Coming up with a game company name

Hey guys,

A while ago me and another guy started working on a game, but after some time we decided we needed a name.
We came with quite a few and narrowed them down with the ones we liked the most.

However! Its still hard to choose one. So we both had to split our chosen names into two lists of 10 names.
And present them to people who hopefully can help us choosing the right name for us. (it sounds silly, i know)

Besides presenting the names to friends, I have chosen to make a thread as well with my currently chosen 10 names. (I am waiting for the other list, so I can put them up here as well)

If you guys could help us out by giving your opinion and your choice. Or maybe improve an already listed name, we would greatly appreciate it!

The names are in the poll, but I will put them in this post as well.

- Power Up
- Finger Punch
- Sandbox Games
- Nettle Cattle
- enCrypted
- Paper Gear
- We Make Games
- Press Any Key
- Trigger(ed)
- Cheeky Hamster

|| EDIT ||
Well i got the list soones as imagined.

Here are a few extra names that the other guy came up with:

- Finger Licking Games
- Food Fight
- End Games
- FingerVision
- Bottom Line Games
- Sand Storm
- Frozen Fire
- Bad Weather
- Smack It
- Fingerfood

We are really stuck with choosing one.

Anyway, thanks for reading and the help!

||EDIT||

It seems I cannot edit the current poll.


Cheers,
Darryl

 

Cheeky Hamster because its the only one that doesn't say 'im trying too hard'.

 

You shouldn't ask for advice on this; choose the name you like, we'll get used to it.

 

Thanks LaneFox!

And you are right AnneSchmidth, the name should be chosen on which we liked the most personally.
However, since we are just stuck with choosing one, we had to take "extreme" measures, hoping to get some insight.

Cheers!
Darryl

 

Just organise a vote between yourselves; the boss gets two.

I found a name for my own virtual company by using an anagram of my name: Matched Inns Games.

 

Nah, there's nothing wrong with taking a public poll on names.

I voted Finger Punch (assuming you're doing mobile games). Too bad it looks like the name/domain is already taken.

 

Call it Bob

 

1. Call company "Bob".
2. Get sued by Microsoft
-----
"Paper Gear". No idea why.

 

Thanks guys! And haha thanks for the Bob suggestion!


Anyway, thanks again guys! This really helps us!

Cheers,
Darryl

 

how about just "The finger ?

Spoiler: The finger

 

You're thinking way too into this. Take the name of the street you live on and add games after it.

 

Coming up with a name for anything is even harder to me than making a game.

 

• A good name is easy to remember.
• A good name cannot be confused with another company.
• A good name describes what you do.
• A good name expresses the mission and/or spirit of your company. (ie. if you make fun, lighthearted titles, your name should be fun to say.)
  
  Ultimately, your name becomes what you do with it. Your name comes to stand for the quality of your work, your achievements, failures, all of it. Whatever you think the name means today will likely not be what it means in several years. (case in point, Hello Games is now defined to a large extent by their product, No Man's Sky. In a few years, people may forget about it and they may be defined by a different product entirely.) My point is, you will not live or die on your name choice. Pick one that serves the function, and build it into what you want it to mean.

 

@Ironmax, Thanks for the tip, and possible logo design! Haha, no but seriously thanks and we will put it up on our list.

@voltage, Thanks! However I don't know if it would sound that great, it would be a pretty long and confusing name. Especially hard to pronounce in English. But it would make a unique gaming studio name indeed!

@ChrisSch, it sure is. We could probably have finished a game by now. (no, now I am just exaggerating)

@LMan, hey man, thanks for the tips! They really help a lot! After reading your post I am really leaning towards Cheeky Hamster! Just wondering what my fellow cheeky hamster would say about it!

Cheers, and thanks again guys!
Darryl

 

I recommend against "joke" names. I have a property-holding company with a joke name. We figured as a behind-the-scenes thing we set up for insurance and other liability purposes, nobody would ever hear the name anyway. As funny as it seemed years ago over a few beers, trust me, you never want to sit in front of a City Council rezoning meeting representing a company with a joke name.

Years ago I saw an interview with the CEO of Cerbereus Capital Management. In case the name doesn't ring a bell, they owned the Chrysler corporation for several years. He admitted that the company took off unexpectedly and they'd always regretted their choice of name.

Play it safe, don't assume it won't take off... obviously you have more leeway in the games world, just don't get carried away, is my advice.

 

Arm or thumb wrestle over it. Who ever wins picks the name.
Very fare. Best out of 5 to be sure.

 

Actually there is, if they rely on choices that were made by others and find the name unbearable after a while...

 

Google all the names on your list, & check at least 3 pages through the results. We came up with a list of names & found that there were lawyers, bakers,mohair dressers etc that all had names very close to what we were looking at & the advice we received was that some of them were probably to close to risk using. Doing a fairly thorough search first will limit your list a lot.

 

If you're in the US find out which government organization handles corporations and search their website. If you want to see an example, in Florida it's sunbiz.org. Different states have different agencies handling registration but it's pretty cheap in nearly all states (I think it's about $130 in Florida, for example, which is fairly average).

 

Check for dot com availability!

 

A wise man once said, "Make games, not game company names".

 

And dot everything else. Nothing sucks more then having the .net go to someone else's website and customers getting misdirected.

 

Thanks for the suggestions and tips guys! Very much appreciated!

I'll also check if the domain names are free and of course if any of the names are free for registration.

Whenever I meet the other guy we'll have to pick on so we can move on with our progress!

If we chosen a name, i'll make sure I put it up here!

Cheers,
Darryl