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How to Name Your App: A Practical Process

How to name your app: the types of names, a step-by-step process to generate and shortlist, and the trademark, domain and handle checks before you commit.

Mythex Team · 2026-09-29 · 5 min read

To name your app, decide what kind of name you want (descriptive, suggestive, invented or compound), generate a long list, cut it to a shortlist that's easy to say, spell and remember, then check each finalist for trademarks, a usable domain and social handles before you commit. A good name is distinctive and easy to share; it doesn't have to explain everything the product does.

Naming feels important because it is permanent-looking. In practice, the name matters less than the product — but a name that's confusing, unspellable or legally risky costs you every day.

What makes a good app name

The four types of names

Descriptive

Says what it does: InvoiceTracker, MealPlanner Pro. Easy to understand straight away and can help people find you. The downside: descriptive names are hard to register as trademarks and many similar names exist.

Suggestive

Hints at the benefit without spelling it out — a real word with a relevant meaning, used in a new context. Often a good balance between clear and distinctive.

Invented

A made-up word. Very distinctive and usually easier to protect, with better odds of an available domain. The cost: it means nothing at first, so your headline and marketing must explain the product.

Compound

Two words joined, or a word plus a prefix or suffix. Flexible and common in software. Watch out for awkward letter collisions where the two words meet, and for names that are hard to read in lowercase.

Step 1: Write a naming brief

Before generating names, write down:

• What the app does in one sentence.
• Who it's for and how they talk.
• The feeling you want: serious, friendly, premium, playful.
• Names you like (from any industry) and why.
• Constraints: length, languages, must-avoid words, competitors' names.

This stops you choosing on mood and gives you something to judge the list against.

Step 2: Generate a long list

Aim for quantity first. Useful sources:

• Words from the problem and outcome. List nouns, verbs and images related to what users get.
• Your customers' vocabulary. Phrases from customer interviews.
• Metaphors. What is the product like? A compass, a notebook, a switchboard.
• Other languages, used carefully — check the meaning with a native speaker.
• Combinations and modifications of the above.
• An AI assistant. Give it your brief and ask for many names per type. Treat the output as raw material; AI tools tend to produce similar-sounding names, and they can suggest names that already exist.

Don't judge during this step. Write everything down.

Step 3: Cut to a shortlist

Go through the list and remove names that:

• are hard to say or spell;
• look like a direct competitor's name;
• only make sense with an explanation;
• have awkward meanings you can find;
• are too long to fit comfortably in an app icon label or a browser tab.

Aim for five to ten.

Step 4: Run the availability checks

For each shortlisted name, check:

1. Web search. Is there a product, company or project with the same or a very similar name, especially in software or your industry?
2. App stores and product directories. Search the Apple App Store, Google Play and places like Product Hunt.
3. Trademarks. Search your national trademark office (for example USPTO in the US, EUIPO for EU trade marks, UKIPO in the UK) and the WIPO Global Brand Database. Look in the classes that cover software and your services.
4. Domain. See whether a usable domain is available — how to choose a domain name covers the options.
5. Social handles. Check the platforms you'll actually use.
6. Language and slang. Search the name with "meaning" and ask native speakers in your main markets.

A basic search like this catches obvious conflicts. It is not a legal clearance. Before you invest heavily in a brand — or if you find something close — ask a trademark lawyer. This guide isn't legal advice.

Step 5: Test with real people

Share your top three with people in your audience. Useful tests:

• The phone test: say the name and ask them to type it.
• The recall test: mention it in passing, then ask a day later what it was.
• The meaning test: ask what they think a product with this name does.

Don't run a popularity vote. You're looking for problems — confusion, misspelling, bad associations — not for the most liked name.

Step 6: Decide and secure it

Pick the name with the fewest problems, then quickly:

• register the domain;
• claim the social handles you'll use;
• consider filing a trademark application, with professional advice;
• write a one-sentence description to go with it.

Then move on. The time you spend on the product will do more for the name than another week of debating it.

Common naming mistakes

• Dropping vowels or inventing spellings just to get a domain. It creates a spelling problem you'll explain forever.
• Using a competitor's naming pattern so closely that people confuse you.
• Picking a name that's too narrow, like including a city or a single feature you might outgrow.
• Choosing by committee. A dozen opinions tend to push toward the safest, blandest option.
• Skipping the trademark search because the product is "just a side project".
• Waiting for the perfect name before building. Use a working name and change it before launch if needed.

Name checklist

• Easy to say and spell after hearing it once
• Distinctive in a web and app store search
• No obvious trademark conflict in your market and category
• Usable domain available
• Main social handles available (or acceptable variants)
• No bad meanings in your key languages
• Fits the product if it grows
• Tested with a few people from your audience

A working name is enough to start

You don't need a final name to build. With Mythex you can start a project under a working name, build and share it on a free mythex.ai link, and later connect your own domain on the Pro plan once you've settled on a name — see custom domains in the docs. Your landing page copy still has to explain the product, whatever the name; how to write a landing page headline helps with that.