Tips To Help You Name Your App

By Author: Susan Smith
Total Articles: 132
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So, you just finished developing your first app and racking your brains over what to call it? Yes, naming your app does require a heap of thought. First things first, you need to have a name to your app before even getting into your marketing plan. So how do you name your mobile app? The name of an app should be as relevant as possible with users able to relate with it. Here are some useful tips that can help you with naming your app.

1. Be unique: Once the app is ready, think of a good name that is unique and at the same time exciting. The name should be such that it should be memorable, adding value and at the same time stand out from the rest.

2. Easy to pronounce: Easy to say names always work better. Even if names or words are all made up, one needs to take care that these words are not hard to pronounce.

3. Stick to short name: Today, trend is to keep the name short and crisp. Longer names generally get heavy and strenuous, which makes it difficult to read and remember. Lauren Sutton, a naming strategist in her bog also talked about why the name should be 11 characters or less.

4. Use prefixes ...
... and suffixes: When it comes to domain names, availability always becomes an issue in the app store. We can get creative by playing with suffix such as “app”, for example, if an xyz is taken we can try adding suffix to it, xyzapp.com is a great solution. Also, adding prefix like “go”, “get” to bring up action.

5. Use name generators: If you are really stuck with what to call your app, then use a name generator such as panabee or domaingroovy to get ideas and direction.

6. Do your homework: After spending endless hours in deciding what to call your app, you realize that it is already taken can get frustrating as well as sheer waste of time and efforts.Be careful about your research on Google. Explore all the options of your name that could have existed. Therefore, it is very important to your homework.

7. Take your time: You have spent a good amount of time in developing your app, now don’t rush through naming it. It is the name that will always have the first impression and sets your app apart from the others. Put in more time to develop a good name for an app.

Compound words
Sometimes, if you are completely stuck, you can use two or three words relevant words stringed together as a name. Pick out the relevant words, and try different permutations and combinations before something clicks. For e.g., an app that lets you search for local watering holes can be a combination of the synonyms for the object (pub) and the verb (to find) like PubSearch or PubSearcher or TavernFinder etc.

Avoid confusion
Since your application needs to be searchable, and the name has to imply the function of the application, its best to keep it simple for the user to be able to determine, at least at a high level, the function of the app with one glance at the name, before he / she reads the description. The example in the point above is a case in point. No one can miss the function of an application called PubSearcher. At worst it would be a game with the aim of finding pubs. It would not (or should not) be about say, baby product listings.

Be case sensitive
It’s a de facto standard in naming is to either use regular sentence case (first alphabet of the first word upper – case) or for compound words, use camel case (first alphabet of each different word upper – case). For e.g., Pub searcher or PubSearcher.

The author is associated with a reputed enterprise apps development company and is a well known iPhone application development Dallas and iPad application development companies company