About the desk
An internal domain-research desk
DomainValue is a research instrument we built for our own portfolio — a spelling-science name construction and appraisal desk that runs the portfolio naming doctrine on every candidate before any name touches a registry, a contract, or a client. It is not a public product change or a commercial storefront; it is a desk of tools and a written-down doctrine.
The three-register frame
The doctrine opens with a decision, not a brainstorm: pick the register before generating. A register is the kind of name a buyer-profile demands. The wrong register reads wrong on a card statement even when the name is technically free — so the register is chosen first, from the buyer and brand type.
Register A
Soft romance coinage
Invented, SOFT consonants (m·r·t·l·n·v — "premium feel, no harshness"), vowel-ending, 5-9 letters, brand-blank or a root with mythic depth.
- For
- Consumer / DTC / premium / fintech-blank.
- Risk
- Reads consumer/FMCG → fails the B2B invoice test.
Exemplars: mirtela (myrtle→Aphrodite + tela/canvas) · furnely (fur + lovely/homely) · mediferra · susabe · funuli · lulabu
Register B
Self-explaining compound
Two REAL parts that both earn their place, product category BAKED IN, wordplay that installs its own positioning.
- For
- Tools / products.
- Risk
- The both-parts law is mandatory here.
Exemplars: automano (auto+mano = automation+hand) · hsmate (HS+mate ≈ checkmate) · lexroi (lex+roi = law king)
Register C
Concrete greatness / myth
REAL, SIMPLE ENGLISH words (ESL-instant) that NAME THE ACTIVITY with a clever, unexpected, memorable twist — short, punchy, authoritative.
- For
- Holding / agency / ambitious B2B house.
- Risk
- Generic-professional (Thrive/Victorious/Meridian) is the bland lane — rejected.
Exemplars: SpaceX = space + X (eXploration AND a frontier symbol) · ByteDance = byte + dance (the whole activity, in two ESL words)
What the doctrine is calibrated for
Every generation cycle is gated by a specific founder taste brief rather than a generic “modern brandable” spec. The register this desk is tuned to is summed up as:4-6 letters, ONE shape in one breath (no literal two-word compounds — glowday/maneflow-class fails taste), soft sonorants + warm vowels, either (a) a warm real word (aura) or (b) a product-root + sleek quality tail (plan-ity, zen-oti). Upscale-tech, moldu-friendly, never cutesy.
The anchor names that define the taste target are zenoti, planity, meituan, aura — short, one-breath shapes, warm and product-adjacent, never cutesy.
This calibration carries a warning we treat as doctrine, not as a claim: This register cold-reads products-ambiguous BY DESIGN — "aura" itself probes as candles/skincare — so a warm products-adjacent cold read is NOT an automatic 0h kill; the negative-space 0h law still applies (negative dominant reads still kill).