Back when the Internet was a lot younger — say around 1998 or so — great domain names were still pretty easy for a website owner to come up with. Unless your business had a really common name, you could probably buy a domain that matched, or at least matched closely enough that people would remember it. Domains were a little bit harder to register and cost more (inflation-adjusted, anyway), but you could always find something decently memorable that didn’t have too many consonants in the middle of it.
That’s not so much the case anymore. Looks like all of the easy stuff is taken, which is why so many websites have domain names that read like something from the bookmark list of famous comicbook villain Mister Mxyzptlk. (Don’t get any smart ideas. “Mxyzptlk.com” is taken.)
Finding a decent domain name can be a time-consuming chore when you’re trying to get your new site off the ground. Fortunately, the Internet itself can be a big help. There a number of very useful websites that can do some of the work for you as you sift your way through available domains to find that one golden nugget that will put your website’s name on the tips of everyones’ fingers. There are dozens of sites that get creative with domain name generation, so it’s really a question of finding one that fits your specific needs. Here are a few that I’ve found at least entertaining, and sometimes even downright helpful.
Bustaname.com
Professional domainers and domain duffers alike give this site high marks because of its flexibility and very rapid domain searches. It may not seem quite as “imaginative” as some of the other domain name sites, but its combination of options and near-instant response can make it pretty addictive. It’s an efficient tool for domaining noobs as well because the available domains you discover can be quickly registered directly through GoDaddy, a well-known and trusted registrar.
DomainNameSoup.com
If you like lots of options and technological blinkery, you might want to give this site a try for your next domain search. It offers more options and name generation methods than you’ve probably thought possible. All of the options can be a big help if you’re looking for some trendy — without worrying about strange or random characters — but it probably needs to have better baseline simplicity for the average business user. This is more of an online toolkit for serious domainers, although anyone can drill down to find something useful with enough patience.
Domai.nr
This oddly named website can help you come up with… well, oddly named domains. It’s one of the sites that’s more imaginative in using non-standard Top Level Domains (think “bit.ly” or “delicio.us”). The site doesn’t have a lot of options, but it’s simple and fast — both of which rank highly on everbody’s feature list.
LeanDomainSearch.com
Similar to Domai.nr, this website doesn’t present you with a lot of options. As it’s name might suggest, the interface is lean — very lean, in fact. Type in a keyword and see what it spits back. The input isn’t nearly as interesting as the output. LeanDomainSearch always returns a massive list of possible domains — your job is to sort through them to find something that works for you.
Wordoid.com
If you want to come up with a domain name like “floozino” or “stupended”, this is your website. You can either let the site generate completely random nonsense, or type in a root word for it to turn into nonsense. Some root words or syllables can cause Wordoid’s search to grind for a little while, but it’s generally entertaining and the results might provide you with a little creative spark.