What makes a good domain name
A good domain name is one people can hear once and type correctly. Seven quick checks tell you whether a name you like is worth registering.
1. It passes the phone test
Say it to someone over the phone. Would they type it correctly the first time? Every “with a k”, “the number four” or “with a dash” loses visitors who type what they heard. Avoid hyphens, numbers and spellings that need explaining.
2. It is easy to say
People favour what they can process easily. Psychologists at Princeton found that shares of companies with easy-to-pronounce names did better in the days after their stock-market debut than those with hard-to-pronounce names. A name people can say is a name they repeat.
3. It is short
Fewer letters means fewer typos and a name that fits on a logo, a sign and a business card. Two short words or one made-up word of two or three syllables is plenty.
4. It is a .com
.com is still the address people guess first. At the middle of 2026 it held 166.6 million of the 401.6 million domain names registered worldwide — about eight times the next largest (.cn).
5. It does not box you in
A name tied to one product, one city or this year’s trend is hard to grow out of. Pick one that still fits if the business changes.
6. It is nobody else’s brand
Search it in the USPTO’s free trademark search. A name that matches another business’s trademark invites a dispute: under ICANN’s dispute policy the trademark owner can have it transferred if it was registered and used in bad faith. Even if they never try, it makes a weak brand.
7. It has a clean past
An expired name may come with a history of spam or malware. Five free checks take about ten minutes.
How Domains Open scores names
Every name we list gets a score out of 100 for exactly these qualities: length, real words, how it sounds, its word structure and how it would work as a brand, plus how well it fits different industries. The score measures the name itself, not its market value. Good names released and still free · Names by industry.
Got the name? Make it a brand
A name is where a brand starts. If you need a logo and brand identity or a website for it, Kanyon Studio — the studio that built Domains Open — designs both for new businesses.
Related
How to find expiring domains · Check a domain’s history · How to register an expired .com