Help Name Our Website

April 6, 2008

As I work on UI prototypes for the new web venture, I've been brainstorming names for the web site we're building. I've surveyed some of the finest minds in the software developer community (for very small values of "fine"), and we've come to a collective realization: naming a website is hard. Really, really hard.

You begin to have a new respect for all the crazily-named Web 2.0 startups. And then there are the domain names which must not be named. Some of them are actually serious. What were the people who named experts-exchange.com thinking? I'm not so sure they were.

We've racked our collective brains, and this is the best we could do. We'd like your input to see if we're on the right track. Vote for the name that best embodies what you'd like to see on a software developer community website.

(voting is now over; the winner was stackoverflow.com)

humbledeveloper.com 563 8%
fellowhackers.com 302 4%
gosub10.com or gosubten.com 334 5%
writeoncereadmany.com 157 2%
humbleprogrammers.com 179 3%
privatevoid.com 934 14%
cargocultdevs.com 109 2%
dereferenced.com 755 11%
bitoriented.com 492 7%
algorithmical.com 301 4%
corecursion.com 96 1%
metaprogramming.com 373 5%
stackoverflow.com 1,721 25%
understandrecursion.com 35 1%
shiftleft1.com 102 1%
(other) 442 6%
6,895

I can't quite talk about what this developer community website will do yet, but we think it's going to be somewhat unique. It sure helps to put a name on it first.

We appreciate all feedback, even if it's of the "they all suck" variety. In that case, vote for the (other) option and leave your ideas in the comments or email me directly. You can use the clever as-you-type search at Instant Domain Search to figure out what's available. I'm warning you: it's a wasteland out there. You'll have to be pretty clever indeed to come up with an interesting, simple name that isn't taken -- or, worse, domain-squatted.

Update: If you're curious what the website will do, in broad terms, this recent audio interview I did with Thirsty Developer explains.

Commenters also pointed out some excellent articles on naming:

Posted by Jeff Atwood
316 Comments

coders.com

offler on April 7, 2008 3:12 AM

I'm sure this isn't what you were going for but I've always thought it'd be funny to name a WTF type website:

code-tarded.com

Codetarded is the term I made up for smart people who code very badly (code + retarded). It's certainly not P.C. and could be offensive but I still laugh when I think of it.

=D

Frank on April 7, 2008 3:14 AM

dunno Jeff, perhaps if we knew a teensy weensy bit more about what the site was about we might be better placed to pick a more appropriate name ...

M on April 7, 2008 3:25 AM

"Hack", "hacker" and "hacking" have too many negative connotations attached to them for the average person - also those words attract script-kiddies like rotting meat attracts flies.

I reckon you should go for something catchy and meaningless. Something that sticks in peoples heads. Something that won't sound dreadfully outdated in 5 years time. (Could Markov chains help? lol)

Oh, and "programmer2programmer" sounds like a geek dating site. Eww.

RWW on April 7, 2008 3:27 AM

devcodeo.com

Martin Wallace on April 7, 2008 3:32 AM

Haha Rich, I like codingwhore.com that would be a very accurate name for a site that has free code/coding info and forums for developer....if it is a pay/member site then it would have to be codinghooker.com

Kyle Woodbury on April 7, 2008 3:36 AM

not Rich...I meant Michael G

Kyle Woodbury on April 7, 2008 3:37 AM

I think gosub10 would be the best. It's a classic.

Bit 101 on April 7, 2008 3:38 AM

My favourite is stackoverflow. It just sounds quite good. privatevoid is also pretty good, but my fear is that it's too language oriented, unless of course the website is language oriented.

[ICR] on April 7, 2008 3:46 AM

HelloWorld must be gone, surely.

David Dawkins on April 7, 2008 3:51 AM

What do you know, I voted for the correct answer, along with 24% majority! Stackoverflow.com. It's the only one that really sticks out as a catchy name, the others are forgettable, or downright bad.

Flaky on April 7, 2008 3:57 AM

Unfortunate domain names?

I read fellowhackers.com as "fellatio whackers".

Ganaggl on April 7, 2008 4:01 AM

I voted for privatevoid, but stackoverflow is winning. :(

Everyone who's read a newspaper in the last 10 years knows what a stack overflow is.

David on April 7, 2008 4:09 AM

codingdelight.com

Kevin on April 7, 2008 4:12 AM

I like Michael G's idea, or some variant, like codingwho.es

David on April 7, 2008 4:15 AM

Two suggestions for picking domains:

1. http://www.bustaname.com/
2. Write your shortlist of ~5 on paper. Show to friend. Take paper away. Ask friend to recall the names and see what they can remember. Repeat.

Guy on April 7, 2008 4:16 AM

OneGoToRuleThemAll ;)

(andinthedarnkessbindthem.com)

heheh yea, I agree with "M", only you can put a name, cuz you know what this is all about.

We can only scream geeky names.


Martin Marconcini on April 7, 2008 4:29 AM

Jeff,
how about code-comfort.com

Dave Crozier

Dave Crozier on April 7, 2008 4:37 AM

horrorcoders.com :

But stackoverflow sounds good too.

macbirdie on April 7, 2008 4:43 AM

cultofdevelopment.com is such a great name, I'm gonna go register it.

Joshua on April 7, 2008 4:45 AM

@Flaky - "What do you know, I voted for the correct answer, along with 24% majority! Stackoverflow.com."...

What do you mean by "correct"? When it comes to something that is a matter of taste, there are no "right" or "wrong" opinions.

Also, the following from the list have been registered already:

humbledeveloper.com
metaprogramming.com
stackoverflow.com

Let's hope Jeff has them!

RWW on April 7, 2008 4:46 AM

ologn.TLD

Murphy on April 7, 2008 4:49 AM

Yeah, they pretty much all suck, sorry.

Mike on April 7, 2008 4:49 AM

The criteria that important to me when considering a domain name are:

1) Say it out loud. Does it roll off the tongue? Is it catchy and distinctive, or cumbersome and tricky? Short and evocative words and phrases with few syllables are best.

2) Write it by hand. Does it have any confusing words that might be hard to spell? Would you mind seeing it printed in stationary or on business cards? A good URL should look visually pleasing and fit in well with other textual elements in a design.

3) Type it out. Does it contain any tricky characters or sequences of characters? Do you have to glance at your keyboard to type it out? A good URL should be *ergonomically* easy to type. Typing the URL shouldn't cost users any kind of effort.

I can see that you are going for an approach that intentionally avoids the Web 2.0 style: short, too-clever, misspelled, enigmatic, whimsical, etc. Do, however, try to avoid the opposite extreme: long, bland, too-literal, and lacking in humor or spark.

With regards to this specific naming task, I would be careful about choosing computer jargon in the domain name. If you choose jargon that requires, say, undergraduate-level CS knowledge, you might alienate younger and less experienced programmers. If you choose jargon that requires an appreciation of low-level hardware or programming, you might alienate those that have always worked at higher levels of abstraction.

Good luck ;]

jkndrkn on April 7, 2008 4:53 AM

You're much better off, IMHO, thinking of a distinctive, catchy name that doesn't mean anything

This sounds like great advice until you try to actually do it.

I've spend 50-100 hours trying to find domain names, and it really is hell. This list has some pretty good options. And I think this is one case where a public opinion poll can actually be useful.

doublefudge on April 7, 2008 4:54 AM

Stack Overflow, Private Void and Off Duty Ninjas sound awesome to me. =)

Fernando on April 7, 2008 4:58 AM

bytecurious.com anyone? [groan]

RSL on April 7, 2008 5:05 AM

My suggestion

ui me ui u .com?

in short: uimeuiu.com

Edward on April 7, 2008 5:13 AM

ah, haha, though the site was for UI but missed that the "problem" was about UI. Plz disregard my comment above :)

Edward on April 7, 2008 5:20 AM

I don't know why ninjas keep popping up when i read stuff like this.
is there a relationship between ninjas and developers??

Adyt on April 7, 2008 5:20 AM

I loved stackoverflow.com, but it looks like you'll be paying to use that one.

Maybe to need to tap pop culture for ideas not taken.... howabout 2cores1thread.com?

Gio on April 7, 2008 5:35 AM

How about:
turingslegacy.com
mythicalmanmonth.com
mythicalmanminute.com
branchandburnoperator.com

aikimark on April 7, 2008 5:49 AM

I hope you bought all those names before some bastard sits on them.
Fat bastard squated on my domain.

Steve on April 7, 2008 5:49 AM

How about NobodyKnowsWhatThisSiteIsAboutAndAsAResultNobodyKnowsWhatItShouldBeCalled.com?

I'll emphasise again that I think you should keep references to hacking out of the equation - it's guaranteed script-kiddie bait.

RWW on April 7, 2008 5:53 AM

How about some l33t? (WHOIS claims the following are available)
- vo1dma1n.com

- v01dma1n.com

- idmain.net||.org (the .com is taken. Then add your host name, for vo.idmain.net)

Short Keyboard on April 7, 2008 6:18 AM

Since I'm on a roll, how about IBM's famous magic debug value, DEADBEEF?
- deadb33f.com is available

For that matter, the OpenSolaris magic debug value is hillarious, but will probably draw the wrong people to your site.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEADBEEF

Short Keyboard on April 7, 2008 6:24 AM

what about:
* what-the-hack
* hackitecture
* soft-spot
* soft-where
* code-me-in
* code-uncovered


Manrico Corazzi on April 7, 2008 6:27 AM

coderville.com

TownDrunk on April 7, 2008 6:29 AM

coding honor .com

sebastian on April 7, 2008 6:31 AM

I like stackoverflow and privatevoid, but I came up with devhackers.com as another alternative.

mike on April 7, 2008 6:41 AM

Hm, how about veloder.com?

I also liked fizzbuzz. :-) I think the whole "two innocuous words" thing might generally be good, particularly if it's going to be a social site.

Hahaha, aintbroken.com would be amusing, though probably not ideal. :-) Sigh, I'm probably just giving these all away to squatters.

-Max

Max Kanat-Alexander on April 7, 2008 6:46 AM

why not jeffatwood.com?

matt on April 7, 2008 6:49 AM

Having voted for stackoverflow.com, I'd like to add returnfalse.net (or .com or .org, of course).

Jorge Rosa on April 7, 2008 6:52 AM

Oh, and friendeveloper.com isn't taken. At least, not as I'm writing this... :-)

-Max

Max Kanat-Alexander on April 7, 2008 6:52 AM

How about:

completecoder or thecompletecoder
codeforall
codesmiths
happy-coders
alldaycoders
procoders or pro-coders
thecoders or the-coders

And my personal favorite:

codewhores

chiz on April 7, 2008 6:54 AM

hehe fun, here is my 10 min, havent had time to test.

bitminds.com
byteminded.com
code.rage.us (courageous.. :) )
code.foc.us (code focus .. ( or code f#ck us, hehe ) )

But why not invent a name? Seem to me that alot of company names take 2 words and combine. Maybe Micro-soft started that trend. I once did a "company name" generator by combining two words, very funny. But dosent add any charm. You could just as well play Frodo112 or L3g0las in wow or some other sick world. Or maybe some other culture, Ubuntu is doing alright with their name.


But good luck! :)

Peter Palludan on April 7, 2008 7:01 AM

Don't worry about cost associated with a domain squatted name - just but it, that's what I did.

You'll get the name you want, and domains are real estate - location, location, location.

Mr_Simple on April 7, 2008 7:13 AM

codercorner.net

Donny on April 7, 2008 7:17 AM

A developer community website is a great idea. I like IT Toolbox for professional networking but it is too broad in scope. Maybe you should name it "MyCode" if you want it to be the MySpace for developers.

ASP.NET Weblogs has been accepting everyone to blog there but I don't see a strong community being created. I still think you need video communication to create a real sense of community. I've found several developer podcasts but they are scattered and hard to keep track of.

Robert S. Robbins on April 7, 2008 7:19 AM

The name should be funny so when people leave your website they remember it, but it should be easy to see that it's funny. privatevoid requires some thinking for instance

Hoffmann on April 7, 2008 7:21 AM

Manrico Corazzi: "what-the-hack", ha!

I like that the best, but "deferenced.com" tops everything else on your list by a mile.

Remember there are other top level domains besides .com, too.

Evan on April 7, 2008 7:23 AM

what about devshag
or is it to 80'ies

Mike on April 7, 2008 7:32 AM

I would recommend this article; http://www.thinkvitamin.com/features/biz/how-to-name-your-company

Gustav Mrtberg on April 7, 2008 7:35 AM

pointers4u.com

Richard Williams on April 7, 2008 7:37 AM

yadcs.org [yet another developer community site]
ognadcs.org [oh god not another developer community site]
stopthemadness.org

Bored Now on April 7, 2008 7:39 AM

You're much better off, IMHO, thinking of a distinctive, catchy name that doesn't mean anything

This sounds like great advice until you try to actually do it.

doublefudge... you have no imagination!!! The following .com names are all available at the time of writing:

fangledoo.com
pippipo.com
limapop.com
quengol.com
xenaaz.com

And so the list goes on...

These took me a matter of seconds to think up.

RWW on April 7, 2008 7:45 AM

I often don't know what the title of a particular blog post will be until I'm 90% done writing it. This is a normal workflow, at least for me: things do not reveal themselves until you near the end.

So true. I appreciate you asking everyone to make suggestions, as I too have a hard time naming things. With this in mind, I hope you'll come back when things are a bit more fleshed out (and not so private ;) and ask for more suggestions if you still need them. I'm sure people will be more able to come up with appropriate suggestions.

Best of luck!

Andrew Conkling on April 7, 2008 7:50 AM

First of all, I wish you the best of luck, I really enjoy reading your blog.

I was wondering why you have not applied the rule 'double clikcing sucks' to the voting button. :-)

Ahmed T. on April 7, 2008 7:56 AM

nullreferenceexception.com

Colin on April 7, 2008 7:56 AM

wysiwyg.com?

Juan on April 7, 2008 7:58 AM

thatsmeoverthere (reference to OO object pointers)
inthefoot (where C++ allows you to shoot yourself)
seerecursion (in joke)

I'm annoyed that twiddlebits/bittwiddlers were already taken. Astonishingly, hackerscum.* is not taken :-)

Bob Moore on April 7, 2008 8:04 AM

CodeExploder.com
ExceptionalCode.com
CodeRandomizer.com
StructuredCode.com

Dennis on April 7, 2008 8:11 AM

Does anyone remember a company named Stack Overflow a few years ago? They had a great pre-Ajax product that helped you combine JavaScript and DHTML on your web pages. It did not catch on at the time, but it should have. I think the name was Mosquito, but I am not sure.

Jim Snyder on April 7, 2008 8:12 AM

deferenced.com?...oops, I meant dereferenced.com, obviously.

Anyways, I think you want to keep it as meaningful as you can with the fewest syllables. Some of these names are just way too esoteric (understandrecursion? shiftleft1? Really...?) I mean, what is your site ABOUT?

Evan on April 7, 2008 8:22 AM

humblehacker.com or humblehackers.com
I like humbledeveloper and programmer too. Stackoverflow sounds too much like a security site that might get trafficked heavily by "k00l d00dz". gosubten is actually not that bad, but if you are going that route, you might try to get a little more esoteric

Paul on April 7, 2008 8:23 AM

I wonder if Jeff is jumping on the bandwagon of gated communities? I have some ideas of what I hope this site is going to be, now the wait to see if it is.

I really like StackOverflow.com it gives you a sense of just so much going on and that its the place to be that draws you there.

SegFaulters was a good one too (forget who said that above)

Adding an S to humbledeveloper would make it nicer, to show it is a community and not a single person.

I haven't checked these but figured I should throw them in:
rm-rf.com
codebook.com (facebook play?)
cookingwithcode.com
stdout.com (hmm idk about STD tho...)

and oh no, please not 2cores1thread...

Dana L on April 7, 2008 8:25 AM

devfellows
thedevcommunity
devexception
exceptionaldevelopers

Raam Dev on April 7, 2008 8:27 AM

You're welcome to have ardentcoder.com if it's appropriate - I don't use it anymore. It doesn't have the same insider joke appeal as dereferenced.com or stackoverflow.com.

Derek Hatchard on April 7, 2008 8:35 AM

How about checksumcode.com or the like?

Kranor on April 7, 2008 8:39 AM

ooh, how about bitbybyte.com/

Sarah Jim on April 7, 2008 8:39 AM

I own codehuddle.com and would be willing to donate it to the right community site effort. Ping me if you're interested.

Tyler Jensen on April 7, 2008 8:45 AM

I hope all of those haven't already been squatted. It's a shame that a poll like this can actually be dangerous to you. I like the abstract names. privatevoid, stackoverflow, etc...

tc on April 7, 2008 8:51 AM

do-while.com

Steven on April 7, 2008 8:51 AM

do-while.com

Steven on April 7, 2008 8:52 AM

Posting domain names on a public forum is a bad idea. I sent my suggestion via email.

Frank on April 7, 2008 8:55 AM

program-this.com

Rich on April 7, 2008 8:59 AM

How about developThis.com ? The Instant Domain Search site you linked lists it as not taken

cpcode on April 7, 2008 9:01 AM

How about ChildrenOfKnuth.com ? FollowersOfKnuth? DisciplesOfKnuth?

Peter on April 7, 2008 9:04 AM

Few more:
codeHandle.com
handleYourCode.com
oneInTwoHundred.com (if you like fizzbuzz)

cpcode on April 7, 2008 9:15 AM

segfaulters haha i lold at that..
when i think of names i try to cat them like this: bad adjectiveorgood adjectiveword with anything computer-y with it
like
retroprogrammers
metalogic
and stuff..

btw i like segfaulters.. xD

allan on April 7, 2008 9:16 AM

I think dereferenced.com sounds like a programming oriented comic strip, with StackOverflow.com being more like a WTF type site.

Bob on April 7, 2008 9:18 AM

but my vote goes for metaprogramming.com.

This was my vote as well, but anything less popular than (other) can't be a wise choice..

Thanks again for all the domain name suggestions. There are some good ones, although I wish you'd do a better job of checking if the domain name is taken *before* posting it (and yes, some of these suggestions were registered way back in 2000). :)

Jeff Atwood on April 7, 2008 9:21 AM

I cannot vote from office (the poll site is filtered), but the first name that popped to my mind is byters.org

Filini on April 7, 2008 9:25 AM

You'll want to select a name with a winning stress pattern:

http://www.mikepope.com/blog/DisplayBlog.aspx?permalink=1931

mike on April 7, 2008 9:36 AM

Clearly stackoverflow.com

I would have picked voidpointer.com if it was there tho...

Shame its already taken: http://voidpointer.com/Startpage.aspx

Now to register that awesome domain name.... j/k

Jheriko on April 7, 2008 9:38 AM

LOLcoderz.com

Darren Kopp on April 7, 2008 9:41 AM

You're much better off, IMHO, thinking of a distinctive, catchy name that doesn't mean anything

Such as... what? I'd appreciate it if those of you who voted (other) would offer some kind of alternat name suggestions.

I agree w/ this approach. Like what the developer of "adapdev.com" uses for his products, synthetic names that suggest something.

Or you could use Latin (like the popular tech site "arstechnica") or Greek. techsophos or peritusapiens (skilled wise man or something?).

Voted for humbleprogrammer, btw.

Antonio Rodriguez on April 7, 2008 9:41 AM

Jeff, your poll is worthless. You need to shuffle the results. The names in the middle of the pack won't garner their fare share of votes.

You should begin shuffling the order of the domains and throwout any votes from before that point in time.

PWills on April 7, 2008 9:46 AM

stackoverflow.com seems so cliche anyways.. It almost could be a nickname of one of the characters in the movie Hackers, like their dog or cat.

Brian W on April 7, 2008 9:49 AM

i would try a few different random name gens to get you at least moving. even if it doesn't give you what you want, it may lead you down some alternative directions.

Whether screen name or website name, I've also agonized, however in the end, the right one pops into my head. I still am amazed about naming myself "Bob the Fish" in some places. It's perhaps one of the least reactive, most unassuming name I've come across, which means less fights, yet, apparently s original enough that I'm always remembered. The Postindustrialist was a reference to a few books regarding a post manufacturing, or Post-Industrial age, where information and data were the main "goods" from which an economy's wealth were gained. Kind of appropriate, for someone today, no?

I just recently had issues taking a website and naming it myself, For the longest time, I used "Ex Machina Press" on the books I've bound, the websites of my own that I've developed, or built as a "template" for others, (all long since gone), and was considering registering the site for another project. Turns out someone aready owns it.

After agonizing for a long long while, I simple looked over at my router, realized my network has a rather morbid naming theme (Computer 1 (retired): Cerberus, Computer 2(work): Sisyphus, Computer 3(personal): Orpheus... I think I decide to buy a desktop for downloading multimedia and testing new software, I'll just name it Charon and wish it luck on its journey to the underworld.)

Looking at the router, whose wireless network is Elysian Fields, I decided on naming the (yet untouched, however purchased) site elysianpress.com

I wish i could help more, but it sounds rather vague, "a software developer community site".

What languages?

All?

How are you going to deal with that?

What level of experience are you aiming for?
Your name will subtly state what sort of experience is expected. "humbledevelopers" is going to feel more open to beginners, much like "Coding horror" does, but mentioning subroutines or of particular techniques is going to drive them away.

-Also, think of how else a name might be taken. Yeah, the fello whackers. But also "privatevoid" makes you sound like an angsty teenage emo-infatuated girl. Either that or an incredibly angsty goth with too much make-up. Anything with "Hacker" in it is going to be somewhat avoided by a particular group, because the word itself, in the gerenal public, is both demonized (Those damned hackers!!! they somehow hacked my brain and made me forget my myspace password!!!) or regarded as pertaining to a bunch of teenage kids that think they really know computers.


What kind of software are you planning on focusing on? Part of that is going to determine the languages that are going to be primarily used.


More to come.

The Postindustrialist on April 7, 2008 10:01 AM

Went through the same thing before finally settling on DevelopmentGeek.com (since it didn't pidgeon-hole the content like betterdatabase.com and a couple others would have).

Anyhow, if you get stuck, you could always just buy one of mine, Jeff.

absolutegeek.com
adhockery.com
craftagility.com
hackitude.com
kludging.com
softwarejourney.com
tardegy.com

I've got more, but don't want to blatantly spam. ;) lol.


--Kevin

Kevin Fairchild on April 7, 2008 10:04 AM

sweatervest.com

(hint: see http://www.stevemcconnell.com/ )


I also like the dailywtf's constant references to "Codethulu", so try and work that in somehow.

Peter on April 7, 2008 10:05 AM

dowhile.com

SammyB on April 7, 2008 10:06 AM

You may find the Igor Naming Guide a helpful resource when selecting a product or company (or website) name:

http://www.igorinternational.com/process/naming-guide-product-company-names.php

When our company had to abandon our previous name, Soldier Vision, we found the Igor Naming Guide a helpful resource. If nothing else, it helped us approach the problem of renaming our company in a more systematic manner. The Igor Naming Guide advocates selecting strong, evocative company names over weak, functional names.

In the end, we selected Primordial as our new company name. Igor included us in their case study on defense industry companies on pages 33 and 87.

Hope that helps!

Kyle on April 7, 2008 10:10 AM

My 2 cents:
developing4living
developing4food
devfellowship
devsfellowship
codingispainful

But to be honest Jeff codinghorror.com should do it!!, it has the traffic, is well known, and it is already YOUR brand. let us know why you are not considering it.

Esteban on April 7, 2008 10:24 AM

What about www.returnzero.whatever

Steve-O on April 7, 2008 10:25 AM

Chose humbleprogrammers, since this would be inviting if I saw this in my search results. My second would have been stackoverflow, because this is the exact problem I have with my pet project atm :)

kuratkull on April 7, 2008 10:25 AM

I suppose now is a good time to mention that my license plate is "VOID PTR." It took much soul-searching to find it. :)

Matt Green on April 7, 2008 10:26 AM

codeproject.com

:-)

Edward Poore on April 7, 2008 10:28 AM

On July 9th, you can have http://www.cootysratsemen.com, which I had to rename after my beta testers of my anonymous secrets site failed to tell me that while they loved the name, they wouldn't want it in their employers' log files. So, I had to buy http://www.too-many-secrets.com.

It's easy to remember, at least, and it'll work for a lot of ventures: computer security, astronomy, and so forth. Plus, nerds should get the reference.

Chris Doggett on April 7, 2008 10:29 AM

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