• Clever
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• Quick
• Resourceful
• Inexpensive

Recommended Products and Resources for
Do-It-Yourself Namers

Software Program

Name Razor.  Automatic name generator and easy domain checker.  The strength of this easy-to-install, easy-to-run PC software program is in combining "namelets" rather than proposing creative monikers out of left field.  Save the name combinations you want to consider further, then press another button to check instantly whether the corresponding domain name is available.  $19.95 (with a money-back guarantee).  Order now.

• Free trademark search for the US: Option #1 / Option #2 

• Search registered business names in the UK

• Search Canadian trademarks

• Search registered business names in Australia

• Search registered business names in New Zealand

• Search available North American vanity toll-free telephone numbers  

For-fee Name/Tag Line Checking Resources

• Check the originality of tag lines in the English-speaking world

• Business name availability in the U.S.

Random Name Generators That Will Quickly Get You Running to a Professional

• Nonsense name generator #1

• Nonsense name generator #2

• Nonsense name generator #3 (click on "Name Generator" in the left-hand column)

• A name generator that's a bit less random

• Chinese restaurant name generator (this is the only one that's actually reasonably good)

Downloadable Reports

All downloadable reports come with an unconditional money-back guarantee.

Inspired!  How to Be More Original, Insightful and Productive in Your Work by Marcia Yudkin.  Strategies for heightened creativity, based on years of interviewing, testing and research.  Learn how to tune into your intuition, set up your environment to facilitate insights, change your routines for improved productivity, put more pizzazz into your communication, engineer stress out of your life, and much more.  183 pages;  $39.95;  PDF (Adobe Acrobat Reader) format. Order now.

Secrets of Mouthwatering Marketing Copy by Marcia Yudkin.  Having trouble persuading people to buy?  More dramatic, credible and enticing wordsmithing does the trick.  This manual reveals hard-to-find principles from a master marketer's toolbox, including guidelines and checklists for offers, bullets and testimonials.  Then you'll be set to sell, sell, sell!  90 pages, plus two free bonus reports;  $95.00;  PDF (Adobe Acrobat Reader) format.  Order now.

Powerful, Painless Online Publicity by Marcia Yudkin.  This comprehensive, practical report spills the beans on the creative tactics that effectively spread your message online in 2004.  After reading its tips, you'll have fun plotting publicity stunts, contests, quizzes and giveaways and using Internet tools to contact the media, who get the word out for you. Includes three before-and-after news releases and guidance on writing, targeting and delivering PR.  150 pages;  $69.95;  PDF (Adobe Acrobat Reader) format. Order now.

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132 Ways to Make You or Your Business Newsworthy by Marcia Yudkin.  Say good-bye to boring product releases and say hello to a successful media blitz with these creative mind-ticklers.  Discover 132 angles that earned other businesses press or broadcast coverage and could work for you too.  Includes a sample successful press release and a directory of press release distribution services and media contact information sites.  18 pages;  $9.95;   PDF (Adobe Acrobat Reader) format.  Order now.

No More Writer's Block: Become a Prolific Writer by Marcia Yudkin.  Devise a customized-for-you creative process by understanding five elements of discipline and five elements of inspiration.  Learn five exercises that enable you to create raw material for your writing quickly and effortlessly.  Adaptation of the audiotape Become a More Productive Writer and another one.  25 pages;  $19.95;  PDF (Adobe Acrobat Reader) format.  Order now.

Shorter:  Say It in Fewer Words.  Eradicate wordiness!  Learn how to get your point across in one page or how to satisfy a strict word count for magazine or newsletter editors.  Discover how to identify and cut repetition, eliminate excess verbiage, make your point fast and convey a wealth of facts in a small space. Includes four exercises to practice shortening techniques, then compare your more concise version with mine.  My longwinded clients asked for this!  38 pages, $29.95;  PDF (Adobe Acrobat Reader) format.  Order now.

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Books (Available Through Amazon.com)

Books on Naming

The Making of a Name:  The Inside Story of the Brands We Buy by Steve Rivkin & Fraser Sutherland.  ISBN 0-19-516872-0.  Comprehensive discussion of kinds of business names and the process of naming, with hundreds of illlustrative examples.  Interesting to read and highly recommended for aspiring namers. Learn more or order now.

The Name's the Thing: Creating the Perfect Name for Your Company or
Product by Henri Charmasson.  ISBN 0-8144-7755-0.  Systematic analysis of the factors that make up a good company name, as well as the linguistic processes involved in making up a legally protectable name.  Learn more or order now.

Wordcraft by Alex Frankel.  ISBN 1-400051053.  A fascinating tour of the naming industry by a journalist who participated in or observed numerous naming sessions and researched how BlackBerry, Accenture and several other recently coined brands came to be.  Learn more or order now.

Become a Better Brainstormer

Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step by Edward De Bono. ISBN 0-06-090325-2. Great names often involve out-of-nowhere thinking, and this is the first book to have explained how to think sideways and let your thoughts jump from stone to seemingly disconnected stone. Useful.  Learn more or order now.

Creative Whack Pack by Roger Von Oech. ISBN 0-88079-358-9. Easier to use during a brainstorming session than a book, this is a pack of cards which each carry a reminder of a method of coming up with a fresh idea. Handy!  (P.S. I've used Tarot cards for this purpose, too.)  Learn more or order now.

Thinkpak: A Brainstorming Card Deck by Michael Michalko. ISBN 0-89815-607-6. Like Von Oech's Whack Pack, above, this is a pack of cards for stimulating brainstorming. Michalko describes one technique on each card, more analytically and descriptively than Von Oech. Recommended for those who like to be systematic.  Learn more or order now.

Creativity Games for Trainers by Robert Epstein. ISBN 0-07-021363-1. Need to lead brainstorming sessions with inexperienced participants? This book offers dozens of games and exercises for stimulating creative ideas in a group.  Learn more or order now.

Reference Books for Naming

Roget's Super-Thesaurus by Marc McCutcheon.  ISBN 0-89879-775-6.  My personal favorite.  Easy to use and contains plenty of slang and informal usage.  Learn more or order now.

The Synonym Finder by J. I. Rodale, et. al.  ISBN 0-44637-029-0.  Fat, contemporary and useful.  Get the hardcover if you can - it's more durable and much easier to handle than the paperback.  Learn more or order now.