This probably has to be the most difficult part of starting any business. Because this could make or break you, in the internet world you can actually buy some branded items already. Take for example, any domain that that is the keyword of something is already that brand. The only issue with that is that you get pigeon holed. Would you go to runningshoes.com if you needed running clothes? Possible but unlikely, they might be able to get you once you are on the site to try and become your one stop running store.
So how do you go about chosing a name? I think it depends on the initial and the end goal of the plan. I just moved to steamboat springs colorado. I love it out here so far been a few days but I am really enjoying the small town feel thats just big enough to not feel that small. Plus having a mountain to go skiing on does not suck (although the snow is horrible at the moment). There are a few local sites that are advertised on the radio. Take for example steamboattonight.com. That site is perfect for the local who wants to know what events are going on that night. And if you live in steam boat and go out or have a business here you probably at some point or another have meet the owner.
That is a great business idea name, its geo targeted as well as exactly what you would want to do and its very easy to remember. But now lets look at Nike, you think of that and of course you think all sorts of athletic ware to Michael Jordan at one point. That costs a extremely large amount of money. Or a insanely great product (take google.com).
Your name also should tell what your company is about, be it innovative, conciseness, high quality, fun, crazy, reliable, etc. If anything you should write down a list of some of the attributes you picture your company having.
What you should not do is crowd source, or hire some one to try and figure it out. You also should try and stay away from copyright (Says the man who has “playboy” in his blog, but this isn’t my company name 
). And if anything you should maybe try and find some similarities how ever far stretched they are to maybe help a consumer be able to create recognize your product, think of zappos, in Spanish zapatos is shoes, so he came up with a iteration that worked for the English speaking market.
So in the end it comes down to what you really want your business to stand for. If you have huge dreams and maybe want something along the lines of a Berkshire Hathaway and you don’t want that to be known (note they own gieco) then any name will do. But if you want something that will become branded then I suggest you keep it short, and easy to remember.
So in conclusion, a few points I would like to recap when your going about business names is having what you do in the name helps people who have a association with that to remember it (ex, steamboat tonight)
Avoid stuff that can get you in legal trouble, (think seo playboy).
Try and keep it original, for this blog I was thinking of mixing up the industry I do with the lifestyle I live.
And last of all, avoid names that are hard to remember or require explaining unless its something that will help remember. A great example of this is a salesman once told me “Hello my name is Bryan, with a Y” One of the few times I remembered that name, why cause it was something easy to remember with a unorthodox twist.
