"A Dr. Seuss Jumble"

New York Times technology writer David Pogue blogs about the sorry state of domain naming:

These are all actual Web sites that have hit the Web in the last year or so: Doostang. Wufoo. Bliin. Thoof. Bebo. Meebo. Meemo. Kudit. Raketu. Etelos. Iyogi. Oyogi. Qoop. Fark. Kijiji. Zixxo. Zoogmo.

These startups think that these names will stick in our minds because they're so offbeat, but they're wrong. Actually, all those twentysomething entrepreneurs are ensuring that we won't remember them. Those names all blend together into a Dr. Seuss 2.0 jumble. ...

But here's a little wakeup call: People will learn to love your site's wacky name only if they fall in love with the site itself. Google and Yahoo became household nutty names only because everyone loved their services. They did not succeed because they had silly names.

I've written similar complaints myself. Now I'll be able to say "I told you so ... and so did David Pogue."

Comments

[Tyler @ Building Camelot]

People also remember Google and Yahoo because they created a brand for themselves.

"Oh - just google it" or "You can find it on yahoo".

I have to admit - I use Meebo...it's the only non-approved IM service that I can use at work.

--TW

[Raketu]

The word Raketu (pronounce ra-ke-tu) is a declension form of the Czech word “rocket”. The sound of the word is also similar to pronunciation of the word “rocket” in Russian and Japanese. Please note that the word Raketu is NOT a mambo jumbo word. We chose this name not only because the visionary behind Raketu, G. Parker, is an astrophysicist, but also Raketu software will take communications and media the way we know it to another level.

Sincerely
The Raketu Team