Brainstorm and evaluate names

Find names whose sound, meaning, and visual possibilities fit the audience. Clever spelling is not automatically a spoken joke or a viable brand.

Establish the brief

Read the concept, purpose, audience, languages, tone, prior batches, selected identity, and rejected directions. Derive naming criteria from this brief. Examples demonstrate traits or mechanisms; identify which traits matter rather than inheriting their culture, subject, humor, or source vocabulary. Distinguish primary names, titles, character names, jokes, and feature labels; they tolerate different levels of obscurity and reference dependence.

Choose analysis, a reusable naming prompt, generation, or shortlist research according to the request. Do not replace a naming-prompt request with candidates.

Build from sources and sounds

Choose naming approaches that fit the brief: descriptive, evocative, metaphorical, abstract, invented, compound, reference-based, or playful. For wordplay, use WORDPLAY.md to distinguish mechanisms and record transformations. Build source and semantic banks from the concept and intended audience, not from prior projects.

• Compare pronunciation, rhythm, syllables, and stress, not spelling alone. Prefer recoverable changes when recognition matters.
• Preserve references accurately. Verify unfamiliar names, quotes, meanings, and cultural claims from primary sources or knowledgeable speakers; label supplied but unverified dialect words.
• Record the intended language, pronunciation variety, and audience. Treat languages and communities as distinct; a cultural reference is useful only when it serves this brief.
• Use approximate respelling when helpful. Give IPA only when supported; do not fabricate precise dialect or celebrity pronunciations.
• Explore ordinary words, double meanings, concise compounds, and invented words as well as puns. Do not force mascots into every name.