I have named a handful of developer tools at this point, and the process never gets easier. Naming a dev tool is different from naming a consumer brand in ways that most naming guides completely ignore. Here is what I have actually found to matter.
Developers Google Things Differently
When a non-technical person looks for a product, they search for what it does: "best project management app." When a developer looks for a tool, they search for the specific problem: "golang struct validation library" or "postgres connection pooler." This means your tool name does not need to describe what it does -- it just needs to be unique enough to be findable.
This is why names like "Redis," "Kafka," and "Docker" work. They do not tell you anything about what the tool does. But they are distinctive, short, and when someone tells you "just use Kafka," you can Google it and find the right thing immediately.
The npm/pip/cargo Test
Before you fall in love with a name, check the package registries. Run npm info yourname, search PyPI, check crates.io. If the name is taken by an abandoned package with 3 downloads, you might be able to get it transferred -- but that is a hassle you should evaluate upfront.
Also check GitHub. A repo at github.com/yourname with the same concept is going to cause confusion even if you are technically in the right. Naming collisions in the dev ecosystem are genuinely painful because developers share tool names verbally all the time: "did you try using flux?" -- "which flux?"
Pronounceability Still Matters
I know we are developers and we are comfortable reading things like "kubectl" and "nginx" and just... accepting it. But if you have the choice, pick something people can say in a meeting without feeling ridiculous. I have been in standups where someone avoids mentioning a tool by name because they are not sure how to pronounce it. That is friction you do not want.
The classic test: can you say "we should use [tool name] for this" without pausing to think about pronunciation? If yes, you are good.
Short CLIs Win
If your tool has a CLI component, the command name matters enormously. Developers type it dozens of times a day. "docker" is 6 characters. "kubectl" is 7. "terraform" is 9 and most people alias it to "tf." If your CLI is something like "my-awesome-framework-cli," nobody will use it without aliasing it, and then your brand recognition disappears.
Aim for 3 to 6 characters for the actual command. The package and the marketing site can use a longer name, but the thing people type should be short.
Avoid Naming Trends
The developer tool naming landscape has gone through distinct phases. There was the "animal period" (Docker whale, Go gopher, PHP elephant). Then the "mythology period" (Apollo, Prometheus, Hermes). Right now we are in the "short nonsense word period" (Bun, Deno, Vite). Whatever is trendy right now will feel dated in three years.
I am not saying avoid short nonsense words -- they can work great. Just make sure you are picking the name because it fits, not because it follows the current pattern.
Domain Matters Less Than You Think (For Dev Tools)
Redis is at redis.io. Deno is at deno.land. Bun is at bun.sh. Go is at go.dev. Developers are comfortable with non-.com TLDs in a way that consumers are not. A .dev, .io, or .sh domain is perfectly fine for a developer tool. The only thing that matters is that it is discoverable -- if I Google your tool name, your site should be the first result.
That said, if the .com is available and cheap, grab it for redirecting. It does not need to be your primary domain but it prevents confusion. Check availability across TLDs here to see your options.
The Name I Wish I Had Picked
For every tool I have named, there is a moment a few months in where I think of a better name. That is normal and it does not mean you picked wrong. Once people are using your tool, the name becomes the brand -- "Kubernetes" is objectively hard to spell and say, and yet it is one of the most successful developer tools ever made. Execution trumps naming. Pick something reasonable and ship it.