There are few challenges a new enterprise faces that are more serious than choosing its name or the name for its latest product. I'll show you a fun way to come up with any number of names in this article.

If you've ever named a child, or a pet, or even a boat, you know how difficult it can be to come up with the perfect choice. With humans, anyway, there is nothing more basic to who and what we are. It's our Prime Descriptor - the identifier most of us will use throughout life. If you're smart, you'll think especially hard when choosing a name.

A lot rides on it. 

Picking the best name for a new business, organization or product is TRIPLY difficult these days because:

• People are so overwhelmed, some can barely remember their OWN names, let alone the 50 or so new names they encounter every day;
• URL-miners have secured rights to almost every web address their name-generating software can think up;
• The Internet has opened a world economy to all of us - now Acme Laundry in Emporia, Kansas, competes with Acme Laundries in Los Angeles, rural Ireland and downtown Dubai.

Finding a clear, descriptive name for your company or product that can be used as a web address and that is free from trademark issues has never been more difficult. (I've named a few national brands myself - like the federal program Americorps - I truly feel your pain.)

One way to go about it is to do what the big naming companies do (the ones that get upwards of $100,000 to name blue-chip products and pharmaceuticals:) randomly combine morphemes - parts of words - to create an evocative but meaningless name. (Meaning "not trademarked" yet.)

Rather than get into a Phonetics 101 on morpheme combining, head over to WordLab (http://www.wordlab.com/tools/t_index.cfm) and have some fun.  

WordLab is a very useful, entertaining and FREE naming site. There you'll find several addictive generators to help you spin out names for everything from pills to rock bands.

"Cleveland, give it up for Creche Noir - sponsored by 24-hour Rediprool!"

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