Pranced

Pranced is in beta: it's free while we test, and it's still improving. A few things to know: name searches can take up to a minute, some newer extensions and niche industries are rougher, and grades are estimates, not advice. Tell us what's off: there's a Feedback link in the header.

Your logo can't fix your startup's name.

Because your domain shouldn't need a spellcheck.

Pranced grades it the way people actually hear, say, and remember it — before you print the business cards, file the trademark, or pay for the logo. If the .com you wanted is taken, we'll find good names that aren't.

Examples are independent appraisals; Pranced isn't affiliated with this company.

Check your company name

Try: zillow.com, flickr.com, eyeetc.com
3 free appraisals a day. Naming brief.

Find an available name

The more you describe it, the field and the feeling, the better the names. For example: , , or .

More options
How should your name feel? Optional, up to 3
Use the same choices every time: save a naming brief. The finder fills in anything left empty here from it.
.com
1 free name search per account. Only unregistered names, checked with the registry.

Every big company started as a naming problem

All name stories

If you're stuck, you're in good company. Founders of companies you use every day lost their first choice, settled, or paid far more than they planned.

google.com1997
First choice
BackRub, then googol, the number 1 followed by 100 zeros
What they chose
In a September 1997 brainstorm, fellow student Sean Anderson suggested googolplex, Page shortened it to googol, and Anderson checked whether the domain was free, typing it as google.com by mistake
“We chose our system name, Google, because it is a common spelling of googol”
Sergey Brin and Larry Page, founders, in their 1998 Stanford paper
Read the story
friend.com2024
First choice
Tab, on a prefixed domain (Mytab.ai)
What they chose
He renamed the product Friend and bought friend.com for $1.8 million, nearly three-quarters of the $2.5 million he had raised
Today
Friend, on friend.com; the launch video drew millions of views
“Much less money needs to be spent on marketing, it's a one time thing.”
Avi Schiffmann, founder
Read the story

The Radio Test

If someone hears your company's name on a podcast or in a pitch, will they type it correctly? If they read it, will they say it right? A name that fails either loses word of mouth.

Available names, not dead ends

If the .com you wanted is taken, describe your startup and get names that are unregistered, pass both spelling tests, and still fit it. Each one comes with a reason.

Nothing to sell you

We don't sell domains, so a grade has no reason to flatter. You see the scores, why each was given, and what works against the name. The same name gets the same grade, whoever asks. Anything we couldn't check is labeled as not checked.

Invest in domains? Upload a portfolio and see each brand grouped with its variants, which ones leave gaps, and which renewals you could drop.
Portfolio audits

Why trust the grade

Checked the way people meet names: heard once, read once.

Grades are stable: check the same name again and you’ll get the same result. When we improve how names are graded, updated reports say so.

Every name is screened with a pronunciation dictionary and a 111,000-word dictionary for sound-alikes, hidden words, and misspellings.

16,000+
reported domain sales used to calibrate price ranges
4,700+
names that actually sold, used to test the estimates
18+
measures of sound, spelling, and meaning in every grade
738
extensions checked live with their registries

Pricing

Plan details
Free
$0
  • 3 appraisals a day
  • 1 free name search
  • 1 friend Radio Test a day
  • Watch 3 domains
  • Grade, verdict, and warnings
Create a free account
Pro
Recommended
$24 / month
  • 300 appraisals a month
  • 100 name searches a month
  • Full report with market evidence
  • Compare names side by side
  • Friend Radio Tests, watch 25 domains
  • Scan expiring lists, portfolio audit

Beta accounts get Pro features free, with beta limits (30 name searches and 50 appraisals a month).

Portfolio
$79 / month
Prance through your portfolio.
  • 1,500 appraisals a month
  • Everything in Pro
  • Portfolio audit for up to 500 domains
  • Scan lists of 20,000 names
  • Watch 200 domains, CSV export

Portfolio plan opens when the beta ends.

A good name is the cheapest advantage your company will ever have, and the hardest to fix later. Check yours before you commit.