product-naming

# Product Naming

Create names from a clear product strategy, then test them as real identifiers.
Keep creative generation separate from evidence-backed screening so attractive
ideas do not receive invented domain, linguistic, or legal certainty.

## Workflow

1. Build the naming brief before generating candidates:
   - product, audience, problem, promise, category, and alternatives
   - desired character and associations
   - geographic and language scope
   - spoken, written, search, domain, and app-store contexts
   - legal entity, product, or feature name
   - hard constraints, exclusions, and decision owner
2. If the product thesis or target user is unresolved, route that decision to
   `product-management`; naming cannot repair unclear positioning.
3. Choose two to four relevant name territories. Load [Name generation](references/name-generation.md)
   for territories, sound, form, and anti-patterns.
4. Generate a deliberately broad longlist without making availability claims.
   Include different structures and explain the intended association in one
   sentence each.
5. Apply the fast filter: relevance, distinctiveness, pronunciation, spelling,
   memorability, unwanted meaning, category confusion, and team constraints.
6. Research only the surviving candidates. Load [Screening and verification](references/screening-and-verification.md)
   for current domain, search, language, trademark, and handle checks.
7. Score evidence transparently and retain three to six finalists. State
   unknowns and required professional clearance.
8. Test finalists with representative speakers in realistic situations: hearing
   the name once, spelling it, recalling it later, searching for it, and using it
   in a sentence.
9. Recommend a top choice plus a credible fallback after the spoken-name test.
10. Record the decision, rejected alternatives, verification date, reservation
    actions, and conditions that would reopen the choice with `decision-records`
    when the repository uses ADRs or another durable decision convention.

## Operating Rules

- Prefer a distinctive, human-feeling name over a generic stack of category
  terms, technology abbreviations, or fashionable suffixes.
- Treat pronunciation and spelling after hearing the name as hard product
  requirements when word of mouth, sales calls, podcasts, or international use
  matter.
- Check the actual language set. Do not claim “works globally” from English-only
  intuition or an AI-generated translation.
- Keep cultural origin and intended meaning honest. Do not fabricate etymology
  for an invented word.
- Separate registrability, availability, and desirability. A free domain does
  not make a name safe or strategically strong; a parked domain does not prove
  the corresponding trademark is unavailable.
- Never report domain, handle, company, product, or trademark status without a
  current check and dated source. Search-result snippets alone are insufficient.
- Describe trademark research as preliminary screening, not legal clearance.
  Recommend qualified counsel before commercial commitment when the stakes
  warrant it.
- Do not purchase domains, reserve handles, file marks, or contact owners unless
  the user explicitly authorizes that external action.

## Default Deliverable

For a full naming assignment, return:

1. Naming brief and unresolved questions
2. Name territories and rationale
3. Shortlist table with pronunciation, meaning, fit, risks, and evidence status
4. Current domain, usage, language, and preliminary trademark findings
5. Ranked recommendation with tradeoffs, not a winner by score alone
6. Spoken-name test and representative-user validation plan
7. Legal, registration, and reservation next steps

## Related Skills

- Use `product-management` to resolve audience, product thesis, differentiation,
  or portfolio architecture before naming.
- Use `consultant-profile` when naming is part of an individual consultant's
  positioning rather than a product or business identity.
- Use `product-marketing` from the separately managed DALO `marketingskills`
  catalog after the name is selected for messaging and launch work; use a brand
  specialist only when one is separately configured.
- Use `web-legal-compliance` for website disclosures and jurisdiction-specific
  launch requirements; it does not replace trademark counsel.
- Use `decision-records` to preserve a durable naming choice, the rejected
  alternatives, and conditions that would reopen it.