Comments on: Your Website Name Doesn’t matter

By: Paulo Ribeiro

Paulo Ribeiro — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 23:36:53 +0000

Very interesting article. I too have thought about how we stop thinking about the real meaning of band names, for example. I think The Smashing Pumpkins is another good example of a bad band name that we subconsciously ignore and immediately connect with the band itself.

By: Jordan

Jordan — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:53:53 +0000

Thinking about this a lot as we decide what to name our child (expected in a month or so). Renaming a domain is easier than renaming a person.

By: Seinberg

Seinberg — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:12:38 +0000

I agree in general that if the content/product/whatever is high quality and it’s something people want then the name doesn’t matter a lot. But it certainly isn’t understood that Radiohead and The Beatles are bad band names because they’re easy to understand puns. On the contrary, I think it’d be incredibly hard to come up with any kind of objective criteria for “good” or “bad” (which I think is your point, ultimately, but if I were to poke a bit I’d say it semi-sort-of undermines your argument to speak in objective terms about Bad Band Names while on the other hand saying it doesn’t matter – if it doesn’t matter, then it’s not good or bad, right?)

By: Alexia

Alexia — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:25:48 +0000

As your copyeditor, I am sorry I failed to fact-check the Cosby-spatula thing and how the Beatles got their name. I will not resign, though.

By: gavin

gavin — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:10:07 +0000

I agree to an extent – names mean very little, unless it’s really clever or memorable in some other way. Most people either won’t remember it anyway or will get to it through search or bookmarks. The only time it matters in my opinion is for business sites, makes it a lot more legit if the url is your business name…

By: Trevor

Trevor — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:43:07 +0000

I’m 100% on board with this idea, but you have to admit that it’s still tempting to try and find the “just right” domain name. Every time I come up with a good idea I seem to come up with a name for it, and then I have to fight against the urge to check if that domain is available. You’re right, though – there are plenty of great websites that have a slightly bogus domain name (basecamphq.com, for example) and I bet it doesn’t make a lick of difference. Most people are just going to Google for your site anyway, so who cares?

By: cbg

cbg — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 04:37:58 +0000

yeah but greyscalegorilla is a joke name. It was made .. when another guy we knew made pixlepig and we were making names like that, off the top of out heads.

By: JaySoto

JaySoto — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:13:44 +0000

odd post. My business name is shutterhead and I own the domain. You don’t know how many times I’ve been asked to sell it for rediculous amounts of moolah… but I won’t. Though I agree with your rationale, having the domain is all a part of branding yourself – your identity. If you are the greyscalegorilla (which you indeed are), then greyscalegorilla.com would have been the only way to go.

By: audrey

audrey — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:50:21 +0000

actually, the beatles called themselves the beatles because their favorite band was the crickets, and it was a play on THAT. but that’s neither here nor there.

By: schmee

schmee — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:17:15 +0000

people never get my domain when i first tell them. i often have to say “thinsite.. cause it’s thin on content.. get it?”. they don’t get it.