I think DuckDuckGo would do better changing that Quack of a name

I completely agree.<p>I've said this every time the issue has come up: I think the name is hurting, a <i>lot</i>. More than once, I've wanted to just try a quick search on DDG to see it's comparison to Google, and at least some of those times, I've given up because writing duckduckgo is annoying. Is this logical/rational? NO. Is this how I, at least, behave? YES.<p>And for anyone saying that you can set up your browser to search DDG automatically, that's great if you've already bought into DDG, but it's not something I would do right off the bat.

Most people don't seem to know that search engines exist. The impression I get from non-technical people that I know is that they think of search engines as being somehow "part of the browser" or "part of the Internet". They often don't even know which one they use. They'll refer to searching as "Googling", but they're using Bing because it was the default with IE or they're using SuperGreatSearch 3.0 because Norton installed it and they haven't noticed the difference.<p>And you're suggesting that in a market like this, a silly name is a <i>bad</i> thing?

Well in fact, I think the name has a ring to it. The logo too complements it well.<p>I guess what's not working for DDG is that it's a me-too product. It boils down to this: What does DDG have that Google doesn't?.<p>Me-too products can perform <i>reasonably</i> well if they are launched by corps with deep pockets for obvious reasons(like G+). Otherwise, a company like DDG has to have something different and unique to offer.<p>Oh, btw, that privacy hullabaloo works only for a very small percentage of the users. Most don't care or ignore.

Silly or not, it's the only search engine name other than google or bing that sticks in my head as being memorable. Probably because it is silly and different.<p>I guess my only complaint would be that it feels long to type because it is three words. (Even though the are short words.)

I have spend some time researching good names for products and startups (see here <a href="http://www.quora.com/What-are-good-company-and-startup-names" rel="nofollow">http://www.quora.com/What-are-good-company-and-startup-names</a>).<p>Good names are effective and accomplish a goal:<p>1: describe the offer: who you are - does the user get a sense what you offer? 2: or explain your mission: what you want to be, or how you want to achieve that 3: inspire to action 4: celebrate the benefit, the relevance, why you matter to consumers 5: describe the user 6: easy to spell and pronounce 7: trigger an emotion related to your mission 8: simple and sticky<p>DuckDuckGo is at least sticky and it triggers an emotion in my case. DuckDuckGo is not a perfect name, such as: "ChatRoulette", "YouTube", "BurgerKing", "PatientsLikeMe", "TripAdvisor", "OpenTable", "YourMechanic", "RackSpace", "Codecademy", "SoundCloud".<p>But I had never the problem to remember the name, DuckDuckGo. It is whacky, but is cool. Their logo is stylish. I like DuckDuckGo.<p>Blekko is a much shorter name. If you don't know, yes Blekko is a search engine. Go check them out. But I have the feeling more people start to use DuckDuckGo therefore either the quality is that good, or they like the brand, despite the very long domain.<p>They could buy the domain MegaSearch.com before Dotcom does it :) But that would be a lame name.<p>No, they should just stick with the name DuckDuckGo and try to become the default search engine for Firefox and other browsers, so people don't even have to type in their long domain name to search with them.

<i>The name of the search engine has been called "silly" by Frederic Lardinois of Read Write Web. Weinberg said of the origin of the name, "Really it just popped in my head one day and I just liked it. It is certainly influenced/derived from [the game] duck duck goose, but other than that there is no relation, e.g., a metaphor."</i><p>Looks like no research was done regarding the name. Naming services very well (or very unique) can really help your company stand out. I like DDG but perhaps a study with regards to the name and the brand might be in order.

Yahoo, and Google are also silly names. While we are at it, there is a company calling itself 'Apple'... and no, it is not a fruit company! They'd all do much better changing names to something more boring.

I was actually thinking about this just the other day. I think that they have a pretty interesting product, but I just can't take them seriously. Hell, even Quack would be a better name...

One very underrated quality of names is how easy they are to say.

It's funny, Google stuck and when I first heard it in college I thought it sounded silly. However, I agree. Google is easier to type on the keyboard while duckduckgo is not quite seamless. Maybe change it? Or find some sort of abbreviation?

I don't use it because it's Bing under the hood.<p>Otherwise I would, name and all.

At least its not called searchfy or searchly. Sure, its freakishly long, but I love that damn duck. Same with Blekko. Ugly name, highly useful. Will they ever replace Google? I don't know. Hopefully Nuuton will... :)

I agree they should re-brand. Duck.com would have been good. The day I saw duck.com redirected to Google I thought DuckDuckGo missed a great opportunity. That's where you see how savvy Google are.

My non-tech savvy friends think it is some sort of a joke.

The biggest help for me to switch would be for DDG to produce a fork of Chrome that plugged DDG into the Chrome Omnibox as much as possible.<p>I use the Omnibox for almost 100% of my interaction with the browser, mostly typing in URLs to visit and accessing search history, all integrated with searching as I type.<p>If I could use the Omnibox like that with search as I type on DDG instead, that'd be excellent.

My biggest problem with DDG is that it is so English-centric. I know they have those "regions", but the results from them are much worse than from US region and a need to switch them via settings page every time I change the search language is an unacceptable hassle.

Not just the name, they need to improve the search too. Example, searching for xxx gives london2012.com as the first result. I cannot understand why.<p><a href="http://duckduckgo.com/?q=xxx" rel="nofollow">http://duckduckgo.com/?q=xxx</a>

Google chose a name which can be used like a verb, which I think was a very clever move.

I dont want my boss see me using duckduckgo. He would ask me what the fuck i'm doing.

Silly names stand out and grab attention. In the crowded marketplace they operate in that's just what they need rather than a cool name like Cuil, or an unforgettable generic name like ... oh shit, I can't think of one.

It's a great name. Unforgettable. Imaginative. Search provides excellent results.

Keep in mind, it's possible that Gabriel Weinberg is making enough money off of DuckDuckGo already and isn't looking to swing for the fences with this particular project.

DuckDuckGo -&#62; ddgo -&#62;gdgo -&#62;golgo -&#62;goglo -&#62;googl -&#62; googl(e)<p>Isn't it more than a name?

I'm surprised to see so much complaining about the length of the name. Do you guys not have auto-complete?

duck.com redirects to google.com

Yes. It's ugly, faux-cutesy and it doesn't tell me anything about the service.

agree. too long to type.

You think they ducked up when they chose it?