

[tunca]

I really enjoy the story behind names. The more meaningful they are the more I can remember them.

Here is the story of Java:

http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-10-1996/jw-10-javaname.html

And here is the story of Goofy Soccer: I chose this name because it was my fisrt game and knew I would receive lot's of critics. To every 'why?' the answer is automatically there in the title :cool:

Why are the players fat?
Because they are goofy.

Why isn't the game a bit more realistic?
Because it's goofy.

Why aren't there any fauls?
Because it's a goofy game.

Sometimes names serve a lot more than you know ;)

[tunca]

We're our own town (http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=273343) so don't mess with us or we'll send the sherriff out to get ya. Seriously no joke, there's an "arcade town" in New York.

Haha! Any Casual Town residents out there? :)

[Sharkbait]

My choice was 99% .com availability and 1% inspiration.

[Fry Crayola]

I haven't got a name yet. Which isn't a major handicap as I haven't got a game either.

I was toying with "Fried Crayons" for obvious reasons, but to be fair it's crap.

I guess I want something with a logo that can be incorporated into all my games as an in-game element in some form. Maybe.

Really, I don't know.

[Musenik]

Mousechief was made up, but I suspect the major influence came from a story from the thirties that describes a perfume called Mischief.

When I googled the name, it has been used in the very old Krazy Kat cartoons, for the title, 'Malicious Mousechief' and it has been used in a description of The Great Mouse Detective.

I liked it!

[Adrian Cummings]

When I had one :) from the side of a shoe box 'Mutation' as in Mutation Glass Slippers (they were actually plastic)... no I had never heard of them either back then :)

Adrian.

[Anthony Flack]

"Squashy Software" should be fairly obvious... it's the clay. I'm into its squashy, tactile qualities and I try to capture some of that in my graphics. I liked the way "Squashy" sat next to "Software", and it was available and .com-able.

Only trouble is - and this was totally unforseen by me - people can't spell squashy! Stupid education system. Still, a fair few of you have got way trickier names to deal with. And even id have to put up with people regularly calling them "I.D. Software"

[Savant]

Part .com availability, part inspiration.

I was trying everything: Game Locker, Game Tray, Game On, Game Play, and so on. Eventually, for some reason, 'Savant' popped into my head and I ran it through GoDaddy.

We had a winner. :)

[stealth]

Leon Brown Creations is what I am :)

[Jim Buck]

Only trouble is - and this was totally unforseen by me - people can't spell squashy!

I had a hard time coming up with an easily-spellable name when brainstorming ideas that was a) cool and b) had the .com available. One of the ones I will end up with (hopefully at the end of this week) will probably be VERY hard for the average person (though it shouldn't be!).

So, I'm curious - what are the various spellings you have seen people attempt to use? Did you buy up alternate domain spellings?

[ggambett]

Eventually, for some reason, 'Savant' popped into my head and I ran it through GoDaddy.
It's unfortunate that "Savant" immediately makes me think of "Idiot Savant", and I don't think "Idiot" is the image you want to company to have :(

[Savant]

It's unfortunate that "Savant" immediately makes me think of "Idiot Savant", and I don't think "Idiot" is the image you want to company to have
Unfortunate to males. Females seem to love it for whatever reason. And since that's the primary audience for the games we carry, I think it's a win. :)

[Anthony Flack]

what are the various spellings you have seen people attempt to use? Did you buy up alternate domain spellings?


Squishy, Squashey, Squishey. And no, I haven't registered those alternate domain spellings... er, I mean yes I have!

[Ratboy]

Squishy, Squashey, Squishey. And no, I haven't registered those alternate domain spellings... er, I mean yes I have!
Squishy would be the midwestern American choice :)

[Jay_Kyburz]

What are you guys doing to check the availability of names. Are you just doing .com searches. Attempting to register it somewhere? Using some service?

[soniCron]

What are you guys doing to check the availability of names. Are you just doing .com searches. Attempting to register it somewhere? Using some service? A whois lookup. Try Better Whois (http://www.betterwhois.com/).

[Ratboy]

What are you guys doing to check the availability of names. Are you just doing .com searches. Attempting to register it somewhere? Using some service?
I tried typing it in, then when I registered my business, I had to call a service to see if the name was in use in my state.

[digriz]

A whois lookup. Try Better Whois (http://www.betterwhois.com/).

You could also try www.easily.co.uk (http://www.easily.co.uk). I've always used them for quick domain lookups across the ranges of .net, .com & .co.uk. They even have it for the latest ones too.

[Rod Hyde]

For general DNS lookup, Whois lookup, ping timings, etc, DNS Stuff (http://www.dnsstuff.com/) offers a huge number of services.

--- Rod

[Jay_Kyburz]

This stuff will tell you This stuff will tell you if the domain is available, but are there any services that will tell you is anybody is trading under a particular name or has registered a business name for a particular region.

Or something?

[Jim Buck]

This stuff will tell you This stuff will tell you if the domain is available, but are there any services that will tell you is anybody is trading under a particular name or has registered a business name for a particular region.

Or something?

U.S. Patent and Trademark database (http://www.uspto.gov) (assuming you mean U.S.-based)

[Jim Buck]

Squishy, Squashey, Squishey. And no, I haven't registered those alternate domain spellings... er, I mean yes I have!

I was afraid of that. The name I'm looking at also ends in a similar -y manner, and I was wondering if it would be wise to grab the -ey versions as well.. sigh.. anyone know of a good place to grab a bunch of alternate spellings for real cheap? I was otherwise going to use godaddy.com for everything.

Generally, what are people grabbing as alternate domains? I notice Reflexive has both the .com and .net versions of the domain, for example. I'm not sure if they have other .endings or alternate spellings, though.

[MrCranky]

I originally registered my company as a .co.uk domain (as its a UK based company so I felt it was more appropriate than .com). When I switched to a new provider that gave me a .com registration for free, I snagged the .com version as well (and redirected it to the .co.uk site).

Its all about avoiding confusion I suppose - its difficult enough to get your company/brand established without fighting with another, similarly named company for awareness. Personally I went for a blander, less catchy name, knowing that it didn't conflict with any other studios.

I suppose there's nothing you can do to stop other people starting up with a similar name - even if you get all the similarly named domains to your company first, they'll still be able to push up the search engine ratings and steal your thunder even from a completely different address.

[C_Coder]

When I was young, I was playing with a very old version of Persistence of Vision Raytracer (POVRay) and it had these nice blob things. After making a green one I came out with Green Blob Software...This comes up to the following abbreviation G.B. and since I am now older I had to choose something not very childish I went to a domain registrar and looked for any good .com name that could use the G.B. abbreviation. Thus GoldBolt .com was available.

[dflash]

I was in a 'serious' rock band with a 'serious' name for a long time and when we finally dissolved it, I chose the name of my next band to be as The Flashcrackers - implying that I wanted to have a little more fun. Flash crackers are a type of firecracker that have flash powder in them. I loved them as a kid, very rare in my part of the suburbs.

Anyway, while still putting the band together I realized I was fed up with all the bs that goes along with being in/heading a rock band and turned my focus to game audio. When it came time to choose a name for the company, I didn't want the typical AudioFusion or GameTunz type name, so I said, 'Flashcracker...yah, why the hell not. Flashcracker Audio.' And there you go.

I still may form a version of the Flashcrackers in the future...

[iopred]

I wanted a name that was simple, easy to say, and eventually, identifiable. I also wanted something I could shorten, I also wanted something slightly strange. I figured a name with opposites could work, straightcurve, roundsquare.. squarecircle. So we ended up with what we have, and I think its working out. The shortened scc looks nice, and is easy to say in passing.

[ManuelMarino]

Well, I named my studio Marino Sounds for obvious reasons. "Marino" is my surname, "Sounds" is one of the most searched keywords, and the word is also a verb, so just imagine :)

It also explains perfectly my occupation without any chance of misunderstanding... and it's very easy to remember, as well.