The dos and don'ts of naming your start-up

A Web site or company can either immediate attract or repel an audience, even if the viewer has never actually seen anything more than its name. News.com editor Michael Kanellos offers some tips for what’s good and what’s not so good when deciding on a name for your start-up company. Check out the story: “How not to name your company.” 

Here are a few of Michael suggestions - pros and cons:

1. Avoid redundancies.
2. Don’t sound like you may have a criminal or shady past.
3. Triple words are out.
4. Don’t sound desperate or obvious.
5. When in doubt, go medieval.
6. Choose names that sound like a Spanish restaurant.  
7. Choose names that sound like someone William Shatner would wrestle.

Do you have any other suggestions? What are some naming conventions that should be avoided at all costs? What types of names are more apt to attract an audience?

Are there some successful businesses out there with wacked out names that you never would have guessed would have made it big based on their name alone? At first, I was surprised by “Digg” - but now I Digg it…. do you?