There are a lot of things to consider when you’re starting a new blog, and for many of us, choosing a blog name or a domain name can be the most challenging part of the process. It feels like every good name that you come up with is already taken, leading to frustration. Thankfully, there are some useful free blog name generators that you can use to quickly come up with plenty of ideas, even if you struggle with creativity.
Best Blog Name Generators
Let’s take a look at several tools that can help when you’re struggling to come up with a blog name or domain name. There are definitely some similarities between the tools on this list and they all aim to help you overcome the same problem. However, each one works in a different way. You’ll probably find that you prefer one of these over the others. Try them out and see which one seems to be the best for you.
As a quick word of warning, the blog name generators showcased in this article are generally not the most attractive websites. In some cases, the designs look outdated by a decade. Don’t judge these sites based on how they look. They can function well and serve a purpose even if they look dated.
1. NameQL
We’re starting the list with NameQL because it’s one of the more unique tools covered in this article. It’s very simple to use and allows you to quickly find quality .com domains that are available.
You’ll start by entering a word, such as one of the main keywords for your blog. NameQL will then, almost instantly, provide some suggestions by adding letters to the beginning or end of the work.
While many of the other name generators covered later in this article work by adding supplementary words to your primary keyword, NameQL doesn’t necessarily add full words. Instead, it could be adding just a few letters to your keyword. The result is that you’ll get shorter domain name suggestions. You’ll also get suggestions that you won’t find by using the other tools on this list.
Some of the domain name ideas generated by NameQL will be crossed out. Those are domains that are not currently available as a .com. You can click on the arrow to view more suggestions. If you see a domain name that you like, click on it, and then you’ll have the option to save it. This can be a handy way to keep track of the best ideas.
2. Lean Domain Search
Lean Domain Search is an awesome tool owned by Automattic, the parent company that also owns WordPress. If you’re looking for a way to generate domain name ideas that include your primary keyword, you’ll love Lean Domain Search.
To use it, you’ll simply enter one of your primary keywords. Lean Domain Search will add a variety of different words to the beginning or end of your keyword. It will show any that is available as a .com domain name.
Lean Domain Search can be used to provide a huge list of ideas. For most keywords, hundreds or thousands of possibilities are found. Some very general or broad keywords will not yield as many results.
One area where Lean Domain Search stands out from some of the other similar resources is that it only shows domain names that are available to register. A lot of the other tools display all of the names that they check. Then each one will show up as either available or unavailable. By only showing the available domains, Lean Domain Search makes it faster to browse through the results.
By default, the domain name suggestions will be sorted by popularity. You’ll have the option to display them alphabetically or by length. You can also choose to see only suggestions with your keyword at the beginning, your keyword at the end, or both.
3. Instant Domain Search
Instant Domain Search is similar to Lean Domain Search in some ways. It generates potential domain names by adding supplementary words to one of your primary keywords. You’ll start by entering your keyword and you’ll instantly (seriously, it’s fast) see a lit of possibilities generated.
In general, Lean Domain Search produces more results than Instant Domain Search, although this is not always the case.
Instant Domain Search will show .com domain names that are available for registration, as well as domains that are registered but are not currently in use. The suggestions that are available to be registered will be shown in green. The ones that are registered but not in use are shown in red. The red suggestions also include a link to the WHOIS data so you can find contact info for the owner, in case you want to reach out about buying the domain.
4. NameMesh
NameMesh is a unique resource that can be pretty helpful, but it can also be a little confusing at first. Like many of the other tools listed here, you’ll start by entering one of your main keywords. After you enter your keyword, you’ll see a list of suggestions that are categorized, but it’s not exactly clear what these categories mean. Here is a quick breakdown:
- Common – If the TLDs (top level domains) are available for your keyword, they’ll show up here. It’s likely that none will be available for common or popular keywords. If you’re using multiple keywords, it will also check for hyphenated versions of top level domains.
- Similar – Generates common alternatives using synonyms, related words, and real world intelligence.
- New – Checks the availability of new top level domains. In general, I’d recommend avoiding these in order to go with a .com.
- SEO – Adds other words to your keyword, similar to Lean Domain Search or Instant Domain Search.
- Short – Looks for clever domains that overlap the keyword with top level domains, like foc.us.
- Fun – Uses different techniques like overlapping words and phonetic variations to create short, memorable, and brandable domain ideas.
- Extra – Checks other popular top level domains. Again, I would recommend skipping these and going with a .com.
- Mix – Adds popular suffixes and prefixes.
Name Mesh isn’t quite as fast as some of the other tools on this list, but it can provide you with a lot of ideas, and some unique ideas that you might not find with the other tools.
5. NameStall
NameStall is a useful resource that gives you a number of different options. You’ll start by entering your keyword, and NameStall will add to your keyword to produce ideas for you.
You can select to show domains that have your keyword at the beginning, at the end, or either. There is a dropdown menu that allows you to select what will be added to your keyword. The options are:
- 100 popular numbers
- 1000 top keywords
- 120 number + word
- 1500 popular last words
- 200 popular two-letter words
- 300 popular three-letter words
- And more
You can also select whether you want it to check .com or another TLD.
One of the downsides to NameStall, in my opinion, is that it shows all of the domain names generated, regardless of whether they’re available or not. It tells you whether each one is taken or available, but I find it faster and easier to browse the list generated by Lean Domain Search that only shows available domains.
6. Bust A Name
Bust A Name was one of the first domain name generators that received mass attention, and it’s still functioning in the same way. It works a little bit differently that most of the other tools on this list because you’ll need to enter multiple words. The more words you enter, the more possibilities it will produce.
Unlike some of the other blog name generators, Bust A Name isn’t going to provide you with suggested domains by adding certain words or letters to your keyword. Instead, it will combine the words that you enter to find domains that are available.
When you’re using Bust A Name, you’ll want to enter several of the main keywords for your blog, and then you can also enter some supplementary words to go along with it.
Bust A Name has some strengths and some weaknesses. The biggest strength is the fact that none of the other tools out there work quite like it. If you have a list of 10 main keywords for your niche and a list of some supplementary words that you think might work well, you can enter all of those words and Bust A Name will check the various combinations of those words and show you what is available. The more words you enter, the more results you’ll get.
The weakness of Bust A Name is the fact that you won’t get a large number of suggestions. In fact, every other tool on this list will generally create more suggested domains for you.
7. Panabee
To use Panabee, you’ll start by entering your keyword. It will then show you the domain names with some common words appended to the beginning or end. It will also provide other variations, like swapping letters or spelling the word backwards.
Panabee will indicate whether the domain is available or already registered. The red broken hearts indicate domain names that are already registered. It will also show you some other extensions instead of .com.
One of the best features of Panabee is that if you scroll down, you’ll see some other words that are related to your keyword. If you don’t find a suggestion that you like for your keyword, you can try some of these other related words. Simply click on any of the related words and Panabee will search for available domains for that word.
8. Name Station
Name Station will produce suggested domains based on your keywords. Like many of the other blog name generators, it will add other words to your keyword to create the suggestions. Unlike some of the other tools, it will also give you some filtering options.
You can choose to have Name Station show you only certain types of results, like conceptual names or business names. This definitely has the potential to be helpful, but it can also be a little confusing at times because it’s hard to tell why some domains would be classified in certain ways.
9. Nameboy
With Nameboy, you can enter a single word or multiple words. If you enter multiple words, it will give you a lot of suggestions, but the domains are likely to get pretty long, so you’ll probably want to stick to one or two words.
Nameboy will provide some suggestions by adding other common words. It will also show you which of the suggestions are available and which ones are already registered.
Tips for Choosing Your Domain Name
Now that we’ve covered the best blog name generators, you should be able to find plenty of possibilities. In fact, at this point, the bigger challenge becomes choosing the best option among the many possibilities that you’ve identified.
It’s important to note that these are general tips and best practices, but that doesn’t mean that you always need to follow all of the rules. There are some great domain names that break these rules. However, if you’re looking for a safe way to come up with a good blog name, keep these rules in mind.
Stick to the Basics
There are endless possibilities when it comes to domain names. Years ago, the top level domains were limited to .com, .net, .org, and a few others. Today, there are far more choices.
Aside from lots of choices when it comes to TLDs, some creativity will open up even more possibilities. While this can work well in some situations, getting too cute or too creative came also work against you.
It’s important that your domain name is memorable and that your visitors are able to easily come back to your blog whenever they want to. If you get overly creative with your domain name, people may have a hard time remembering it or finding your blog in the future.
While it’s possible that creativity will lead to a great domain name, in most cases, it’s more effective to stick to the basics. Here are some ways that this applies.
- Go with a .com domain – Your domain name will be much easier to remember if it is a .com. Yes, it’s harder to find good .com domains that are available. However, you don’t want people going to the wrong site because they forget that your domain is .net or .co instead of .com.
- Avoid hyphens – Hyphenated domain names will be harder for visitors to remembers. You can easily find an available domain name by adding a hyphen. But visitors are likely to forget the hyphen when they type your address. There’s a reason why hardly any quality websites include hyphens in their domain names.
- Keep it short – Shorter is better when it comes to domains. Shorter names are easier to remember and easier for visitors to type. A really long domain name can also make your blog look spammy, and you don’t want that. There’s no set max number of characters that you should have, but in general, the shorter the better.
- Make sure it is easy to spell – You definitely don’t want visitors to have a challenge remembering how to spell your domain name. Only use simple words that are easy to spell.
- Don’t choose a name that is too similar to competitors – If your first choice .com domain is taken, you might be tempted to add “the” at the beginning or go with some other extremely similar name. In general, it’s best to avoid domains that are too similar to other sites in your industry, especially direct competitors. Not only will it be harder for visitors to remember, but you could wind up with a legal battle or a threatened lawsuit if a trademark is involved.
Choose Your Primary Keywords
While there are a number of different approaches you can take to find a domain name, one of the most effective ways is to start by identifying your primary keywords. These keywords could involve the topics that you’ll cover or the niche of your blog.
For example, when I was starting a personal finance blog, I identified a few keywords like finance, financial, money, wallet, and dollar.
Once you’ve selected a few main keywords, you can then look for available domain names that include those keywords. If you’re using one of the domain name generators covered in this article, you’ll need at least one keyword to get started (some of the tools require more than one keyword).
With a domain name generator like Lean Domain Search, you can quickly find an available .com domain for just about any keyword. If you’re struggling for ideas, this is an easy way to quickly come up with some possibilities, and maybe a huge number of possibilities.
Look at the Names of Other Blogs
One of the best ways to spark your creativity is to look at the names being used by other blogs. If you’re trying to identify a primary keyword to use, take a look at other blogs in your niche. For example, if you’re a fitness blogger, you may find that a lot of fitness blogs include words like fitness, fit, health, healthy, shape, or trim in their domain name.
What I find to be even more helpful is to look at blogs in other niches, totally unrelated to the topics that I’m going to cover on my own blog. This can be helpful for a few reasons:
- You can find supplementary words to use with your primary keywords.
- You’ll be generating ideas from other industries, so your domain name won’t feel like it is ripping off another blog in your niche.
- Getting ideas from outside your niche will help you to come up with something that stands out in your niche.
To do this, simply go to a blog directory and browse the listings for blogs on any topic. Detailed.com can be a great resource because it lists the top blogs in many different industries.
If I’m looking at the list of top photography blogs on Detailed.com, one of the listings is PhotographyLife.com. This could serve as inspiration as you could try adding the word “life” to one of your primary keywords.
Write Down All of Your Ideas
As you’re working on identifying your domain name, you’ll come up with a lot of different ideas and possibilities. It’s very important to write down (or save in a document) any ideas that you have. Once the ideas get rolling, you won’t be able to remember everything that you’ve come up with. You certainly don’t want to come up with a perfect domain name only to forget about it later.
Write down or record all of the ideas that you have, even if they don’t seem great to you in the moment. That idea may not be the one that you ultimately choose, but it may spark your creativity or lead you to think about another domain name that could be even better.
After spending a while on the process, you should have a list of several names that you’ve identified as possibilities either through your own brainstorming or by using one of the domain name generators. At this point, it’s time to go through the list and decide on the best one.
Consider Personalizing
What is the goal or purpose of your blog? If your primary objective is to brand yourself as an expert in your field or to develop your own personal brand, you may want to consider simply using your own name as your domain name.
This probably won’t be the approach that most bloggers choose to take, but there is a time and a place for using your name as the domain name, and it’s not limited to simply personal blogs that are done just for fun.
As an example, Seth Godin’s blog uses the domain seths.blog. He’s developed an incredible personal brand, and that’s probably been aided by the fact that he’s chosen to incorporate his name into the domain.
Go With Something Unique or Memorable
If you’re having trouble finding an available .com domain name that you like using the standard approach by following the tips above, think outside the box.
It’s possible to come up with a unique and memorable domain name that doesn’t involve a keyword from your blog’s niche. The goal here is to create a name that’s short that visitors are going to remember, even if it doesn’t immediately indicate the topics that your blog will be covering.
Kikolani.com is a great example. It’s a brandable, memorable name, but it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with online marketing or blogging. The same name could be used regardless of the topics of the blog.
To come up with this type of domain, you might need to use a little more creativity. Domain name generators aren’t likely to be as helpful, but one option is to browse domains that are available for sale at websites like Sedo and Dan.com.
Final Thoughts on Blog Name Generators
Choosing a blog name or domain name is an important part of the process of launching your blog. As a result, you should give the decision plenty of consideration. Coming up with blog names can be an intimidating process since so many .com domain names are already registered, but the blog name generators and tips covered in this article should help you to come up with a list that includes several strong possibilities.
This can be a difficult decision. But don’t allow this step of the process to stop you from starting your own blog. It’s an important step, but it shouldn’t stop you from making progress. Put some time into it to find some possibilities, then make a decision and move forward.
