Naming your startup can be an excruciating exercise. You have to find a word or phrase that hasn’t been copyrighted or trademarked before, but also illustrates the intentions (and perhaps vision) of your company.
If you were launching a startup in the late ’90s, it was de rigueur to include “.com” in your company name. Who could forget Pets.com or Startups.com? Close to a decade later, including a top-level domain, like .io, .me, or .ly, in a company name is still trendy, even when it doesn’t make any sense. (I’m looking at you, Rent.io.)
If you decide to choose a more random word or phrase, over something descriptive, for your company name, you’re not alone. Zynga founder Mark Pincus picked his dog’s name, Steve Jobs chose his favorite fruit, Google’s co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page used a very large number, googol, as inspiration, and Spotify, well, it must have some meaning in Sweden. Once strange, but now familiar company names like Yahoo, Yelp, and Square prove that there are no hard and fast rules to naming a company, as long as it makes sense to the company’s founders.
That said, there are many company names, no matter how near and dear to your heart, that will spark mocking, giggles, or repeated questions about what your company does because no one can figure it out on their own. After digging through countless startups, we rounded up nine companies with some of the most head-scratching and cringe-worthy names, and decided what products or services their names sound like they should be foisting on the world instead. Some of these startups might have been better off sticking with much more descriptive names. If you’ve got other companies with baffling names (and we know you do), fill up the comments below.
Baffling
STARTUP NAME
Bedrocket
HubChilla
Munch on Me
fruux
Yobongo
WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE
A bogus male enhancement potion or children’s furniture with a Flintstones theme.
A tea cozy for your router. Possibly a Middle Eastern snack dip.
Either a cute Japanese children’s toy or a not so cute Japanese toy.
A frozen yogurt and smoothie shop. Also doubles as an expletive.
Airbnb for sleeping on someone’s floor, or a surfboard sharing service, à la Zipcar.
WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DO (Mouse Over)
Creates online video networks with original content.
Airtime for SMS, connects you with similar users so you can chat over text message.
Daily deals for individual dishes at local restaurants (Acquired by CollegeBudget).
Syncs calendar events, contacts, and task across iOS, Android, OS X, Thunderbird, and others.
Chat room for people nearby, so you can meet new people (Acquired by Mixbook).
Utterly Baffling
STARTUP NAME
TiKL
Splurgy
Zumper
Rocket21
WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE
A suite of children’s entertainment apps.
An app that encourages you to go on a shopping spree with coupons for high-end stores, like Bloomingdales or Tiffany.
A taser/bumper combo for your car or the latest exercise class.
Social network for adults only or a new speed-blackjack casino game.
WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DO (Mouse Over)
A push-to-talk walkie-talkie app for Android phones.
Runs marketing campaigns for coupons and deals on social networks.
Apartment rental listing site to connect landlords and apartment hunters.
Social network for tweens to connect with adults with cool jobs.
