How to name your app without overthinking it.

Strategy · 6 min read

Naming an app shouldn't take longer than designing it. But for a surprising number of first-time app builders, it does. They agonise over it for weeks. They brainstorm with friends. They buy domains at 2am. They change it three times during development. I've seen it hold up entire projects.

Here's a more practical way to think about it.

The name matters less than you think

Think about the apps you use every day. Slack. Uber. Canva. Xero. None of those names describe what the product does. They're short, memorable, and easy to say. The name didn't make them successful. The product did. The name just needed to not get in the way.

Your app's name needs to be easy to remember, easy to spell, easy to say out loud, and available as a domain and on the app stores. That's it. You don't need it to be clever, meaningful, or descriptive. You definitely don't need it to be a pun.

The worst thing a name can be is hard to find. If someone hears about your app and can't spell it well enough to search for it, you've got a problem. Everything else is secondary.

App Store optimisation starts with the name

Apple's data shows that 70% of App Store visitors discover apps through search. That makes your app's name and subtitle the most important pieces of text in your entire marketing strategy.

Apple's developer guidelines give you 30 characters for your app name and 30 characters for the subtitle. Google Play gives you 30 characters for the title and 80 for the short description. These are the fields that have the strongest impact on search ranking.

The practical approach: use your brand name in the title and use the subtitle or short description to include keywords that describe what the app does. For example, "Koala - NDIS Life Management" or "PlanTrack - Daily Tasks and Goals." The brand name is memorable. The subtitle is searchable. You get both.

What to check before you commit

Before you fall in love with a name, check these things. First, search both app stores. Is there already an app with that name? If there's an established app with the same name, even in a different category, it will be harder for people to find yours.

Second, check domain availability. You want at least the .com.au and ideally the .com as well. You can manage with a variation, but having the exact match is better for credibility and search.

Third, search the IP Australia trademark database. You don't want to build a brand around a name that someone else has trademarked in a related class. This check takes two minutes and could save you a rebranding exercise later.

Fourth, say it out loud. Tell someone the name and ask them to spell it. If they can't, or if they look confused, that's useful information. Your name will be shared verbally: in conversations, on podcasts, in word-of-mouth recommendations. It needs to survive being spoken, not just seen.

Common naming mistakes

Being too literal. "NDIS Task Manager Pro" tells you exactly what it does, but it's forgettable, generic, and impossible to build a brand around. Leave the descriptive work to the subtitle and App Store listing.

Being too clever. Puns, wordplay, and inside jokes might make sense to you, but they create confusion for everyone else. If you have to explain the name, it's not working.

Making it too long. Shorter is almost always better. One or two syllables is ideal. Three is fine. More than that and it becomes hard to remember and awkward to say. Look at the most successful apps: Slack, Uber, Zoom, Teams, Figma. Short names that become part of everyday language.

Choosing a name that limits growth. If you call your app "Melbourne NDIS Helper," you've immediately narrowed your market to one city and one scheme. Think about where the app might go in two or three years. Will the name still work?

A practical naming process

Here's what actually works. Spend an hour brainstorming. Write down every name that comes to mind, no filtering. Get to 30 or 40 options. Then filter: cross off anything that's hard to spell, hard to say, already taken, or longer than three syllables.

You'll probably have five to ten names left. Check availability for all of them: app stores, domains, trademarks, social handles. The list will shrink fast. From what's left, pick the one that feels right and move on. Don't poll everyone you know. Don't agonise. The name is a container. What you put inside it, the product, the brand, the experience, that's what gives it meaning.

I've seen clients go through months of naming deliberation that could have been a two-day exercise. Meanwhile, the actual product work, the validation, the design, the things that determine whether the app succeeds, sits waiting. Don't let the name hold up the work.

Sources
Ads on the App Store (Apple) - 70% of App Store visitors discover apps through search.
App Store Product Page (Apple Developer) - 30 character limit for app name and subtitle; guidelines for App Store optimisation.
Australian Trade Marks Search (IP Australia) - Free trademark search for the Australian market.

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