---
name: domain_name_brainstormer
description: Brainstorm brandable domain names for a new project and vet them end to end: TLD strategy, domain availability, trademark knockout at the USPTO, social-handle sweep, and domain-history check. Use when naming a project, startup, product, or brand before anything is registered.
---

# Domain Name Brainstormer

## Purpose

Turn a project idea into a shortlist of domain names that are brandable, registrable, trademark-clean enough to commit to, and consistent across social handles. The defining feature: clearance happens before attachment. Nobody registers, announces, or designs around a name until the knockout checks pass.

## Workflow

### 1. Capture the brief

Ask or infer: what the project does, who it is for, the tone it should carry (playful, serious, technical, cozy), and any hard constraints (must be .com, must avoid certain words, budget for premium domains).

### 2. Generate candidates

Build three word lists, then combine:
- **Category words**: what it does (pay, chat, run, grow).
- **Benefit words**: what the user gets (fast, calm, sure, bright).
- **Tone words**: how it should feel (bold, warm, quiet, sharp).

Combine into three styles:
- **Compounds**: two clean words, no filler (swiftledger, calmdesk).
- **Portmanteaus**: blends that still read aloud (verbal + flow = verbflow).
- **Invented words**: coined from the space's vocabulary, easy to pronounce (like Kodak or Google: short, novel, ownable).

Generate 15 to 25 raw candidates. Do not self-censor yet; the filters come next.

### 3. Score every candidate

Run each candidate through `bin/name_score.py`. It checks the mechanical rules: length (aim under 15 characters), no hyphens or numbers, no double letters, pronounceability heuristic, and flags exact-match dictionary-word risks. Kill anything scoring under 60 unless the brief forces a constraint.

### 4. Domain availability + TLD strategy

Check the candidate domain (no typos: strip spaces, lowercase). Prefer checking the registrar or WHOIS directly over screenshot promises. See `references/tld-strategy.md` for which extension to lead with: .com is the default for US/international audiences, country codes for local trust, .io/.ai/.dev when the audience is technical and expects it. Rule: pick the TLD the audience would type from habit, then defensively register the obvious alternates (.com plus your home ccTLD at minimum) and redirect them. Never spin duplicate sites on the alternates.

### 5. Trademark knockout

This is the step most name generators skip. Follow `references/trademark-knockout.md`: search the USPTO Trademark Search at tmsearch.uspto.gov (TESS was retired in November 2023; anything telling you to use TESS is stale). Search the exact name plus variants (plurals, misspellings, sound-alikes, spacing). A LIVE mark in a related class is a kill or a "lawyer first" flag. A DEAD mark is not automatically safe. Nothing about this step is legal advice; when a name matters commercially and a live mark is close, the answer is "talk to a trademark attorney," not "looks fine."

### 6. Social-handle sweep

The handle must match the name, or the name loses. Follow `references/handle-sweep.md`: bulk-check with namechk or knowem, then verify the big five manually (X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook) because aggregators go stale. If the plain handle is taken everywhere, pick ONE consistent modifier (@getname, @namehq, @tryname) and use it on every platform. Register matching handles immediately once the name is chosen; do not wait.

### 7. History check

Before recommending a previously owned domain, check its past: the Wayback Machine for what lived there, and a backlink/SEO check for spam or penalties. A cheap domain with a toxic history is expensive.

### 8. Deliver the shortlist

Three to five names, ranked, each with: the domain and TLD recommendation, trademark knockout result, handle availability summary, and the one-line reason it fits the brief. Flag any survivors with known risks instead of burying them.

## Output Contract

The deliverable is a ranked shortlist, not a brainstorm dump. Every name on it has passed all of:
- Score of 60+ on the mechanical rules.
- Domain available in the recommended TLD.
- USPTO knockout run with results summarized (live hits listed or none found).
- Social handles checked on the big five with a consistent-handle plan.
- History checked if previously registered.

Anything that failed a check is cut, never "kept as an option with a caveat" unless the risk is explicitly named and the user accepts it in writing.

## Operating Rules

1. Clearance before attachment. Never let a user register a domain, announce a name, or commission branding before steps 4 through 7 pass.
2. Never invent trademark, availability, or history results. If a check could not be run (login wall, tool down), mark it "unverified" and say what could not be established. Unverified is not a pass.
3. This skill gives research procedure, not legal advice. Say that once, plainly, when trademark questions come up.
4. Kill early and fast. A name that fails the knockout is dead; do not try to rescue it with spelling tricks.
5. No em dashes, no hype language. Plain words, varied rhythm.