Most naming advice is about the name. This is about the handle — the string that has to survive Instagram's dots, X's fifteen characters, and being read aloud down a phone line.
Start from the tightest constraint
X caps handles at 15 characters. TikTok at 24. If your name fits X, it fits everywhere. Test that first and you'll never have to compromise later.
Say it out loud
If someone has to ask "is that one word?" or "is there a dot in it?", the handle is costing you. Every separator — a dot, an underscore, a hyphen — is a chance to be typed wrong.
The rules worth keeping
- One word if you can. Two if you must.
- No numbers. They read as a fallback, because they usually are.
- No underscores as padding. An underscore that exists only because the clean name was taken tells everyone the clean name was taken.
- Nothing that dates: no years, no "new", no "2".
- Check it doesn't spell something else when the spaces come out. This is a real problem and it has ended real brands.
Then check before you commit
Names get expensive after the logo. Run the handle through a check while it's still a candidate, not after it's on the packaging.