I’ve never thought that coming up with a company name can be such an exasperating experience. First of all, creating a name that is short, hip and reflects the nature of my business was not an easy task. Then the next crucial test is getting the domain name! This is usually where ‘my creative business name’ fails. Well, I’m not that creative after all, huh? 
So, I came up with this Naming Test. If a name can go through all the following stages, I think it’s good to go!
1) Name has to be short, hip, cool and relates to technology (most web2.0 names are so cool!)
2) Domain name availability
3) Not being used by any existing or similar trademark and/or servicemark
US Patent and Trademark Office
4) Since this business is going to be in California, the company name cannot be similar or the same as existing businesses in the State of California.
5) Wow, this is the last and final step. Search ‘the name’ on google, yahoo or any other search engines and see what kind of search results show up relating to the search term. If too many results appear, then is ‘the name’ unique enough?
I hope this test works and is sufficient to help me derive the right legal and cool name!
