Naming a side project is surprisingly hard. Not because names are scarce, but because the stakes feel weirdly high for something that hasn't launched yet. You want something already trademarked by a Series B startup in San Francisco.
The good news: most of this pressure is self-imposed. Here's a practical framework for naming your side project quickly, confidently, and without losing a week to a spreadsheet of rejected names.
Why the name actually matters (but not as much as you think)
Before diving into tactics, it's worth calibrating expectations. The name matters — but it's not a make-or-break decision.
A good name makes your project easier to share, easier to remember, and easier to find on Google. A bad name creates small but persistent friction: people misspell it, forget it, or struggle to explain it to others.
What a name cannot do is save a product that doesn't solve a real problem, or doom one that does. Notion launched with a name that means nothing. GitHub is two generic words glued together. Vercel used to be called ZEIT, before its own 2020 rebrand announcement. Names get better context over time — what matters at launch is that the name is usable, not perfect.
So: aim for good, ship fast, and don't let naming become the reason you never launch. If the project later grows into something with its own company behind it, you'll hit a different, more structural version of this question — see NameKit's product name vs company name guide for how that decision plays out across your GitHub org, npm scope, and domain. That's a problem worth having later, not one to solve today.
The 5 rules of a good side project name
After looking at hundreds of developer tools, indie hacker products, and open source projects, a few patterns emerge. The best names share most of these traits:
- 01It's short — ideally 1 or 2 words
- 02It passes the radio test — you can say it out loud and people spell it correctly
- 03It hints at what you do — without being completely literal
- 04Domain status has been checked independently
- 05It's yours — not confusingly close to something else
Three naming approaches that actually work
Approach 1: Describe the outcome, not the feature
Instead of describing what your tool does, describe what the user gets. A task manager isn't “TaskTracker” — it's “Focus” or “Clear” or “Done”.
Approach 2: Use a metaphor or analogy
Some of the most memorable product names are just words borrowed from a completely unrelated domain. Slack is a construction term. Docker is a shipping metaphor. Figma sounds like a musical term. Pick a word that feels right even if the connection is abstract.
Approach 3: Combine two short words
Many great project names are just two words or word fragments merged together. GitHub = Git + Hub. Tailwind = Tail + Wind. Firebase = Fire + Base. Use our project name generator to explore compound-word ideas fast.
What to do when you're stuck
Set a timer for 10 minutes and write down every name that comes to mind — no filtering, no judging. The goal is 30 to 50 options. You'll hate most of them, and that's fine. You only need one.
If you hit a wall, an AI project name generator can break the logjam. Describe your project in a sentence and get eight name suggestions in seconds. Once you have a shortlist, run each through a domain name generator to explore domain-style candidates — NameKit's tool proposes names but does not check registration, so confirm status independently with a registrar or an RDAP/WHOIS lookup. Then use a GitHub repository name generator for repo-style ideas to review, not names that are guaranteed to satisfy every convention.
Domain names: the practical reality in 2026
A .com is still the default many people reach for first, and it remains a practical choice for consumer-facing products. But for developer tools, it's worth weighing the alternatives on their own merits rather than treating any single extension as universally best:
.devGoogle-owned, HTTPS required on every domain.iocommon in the startup space; reception varies by audience.appa common choice for mobile and web apps.cooften used as an alternative when .com is taken
That list is a set of considerations, not a ranking — the right extension depends on your audience and your name. Check registration status for every extension you care about directly with a registrar or an RDAP/WHOIS lookup before assuming a name is taken or free. Once you have a shortlist, make sure the name also reads well as a GitHub repository name — all lowercase, hyphen-separated, no special characters.
Don't forget the tagline
Once you have a name, write a one-line description immediately. This forces you to articulate the value in plain language — and it catches fuzzy names early. If you can't summarize what the project does in 10 words, the name might be too abstract. Use a project tagline generator to pressure-test your name with a few generated descriptions.
The short version
Naming a side project comes down to a few things: keep it short, make sure it passes the radio test, pick something that hints at the value, and don't let the perfect domain block a good name.
Now stop overthinking it and ship the thing.
// ready to find your name?