Find the right domain nameCriteria, ideas and what to do if your preferred name is taken

Published on October 20, 2026

How to recognize a good domain name

A good name works in three situations: written, spoken and remembered. A few rules of thumb follow from that:

• Short. The shorter, the fewer typos. Two words are good, four are too many.
• Easy to dictate. Say the name on the phone. If you have to spell it or explain hyphens, it is not ideal.
• Unambiguously spelled. Words with several spellings (color or colour, Café or Cafe) cost visitors. If in doubt, secure both variants.
• Without numbers and hyphens, unless they are a fixed part of the name. Both tend to get lost when passed on by word of mouth.
• Future-proof. A name such as minecraft-survival-server no longer fits if your clan later plays a different game. A brand name grows with you.

Umlauts, upper and lower case

Domains do not distinguish between upper and lower case - YourClan.com and yourclan.com are the same address. For advertising, you may still use capital letters; that makes compound names more readable.

Special characters such as German umlauts have been possible with .de since 2004, but still cause problems with email addresses to this day. What has proven itself: the spelled-out variant (mueller.de) as the main domain, the umlaut variant at most as a redirect. Background in Umlaut domains & IDN.

How to come up with ideas

If the obvious name is taken, these patterns help:

• Name plus activity: smith-electric, laura-photography.
• Name plus place: pizzeria-bonn, clanname-north.
• A verb in front: play, join, get or hello - for example playyourclan.
• An invented word: two syllables, easy to pronounce, without a fixed meaning. Such names are almost always free and can be protected as a trademark.
• Abbreviations only if your target audience already knows them.

Write down ten candidates and check them all at once. Often the third suggestion ends up being the best.

The right extension

The extension also decides how your name comes across. For projects with a German audience, .de is the expected signal; for international projects, .com. .eu, .at and .ch are suitable if your audience is clearly located in the respective region.

If the name is only free with one extension, it is worth checking who uses the other one: if there is an active project with a similar topic, you will be confused with it permanently. A detailed decision guide is in .de or .com.

Check trademarks before you register

A free domain does not mean you are allowed to use the name. If it infringes a registered trademark or a protected company name, you risk a cease-and-desist letter and having to hand over the domain - and the flyers already printed are then worthless.

An initial check is free: the DPMAregister of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office and the database of the EU trademark office EUIPO show registered trademarks. Search there for your name and for similar-sounding variants. For a business project, a look into the commercial register is also sensible.

If your preferred name is taken

• Another extension - but only if nothing confusingly similar runs under the taken one.
• A variation with one of the patterns above.
• Hoping for expiry is rarely worth it. Actively used domains are almost always renewed.
• Ask the owner. Since the GDPR, the public WHOIS hardly shows contact details any more. If there is a website under the domain, the contact is in its legal notice. What DENIC discloses for .de is explained in Domain owner & Admin-C.

Once you have your name, secure it quickly. A domain belongs to whoever registers it first - with us prepaid and without a contract. What a domain costs in the long run is explained in What does a domain cost?.

Frequently asked questions