What's in a name (.com)?

[scotty]

Recently, I've been searching for a name for a new venture.

Basically, I'm wanting to start something with a more agency feel as an addition to my personal illustration site.

I've been struggling to find a name that I like for ages now.
I have a notebook and every time something pops into my head I jot it down only to find later that the .com has already been taken (no surprise).

It seems anything to do with design in any way has been done by somebody even when I think I've been really clever.

I want to keep it fairly short which is an issue in itself and something that means something but I find that someone I'm Minnesota or something has already beat me.

My question is:

Say if I had the idea that I wanted to call it "AWESOME" but awesome.com was taken by another design company say in another country.
Would awesomecreative.com, awesomedesign.com or even awesome.co.uk be acceptable to use?

If the name is clear on the Company House site is this fair game?

It's not like I'd want to be posing as another company or steal custom.
I'm looking at a more local market rather that my usual client base.

I do see others have done it and made something like theawesomedesignblog.com and I'm not stuck on the .com either. A .co.uk would suffice.

What are your thoughts?

 

[hankscorpio]

If it's McDonalds and they are selling pillows, then having a McDonalds website that sold pillows would be ok.

However, if you it was McDonalds, and they were selling food items, even McDonalds Farm - then it could be dicey. Unless the person's name is McDonalds, then there's nothing that can be done about it.

Burger King is called Happy Jacks in Australia, as when Burger King opened in Australia, there was already a food joint called Burger King, so it got sued and changed it's chain to Happy Jacks in Australia.


Why not go with something like SketchyScotty... suits you perfectly!