Why names matter

this was originally an X article

I spend too much on domains. They give a project a shape, and if the name is wrong the whole project feels wrong to me.

I think of names as an anchor or a bin. Nascent ideas know where to stick to instead of going into the ether once I find a name. Choosing a name is a statement about how you are going to spend some part of your finite energy. Names provides directional clarity. You need both quality and quantity of output in an attention-scarce economy, so all the better to have transient ideas become more legible.

Names also establish a format or medium. Like this thing you are reading is an article, which feels different from a tweet. Articles feel more important and considered, so knowing you are currently working on an article means you'll discard ideas that don't fit the format. A domain name for me might mean that I am now focusing on a building a web app, for example. Then that means that certain ideas about potential future users, and tech stacks and monetization stick when before they flew by. Maybe that slows down the process unnecessarily.

I think maybe names also kind of don't matter. I titled this piece why names matter as an organizing idea, but as I wrote the first draft, that gave me a surface to argue against. And anyway, as you build the quality of the stuff you are making seeps into the name and creates new associations. So as long as the name is in the right ballpark, better just keep building. Or maybe you need the perfect name.

note to self: Hey, this is my first article, I spend a lot of time deliberating about what to write about, but just getting a draft going short circuited this agonizing. I'll follow this approach more now.

cover gen: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-697fad5743c4819186f3f3c824ea87d3-minimal-covers