Does anyone know of any tool online that help you find available domain names (mostly non-dictionary words)? Or if you would input a long word (or two), and the system would play with it to produce as many possible variant names out of that?

Appreciate any good links.

Name Spinner at Whois Source will do this for you:
http://www.whois.sc/
Example:
http://www.whois.sc/name-spinner/?q=artisthemankthx

Art,
Did that help, or were you looking for something different?

Last time I needed something like that ... I opened an online Thesaurus in one screen and opened up the name spinner at the URL Exon mentioned in another ... and away I went.

I have never seen an "all in one" on the net. Would be great if someone put one online.

Take care
Peter

Guys, I am looking for something close to:
http://www.domain-generator.net - something that generates random non-dictionary words (or close to them being words).

I never thought that thinking of a killer name would be so tough.

what kind of killer name are you looking for? anything specific or just something really catchy? I'm just curious...

I myself used whois.sc in my searches too. If you do find something, please let us know!!

I am after a name like Google, Ebay, Skype, Trillian, etc. Something that is not a dictionary word, yet has the potential to be a brand of its own.

I am not looking for names like: "eCarToolsForSaleOnline.com".

That site is pretty neat Art, however on my first generation it offered me up "GoDick.com". Sad part is, that it is already taken

Yup, that type of non dictionary yet catchy name is very difficult to think of. One problem is that even when you think of a good one, it doesn't always immediately jump out at you as a "winner", since it, well, simply hasn't been developed as a brandable name yet. I'll bet the first time you heard the name "google", you didn't say "Wow, what a great name". Same thing with joomla.com. Or plesk.com. It was only after being exposed to it for a while that it made its mark, its impression, its brand.

Vito

Google didn't just think of a name out of the blue, Vito.
There is a story behind the name, something that stands closely with the company's philosophy and strategic vision. I will give you examples of what, in my opinion, are successfully chosen names.

Google
The name "Google" is a play on the word "googol," which was coined by Milton Sirotta, nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner. A googol refers to the number represented by a 1 followed by 100 zeros. A googol is a very large number. There isn't a googol of anything in the universe -- not stars, not dust particles, not atoms. Google's use of the term reflects our mission to organize the world's immense (and seemingly infinite) amount of information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Zaads
We'll start with the name. zaad. It's Dutch for "seed." Amazing how much potential is in a tiny seed, eh? We think so, too. That power reminds us of the amazing potential within each of us. We thought the idea of creating a company that inspires and empowers you to bring your "seed" to actualization would be pretty powerful. So, we created "Zaadz."


It is the meaning I am after as well.

Interesting. I vaguely recall the googol reference.

I see your point. So in order to help you come up with a name that has relevance to the meaning you're looking to associate with, can you tell us the genre or focus of the site you want to develop?

Vito

Since the new Internet business is the intersection of psychology and sociology, the focus has a scientific taste to it. I took the following directions, all standing for the meaning of Genesis: Birth, Creation, Cause, Beginning, Source, Origin - of LIFE. Research into DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) and hormones were made - trying to play with words/terms that stand for those things.

For example, I played with the following words: Organism, Embryo, Nucleic Acid, Chemistry, Quantum Physics (another direction), Atom, Zygote, Hormone, Tissue, etc.

But hey, if you think of a cool name, don't publish it publicly - please PM me instead. If the name goes through, I'll have no problem appreciating the effort with a little something.

At this point I have about 15-20 names, but only 2 with some potential.

Best,

Look through word lists of rare languages. Ubuntu linux got its name from an old African language, for example. You can play with Latin, Swahili, Old Greek, whatever.

In order to update everyone who has been an amazing help to me during this process, the search is over. Today I have finally acquired a fantastic 6-character domain through escrow, which came at a price (but good one) after almost 2 months of negotiation with the owner. I don't want to release the name just yet. I can only add that I have successfully brought the price down 74% from the original asking price.

I wanted to once again thank everyone for your help. Some of you went to extraordinary length of researching the name for me part-time, which I really appreciate.

Best,

Remind me to get you to negotiate my next real estate purchase.

Vito