The Community Name Generator

The world of online communities is rapidly expanding. There are not only hundreds of different ways to build an online community (like Slack, Mighty Networks, Discord, and Facebook) — but there are also endless possibilities when it comes to branding your online community.

And it all starts with generating a name for your online community. Over 500,000 communities are hosted on Mighty Networks, so we’ve seen it all.

Here’s what we’ve learned about generating the perfect name for your community: one that helps you find the right members and lets them know exactly what to expect when they join. This Community Name Generator formula is our gift to you!

First, who do you want to bring together?

This is who your community will serve. Pick a word to describe them. It could be a slang term, a profession, a life stage, important interests...etc. Here are some examples:

• Foodies
• Acupuncturists
• Entrepreneur
• New moms
• Yogis
• Side hustlers

Tip: there’s no harm in combining terms to really niche down, as well. The best community names are often super specific. So try one to three words (e.g. ‘ Mom Entrepreneurs’ or ‘New Age Side Hustlers’) to start to bring your ideal member into sharp focus.

Next, what one word captures what makes them unique?

Now, think about what really makes this group stand out. Why do they need your community the most, right now? Are they going through something specific? Do they have a certain mindset in common? This can also be something that sets the tone of your community — how do you want your members showing up every day to participate? Here are some examples:

• Focused
• Quirky
• Ambitious
• Seasoned
• Overwhelmed
• Active
• Optimistic

Remember, this is about creating a brand for your community (or aligning your community name to your existing brand). So adjectives can really paint that picture!

Finally, what do you want these people to do together?

So, you’ve gathered a bunch of members together in your community. What are they connecting over? What plans are they making? What kinds of results and transformations are they seeing as a result of being in your community? This is the most exciting part of community name generation, because it’s where you start to see the power of a community to create change in someone’s life. So think about action words and verbs here — a community is a dynamic, moving and alive thing! Here are some examples:

• Grow
• Learn
• Encourage
• Achieve
• Support
• Create
• Inspire
• Empower

Then, you put it all together to generate community names

Now you’re ready to take your words and stitch them together to generate potential community names. One fun exercise? Put them all on sticky notes and spend a few minutes swapping and rearranging them to see what works well.

Add words like “Network”, “Community”, “Group”, “Unite”, “Together,” “School”, “University”, “Hub”, and “Club” to see how that feels and really lean into the community aspect. Play with plural versions and non-plural versions.

Here’s a few we put together from the examples above:

Focused Foodies
The New Mom Achievers Club
The Encouraged Entrepreneur
Optimistic Side Hustlers Unite
The Empowered Acupuncturist
Yogis Grow Together

Want more inspiration?

Take a look at these Stories of Awesome — case studies celebrating examples of some of the most creative and compelling communities online today. Not only will you check out their names (and we know for a fact that a few of them used this exact online community name generator…!) but you’ll also be able to go deep on how they’ve been successful building communities and businesses.

• Boston While Black went from hashtag to a five-figure membership business in six months.
• Bujo U is a five-figure membership business teaching people about the organizational power of bullet journaling.
• The Wealth Builders Community generated $100,000 just two weeks after launch.
• The ParentPreneur Foundation serves over 1,400 members.

Put your name into practice

Once you’ve generated a community name you really love, it’s time to bring it to life! Try using free tools like coolors.co to create a color palette and Canva to generate a logo. The best community platforms, like Mighty Networks, will give you tons of flexibility and room to bring your specific vision to life with custom colors and branding.

Then, make sure you take your community name and find the perfect URL. Right now, Mighty Networks is offering a free domain name when you create your community on their platform — is your perfect community name dot com still available? Start a free trial today to find out.