Choosing a name for an international market

Cianos

Hey,
I am trying to think of a name for a new website I'm setting up. The website is to do with learning languages. I hope to attract people from all different countries to the site. This is a dependency for the site to become a success, as the user experience will be based on the interactions of people from different countries through different languages.

On one hand I am thinking of using a name that will do some of the work to describe the service. Nothing too complicated, just a short and snappy name that means something.

On the other hand, this word would have to be in English so it's not exactly international as a result. Whereas if I chose a new word like "Skype", I can present it in the same manner to the entire audience.

I prefer names that are functional, but I'm sure Skype knew what they were doing so I kind of feel I should follow their example.

Any input appreciated!

mneylon

Latin or Greek might work

If you're going to be marketing into multiple markets you need to be aware of the cultural and linguistic differences

(coger in Spain vs coger in Argentina is just one silly example)

seanaway

Hi. If you are going to promote englisha s the language, i would use English. If you are looking at several languages then you may be better off coming up with a compltely neutral name - such as your Skype example. The last thing you want is to alienate part of your target market by ignoring their language goals.

You could try something like http://www.rhymer.com/naming.html. They aren't great but it might get the creative juices flowing.

John