Forbes “What 5,000 Startup Domains Reveal About Naming In 2025”

Darpan Munjal published an article on Forbes that dealt with startups and domain names. Darpan writes that they took a close look at 5,000 of the most recent domains that sold on Atom, these werenames that real startups actually bought to build real businesses.

The articles delves into 5 facets of naming and what to think about when it comes to naming your company. This is also helpful information for domain investors as it’s important to know what future prospective buyers are looking for.

Here is the part about legibility:

Legibility Matters More Than Ever

With the rise of made-up names, clarity is as critical as phonetic appeal. If your name can’t be easily repeated and understood, it won’t stick with the public, and it won’t appeal to investors either. Along with keeping names short and their spelling intuitive, following a vowel, consonant, vowel pattern usually makes words easier to pronounce and recall.

At Atom.com, we often use what we call the “Crowded Bar Test” – Could someone catch your brand name over the noise of a crowded room and remember it later? If not, it’s unlikely to make the splash you want it to, and might make branding and marketing harder rather than easier.

Although we’ve used this test for over a decade, it’s more relevant than ever in 2025. In a world of voice search through Alexa and other AI assistants, and marketing campaigns across podcasts, Reels, and videos, phonetic appeal is non-negotiable.

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