Nomnym offers not a single method, and not a toolbox with a simple assortment of methods, but a systematic methodology for finding a great name.
If you and Nomnym are interested in proceeding after an initial discussion, Nomnym will develop a plan for naming particular to your company, product, or project. This will involve, at the least, discussions with stakeholders, research in the context of your venture, and the computational exploration of language possibilities. The specifics will depend upon your naming needs as Nomnym understands them.
If we find an agreeable plan and you choose to contract with us, Nomnym will develop a naming proposal that describes possibilities, advocates a particular name, and describes the various rationales for this proposed name.
You will then, we are sure, have a great name that suits your venture, focuses your own thinking about it, makes the nature of your venture clear to others, distinguishes your venture from related ones, and amplifies your message and reach.
There are many companies that offer to develop a name by meeting with stakeholders. Nomnym offers two types of engagement with computation and language that, together, make for a unique combination.
As a POET, Nomnym’s principal, Nick Montfort, has developed a special connection to and expertise with language. His formal studies were with a US Poet Laureate, a Nobel Prize winner in literature, and a leading translator of ancient poems. He has collaborated with major poets working in digital media, and has developed numerous projects by himself and with others to investigate and construct language in new ways. He is internationally recognized as a poet working in constrained, conceptual, and computational writing. In addition to his two books of poetry and several chapbooks, he has developed more than forty creative digital media projects that engage language.
Montfort is also an EXPLORATORY PROGRAMMER, with a Ph.D. in computer and information science and decades of work exploring language and presenting the results in computer science contexts. He has developed his own ability to write small-scale, even offhand computer programs that are engaged with language. After more than a decade teaching programming and using these techniques in contexts that range from underground creative programming to formal teaching in the humanities and arts, at MIT and in other contexts, he has written Exploratory Programming for the Arts and Humanities, a book forthcoming from the MIT Press.
Montfort’s process is CLIENT-BASED. Instead of trying to fit a client to a name from an existing database or file drawer, he works to develop and understanding of what possible names are right for the stakeholders. He undertakes exploration of name possibilities that is informed by the client’s needs, principles, and preferences, and continues to learn and explore until the right name has been found.
There are many approaches to naming, but if the depth of experience and variety of techniques available through poetry and programming appeal to you, there’s Nomnym.