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Answer These 10 Questions to Help You Choose a Website Name [+ 50 Name Suggestions]

Answer These 10 Questions to Help You Choose a Website Name [+ 50 Name Suggestions]

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Swetha Amaresan

Updated: September 30, 2024

Published: September 09, 2024

Like many others, I was forced to memorize lengthy sections of lines from Romeo and Juliet in my high school AP English class. One of the few lines that still resonates with me is, “What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

This poetic quote means that a name can distinguish various people, places, and objects but has no real meaning in itself.

person looking at website name ideas on a laptop

When considering website name ideas, this sentiment makes a lot of sense. Selecting a website name that simply sounds cool or interesting won’t get you far. It’s essential to pick a name with true meaning and value that accurately represents your brand. After all, if all consumers have is your website name, they should still be able to get a sense of your products or services.

Table of Contents

What to Consider When Naming Your Website
How to Name Your Website
5 Tools to Help You Name Your Site
50 Website Name Suggestions

What to Consider When Naming Your Website

1. Do you already have a brand name you can use for your website?

A website name is important, but it shouldn’t differ from your brand name if you already have one. Consistency is key, so you want consumers to easily locate you across platforms.

If you are launching a new business with a website and need some tips on how to come up with a brand name, read on for further considerations.

2. What type of website are you looking to create?

It’s key to assess what type of website you are creating, as this can largely affect the name you desire.

For instance, a business eCommerce website selling a brand’s products may be more inclined to select a name that relays what consumers can purchase. An educational website may prefer a more serious name. And a clever, creative name may be more suitable for a blog sharing information and expertise.

Pro tip: Check out our list of different types of websites to help inform this decision.

3. What are the key factors that differentiate your website from competitors?

As we’ve clarified, a name is nothing without meaning to back it up. So, think about some key features or factors of your brand that set it apart from competing websites.

There are many CRM businesses in the world. What differentiates HubSpot from the masses is that it’s a comprehensive, all-in-one customer platform that allows organizations to handle the entire customer lifecycle from a single place. We also have a fierce passion for and focus on inbound marketing, which is incorporated into every aspect of our product.

For this reason, the name “HubSpot” makes total sense. We positioned our product as a central “hub” for all teams to intersect and the dedicated “spot” for all things inbound marketing.

4. Is the name available?

Before you get too attached to a new website name, you must ensure it isn’t already taken. You can do this by utilizing a domain registration site, like GoDaddy. GoDaddy allows you to search for the website name you want, and the site will check if it’s available.

I searched “hubspot” as an example on GoDaddy.

Search results from searching “hubspot” on GoDaddy reveal the domain is taken.

As you can see, GoDaddy informs me that hubspot.com is already taken (duh!). It offers two options. Either, I can click Buy It Now, which allows me to work with a personal expert broker who will negotiate a price with the website owner to see if they are willing to sell it to me. Or, I can purchase the site-generated website name alternative, which is nucleusspot.com.

Either way, this is a good tip to ensure you have the sole rights and ownership of your new website name.

Pro tip: Consider the cost of the domain you want to purchase. Is the website name worth the cost? Is there a similar domain that works just as well for a fraction of the price? Play with different extensions, synonyms, dashes, and periods to find something that works for you.

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5. What message do you want visitors to take away from your website?

Lastly, it’s vital to consider your main goal for your new website. Is it increasing brand awareness, targeting a new audience, or increasing sales? Whatever it may be, your brand goal should be part of your website name assessment.

For instance, if your goal is brand awareness, it may be helpful to include your product or service in your actual website name, so that your website’s purpose is clear to visitors. Alternately, if your goal is targeting a younger, digital audience, it may be beneficial to use a trendy name that will capture the eyes of Gen Z consumers.

How to Name Your Website

Let’s say I’m launching a new online skincare business. Since I won’t have a physical storefront, I’ll rely on the success of my website. Below are the steps I will take to name my website.

1. Determine your business specifications and features.

As mentioned previously, it’s important to know what sets a company apart from competitors. For my faux business, I know I care deeply about sustainability — my products are environmentally friendly, and all packaging, including shipping materials, is compostable.

In addition, my products are made by and for people of color, with an emphasis on skin concerns that matter most to this community. This includes combatting hyperpigmentation, dry skin, and skin bleaching, providing sunscreens that don’t leave white residue on darker skin, and overall inclusivity of skin tone.

These are the types of specifications that I will keep in mind as I name my website.

2. Consider the angle of your website name.

There are many ways to provide an angle through a name. I could go for humor, with a name that’s a play on words or an inside joke for my audience. I could also consider something edgy and iconoclastic to stand out as influential and original. Or I could even go for simple and direct if I want my name to be no-nonsense.

For my business, I want my angle to be empowering. My skincare line is all about empowering people of color to use products specifically curated for them, all while feeling good about doing right by the planet. This, to me, screams empowerment and authenticity.

3. Brainstorm keywords attached to your brand that could work in a name.

Now that I know exactly what the key factors of my brand are and the angle with which I want to approach it, I can start brainstorming website name ideas. However, it’s not so easy to think of the perfect name off the bat, so I’ll first ideate keywords and phrases related to my company.

Services-related. Skincare, skin, makeup.
Mission-related. Environment, environmentalism, sustainability, eco-friendly, women, women of color, people of color, brown girl, skin tone, melanin.
Angle-related. Empowerment, self-love, diversity, inclusivity, self-care.
Product-related. Moisturizer, cleanser, toner, serum, gel, sunscreen, cream, mask, exfoliant, lotion, balm.
Industry-related. Beauty, natural, clean, hydrating, protection, soothing, glow, shine.

Now that I have a strong list of relevant keywords and phrases, it will be easier to string terms together and visualize a name that brings my website to life.

4. Double-check that the name doesn’t resemble a competitor’s name.

I’ve settled on a few name options from my ideation session. It’s good to have a few choices, in case one or more are already in use. My final choices are Brown Girl Beauty, Melan(In)clusive, and Skintone Skincare.

As mentioned earlier, I will first check if the website names are still available. My search results show that browngirlbeauty.com is taken, but browngirlbeauty.shop and brown-girl-beauty.com are still available. Melaninclusive.com and skintoneskincare.com are both available.

Now that I have guidance on which website names are and are not open, I can do some quick research to ensure no direct competitors share the same or similar names.

I quickly realized there already is a South Asian-inspired cosmetics, apparel, and accessories brand called Brown Girl Beauty. While not exactly the same, the products and message are close enough that I wouldn’t want to name my website something so similar. Therefore, I will nix this website name idea.

Neither SkintoneSkincare nor Melan(In)clusive produced direct competitor results, so either could be a safe choice.

5. Test out your name options.

Since I have two website names that I feel confident about, now is the time to test out the names. If you can conduct a proper research study group with A/B testing, go for it! I don’t have the resources to do this, so I will poll both names with a mix of friends, family, and colleagues who are skincare product users and/or people of color to determine which name performs best.

I selected 20 people to poll, aged 23 to 58 of varying genders, ethnicities, and skincare product usage. I supplied the name skintoneskincare.com to half the group and melaninclusive.com to the other half. I asked a series of questions, such as “What do you think this brand sells?” “What does the website name make you feel?” and “Would you purchase from this brand?”

My results showed that melaninclusive.com performed better, as my peers felt the name was clear in its purpose, clever in wordplay, and unique compared to the names of major skincare competitors. While skintoneskincare.com still had decent results, some people felt the name was too generic and that the product niche wasn’t obvious.

I also personally like the idea of trademarking a new name with Melan(In)clusive and feel the name best represents my angle of empowerment and authenticity while getting across one of my two main differentiations (inclusive skincare for all skin colors). So, I’ve finally landed on my new website name!

Pro tip: Test your ideal website name as a domain to make sure you like the way it flows in the URL. Multi-word website names will likely appear as one long name in the URL, so they should still be clear and represent the right message.

Take it further: Coming up with your name is just the first step. Using sites like WordPress to build a website can make the process a bit easier, but check out our WordPress launch checklist to ensure you have everything you need to establish your site with success.

5 Tools to Help You Name Your Site

I’ve compiled the five best tools from my experience testing out website name generators. Use any of these to support you when coming up with a custom domain.

1. NameStall

NameStall homepage for testing website name ideas

NameStall offers different types of website name generators, including a two or three-word generator and rhyming generator. You can search any keyword or phrase to receive a lengthy list of website names based on top keyword terms.

Searching ”inclusiveskincare” on the Domain Generator Tool

The tool shows all relevant website domains using the exact searched keyword and whether or not they are available. Below this section, you can see a long list of website name ideas in alphabetical order inspired by your chosen keyword and using other popular keywords.

Website name ideas for “inclusiveskincare” using popular keywords.

You can also brainstorm directly on this tool. The Domain Brainstorm tab allows you to select word categories related to your website and enter a keyword to generate website name combinations.

Select two-word groups and a keyword in the Domain Brainstorm tool.

What I Like

This tool is very comprehensive in that you can search for different kinds of website names (multiple words, rhyming, random) based on your preference.
The Domain Brainstorm tool is a great way to discover related groups and terms to get the ball rolling on your own brainstorming.
There are several other helpful tools, such as Brand Name Generator, which specifically helps you find creative brand names, and High Paying Keywords, which can help ensure you incorporate some of these terms into your website name.