Going loco over naming your company? Try the new .CO.

One of the most Advil-inducing aspects of my role as a Name Generator is divining the perfect domain name for a client and then discovering my brainchild is already registered. But considering that 90-million-and-counting .COMs have been snapped up in the 25 years since the extension’s introduction, it’s hardly surprising that the elusive search for an available dotcom is a namer’s nightmare. Doostang, twubs, oofio and Xe, anyone? Ever since the success of nonsense word, now-verb, Google, desperate companies and the namers they hire (moi) are mashing up the alphabet into a mescaline soup of vowels, consonants and dashes.

But at last, as of July 20, 2010, there’s some light at the end of the linguistic tunnel. Finally a new domain name extension, ideal for companies, commerce, corporations –the extension “.CO,” has officially entered the market after a ‘sunrise’ phase since February. CO Internet S.A.S. launched on Tuesday — and it’s been a name generation goldrush ever since. In fact, I’m pretty astounded by what’s already gone. I dilly-dally-ed on Tuesday on a name I liked — I dared to answer the phone. When I came back, one of my favorite travel site names (Boundless) had been snatched up during the few minutes I was chatting.

During the sunrise phase, domain seekers applied for more than 39,000 .CO’s. Naturally, first priority registration rights were offered to trademark holders. Big brands were among the first to grab: Amazon, American Express, Apple, BMW, Cartier, Canon, CNN, Coca-Cola, Disney, Ebay, Exxon, Ford, Google, Hilton, Honda, IBM, IKEA, Kodak, McDonalds, Microsoft, MTV, Nestle, Nike, Nokia, Panasonic, Pfizer, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Toyota, Unilever, Visa, Yahoo. Twitter smartly nabbed T.co. The full list of early .CO adopters is here.

Get your CO domain via the usual domain registrars such as GoDaddy.com, Register.com and Network Solutions, etc. Prepare to pay big bucks — at godaddy, they’re hawking the new domains at $29.95 per (buy in bulk and get a smidgen off). But that pales compared to the $350,000.00 Overstock recently paid to acquire O.CO.

The powers-that-be are also withholding approximately 2,000 premium generic domains from general availability and will auction them to help promote and maintain the .CO domain. The auctions will take place at a variety of online and off-line venues over the course of the next 12 months.

Guru’s Note: So what should you do, O intrepid namer? If you’re searching for a name for a new company, site, product, or service, I’d absolutely get out the list of Dream Names you never could get as a dotcom or dotnet; check .CO availability and register them pronto. Obviously, do your legal due diligence and competitive analysis. If your #1 competitor owns the brand’s dotcom and dotnet, adding .CO is not likely to be a viable solution. But if the other extensions are registered to a company in a completely unrelated field or have been inactive/domain squatters, the .CO may make sense. I registered a .CO domain I liked — Innovation Institute — because the dotcom site lists the most recent post as June 8, 2001. Now this could change, so I will monitor before I actually use the .CO.

If your name is already well established, I wouldn’t be in a panic to add the .CO extension. The new extension is a smart-to-have — just like the .info, .biz and other existing extensions that should be in support of your brand and TM.

And remember . . .

Choosing a name is a delicate balance of art and science. Choose names that:

• Fit the concept
• Can be pronounced easily
• Are elastic across time, cultures and categories
• Are visual and create an instant picture of your product or business
• Create a memorable brand personality – zag while your competitors zig
• Connect emotionally with your target in a meaningful and experiential way
• Have the potential to be delivered via multiple platforms
• Able to scale as your business does
• And always, never ever be boring.

Next Up At Baby Pilates Class: Zuma Nesta Rock, Gwen Stefani’s Latest Production.

Gwen Stefani on Thursday gave birth to a boy, Zuma Nesta Rock.

Undoubtedly he will attend Baby Pilates classes with:

Apple and Moses, children of Gwyneth and Chris

Kal-El Coppola, son of Nicolas Cage and Alice Kim

Reignbeau, daughter of Ving Rhames

Audio Science, son of actress Shannyn Sossamon and Dallas Clayton

Alabama Luella, daughter of reality TV stars Travis Barker and Shanna Moakler

Pilot Inspektor , son of actor Jason Lee and Beth Riesgraf

Denim and Diezel, sons of Tony Braxton

Banjo, son of actress Rachel Griffiths and Andrew Taylor.

Moxie CrimeFighter, daughter of Penn Jillette

Puma and Seven Sirius, children of Erykah Badu

Maybe their instructor could be Diva Muffin, daughter of Frank and Gail Zappa.

Check out this list of Celebrity Baby Names.

Note:  While the Guru, long semi-notorious as a Name Dame, Name Gnome or even the pompous — Name Generator — agrees that names should instantly telegraph a strong positive feeling and even a smile,  she also believes names should not trigger problems in the proverbial sandbox. (Even the corporate sandbox. Wakoopa anyone?)  Of course, these offspring will likely travel with pricey bench-pressing bodyguards to ward off playground bullies.  Civilians should stick with Ava and Abigail (2007 most popular girl names) or Aiden and Braden (2007 most popular boy names). They’re also more apt to fit neatly into all those teeny-tiny squares on the SAT registration forms.

When Name Generation Isn’t About Naming.

Whether it’s the R-word, job loss, midlife crisis or simply some kind of cosmic tipping point, the Guru is getting inundated with Name Generation projects for small businesses.

Normally, name generation centers on coming up with a new brand name, tagline, descriptor and sometimes promise statements, triggers or testworthy concepts for products, services and websites. In the past year, however, probably 60% of my projects have actually been about what my friend Claire calls woo-woo. That is, self-discovery, transformation and ultimately ‘getting’ who you are as a businessperson and your place in the competitive landscape.  The naming process itself, which forces a deeper dive into everything from product to sales to legal to marketing, is provoking more realistic strategies for building businesses. The ones I’ve seen — and helped guide as provocateur — are likely to have a better chance of surviving and thriving.

Planning for the future has always been a significant part of the name generation process:

How scale-able is the name?
Will the name stay relevant? (Hello, dotcom era)
Will the name allow you to migrate into new categories as the marketplace evolves?
And these days, how do you avoid being the plastic bag of the future?

But what’s happening here is more akin to: Does this name fit who I am? Who I want to be 5 years from now? A sizeable portion of these clients are seeing the future via potential names and saying: No way. I don’t want to be perceived in that light. I don’t want to try to squeeze into that slot. Or simply: That’s not me.

This afternoon, one of my all-time favorite client teams called me and rejected all of the names and taglines I presented yesterday.

I was thrilled.

This is because, by wholeheartedly engaging in the process, they learned exactly what they did not want to do or be as a business. They grappled with each of the platforms and names. Some were spot on strategically. Some were spot on creatively. Some were spot on for where they thought they wanted to be when we launched the project.

The good news: The new brand name and strategy they came up with is inspired.  It’s as tongue-in-chic and kicky as they are. Thankfully, they happen to be risk-takers with a history of significant success and the guts to pull this off with panache.

I’m psyched.  I love to watch woo-woo at work.