You know how it is: you get a great business name idea and jump online to register it … only to find there not just one name like yours, there’s several namesâ€"or name derivativesâ€"like yours, too.

Don’t fret. “Get creative,â€? says About.com’s entrepreneurial writer, Scott Allen. Another tip Allen suggests: Employ a thesaurus, too. Beware, though. Choose your business and product names wisely. Chrysler learned that millions costly mistake when they unveiled their new Chevrolet Nova in the late 1970sâ€"and no on in Mexico would buy the carâ€"because “Novaâ€? in Spanish means “no go.â€? Worse, still: Henry Ford, Jr. named the mid 1950s car with the vertical grill flop after his kidâ€"Edsel.

Here’s some ways to ensure you get a great name and branding for your domain site:

Play with names. Take the first few letters of a combination of names from your family members, street signs or consult a baby name bookâ€"like St from Steve, Ors from Orson and Ne from Nellie. There, you’ve got STORNSNE Or something to that effect.

Research. What’s the Latin meaning of the name? How is it said in Greek? What’s the proper spelling in Hebrew? Is it an insult in German dialects or a love call in Farsi? Remember, what a name definition mean one thing in this country may take on a totally differentâ€"and sometimes insultingâ€"meaning completely in another country or even said in another dialect. Incredibly enough, the word “sunâ€? in parts of Africa has several different meanings, depending in where you stress a syllable in that dialect employed. So, you may be saying “the sun is hotâ€? in one dialect in Madagascarâ€"and “the sun is dryâ€? in a poorly stressed dialect in Johannesburg.

And speaking of definitions … Hone in what your product is, does and stands out from the rest of the pack, and chose that one glowing, pivotal product gimmick as the domain name. Then you can register (and worry about) the company name, later. Marketing and business mogul Scott Golden’s rule of thumb: The Purple Cow Theory. Think about it: aren’t most cows either brown, black or white? If you saw a purple one in a field of all that brown, black or white cattle, you’d notice it, right? So, like your company and its product: Cows are known not for milk alone.

Start reading everything. Bus signs, street signs, phone books, the table of elements, surnames, even tombstones and license plates can dream up some pretty clever ways to put names together.

Go Au Natural. Um, no, not naked, but back to nature. Orson Creek. Grey Seas Limited. Rainbow Ocean 7. Whatever works.

Get feedbackâ€"even if it’s on a name you hate. And this includes your own. Okay, so your own name’s hideous but you figured, what the heck, why not profit from it? Run it by your immediate family anyway and see what they think all the same. And, by the same token …

If you’re going to use their namesâ€"ASK! ‘Nuff said on that. And even if they still say no on the name useâ€"regardless of the double-digit percentages they get from the royaltiesâ€"move on.

Register your products, ideas and trademarksâ€"if anyâ€"with the U.S. Copyright Office. You may also want to look into your state’s registered offices for any name trademarks, copyrights or patents your idea may or may not be fringing upon. Also, register with your state as names that you will be doing business as, or known as a DBA, so that the IRS and other financial institutions can keep track with, for and yes, on you. For instance: If you have a Freddie-Eddie kid’s only night-light as your product, you may register the website name as your name spelled backwardsâ€"like NEVELE for ELEVEN or NEVAEH for HEAVENâ€"the do business in your given name, SBA whatever you have it spelled as, and register Fred-Ed.com, or something to that effect.

Consider using .net and .info as domain names. Yes, true, it’s not as glamorous as is a .com nameâ€"but it’s not as crowded and jockeying for traffic space, search engine clicks and branding recognition, either. Since you’re looking to maximize your search engine places anyway, .net and .info might be the way to offer, since not many name brands have those tags to go by.

Get an EIN with the IRS. That’s an Employee Identification Number registered with the Internal Revenue Service. If you’re gun-shy in using your Social Security Number--and with the rampant ravaging effect of Identity Theft cases taken place these days, who can blame youâ€"they can assign an EIN to you. This way, you can use this for any and all business transactions you’ll be making with your new business.

Play with Colors, Shapes and Numbers. So, you’re still determined to get a .com with your name in it? That’s okay. More and more websites today have alphanumeric combinations to their domain names. Like the song by the Brothers Johnson called “Strawberry Letter #22�, some websites have letters and numbers working for them. As for a logo, like with a domain name, if you’re going to go on the international scale, make sure that logo is a universally accepted sign. Interlocking squares work. Ovals are nice, as are interlocking shapes of different colors and sizes. Try to choose a light, bright color for your logo.

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