Field notes on how AI reads names.
We probe how the frontier models read, recognize, and place names — at scale, with our own data. A desk publishes its research; this is ours.
- answer engine optimizationYou can’t AEO your way out of your name
Answer Engine Optimization assumes AI can already place you. But for about a third of names, the models can’t even agree what the company is for — and that’s set by the name, before you buy. You can optimize what AI says about a name; you can’t optimize your way out of the name.
read → - coiningThe names you can think of are already taken
The good names left aren’t the ones you’ll brainstorm — they’re the ones you have to invent. Here’s how the desk finds them.
read → - the tech defaultWe invented 50 startup names. AI thought 38% of them were tech.
We invented 50 names and asked four models what industry each was in. The modal answer was “tech” — even for pure nonsense, even for words with a real non-tech root.
read → - the blank-canvas tailThe 8% of startup names AI hasn’t decided about yet
599 names probed. Most get a confident, unanimous read; about 8% split the models across industries — the highest-leverage band you can pick from.
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