name-please
name-please is a structured way to check whether a company or product name works, and to generate better ones when it does not.
What it does
Most naming processes produce a shopping list: thirty options, no criteria, chosen on a feeling. name-please takes a firmer position. It treats naming as a strategic decision rather than a creative sprint. A good name lands what the company does in the mind of the person you are selling to, while a weak one leaves the brand explaining itself forever.
So instead of more ideas, name-please brings a process. It pulls in your vision, your ideal customer, your voice direction, and your competitive context, and uses all of it to judge a name, or to build new ones.
How it works
name-please works in three phases:
- Validate: nine times out of ten you already have a working name and need to know whether it holds up. The framework scores it across six dimensions, including whether it signals what matters to the buyer, whether it sits naturally in their world, whether it can be said, spelled, and heard without trouble, and whether you can actually own it across domains and channels. It ends with one of three verdicts: Replace, Keep with scaffolding (the name works but needs support, copy or domain or visual fixes), or Keep with execution (the name is fine and the problem is elsewhere).
- Generate: when a name needs replacing, or when you are starting with nothing, it commits to a few naming directions grounded in your own words first, then produces a short list of three finalists with a backup, not a pile of thirty.
- Recommend: the output names one option and says why. A recommendation, not a neutral ranking.
Who it's for
- Founders with a working name who want to know whether it holds up before they commit
- Founders starting from scratch who want structured generation rather than a brainstorm
- Anyone burned by generic AI naming output that ignored their actual buyer
Using it without writing code
You do not need to be a developer to use name-please, and you do not need to be comfortable with GitHub. The framework is a set of plain-language instructions that an AI assistant reads and works from. Your part is the conversation.
The quickest way in is the "Open in Claude" button on this page. It hands Claude a short brief on name-please and leaves room for you to describe your own situation, so you can talk through the fit before committing to anything.
To run the framework itself, you open the repository with Claude Code, Anthropic's assistant that works directly with files, and tell it what you need in ordinary sentences, like "is this the right name for us?" It handles setup the first time and walks you through the rest. If any of that feels unfamiliar, it is a good thing to bring to a first conversation.
See it on GitHub
The full framework, its six-dimension rubric, and worked examples are all in the open repository: