Owner review 11 — rulings (2026-10-13)

Status: Active · Date: 2026-10-13 · Answers the owner's question on naming trends in this field, and applies their taste: short names "like band or strava that don't really have any connotation". Evidence: global trends, Korean trends, short names. Companion: review-10 rulings.

The trend, in numbers

Globally (84 sports, fitness and social apps):

• Length has not changed. The median is 6 letters and 2 syllables in every era since before 2015.
• What changed is the kind of name. Compare apps launched in 2020–2026 with apps launched before 2015:
  • real words used out of context (Band, Toss, Hinge) rose from 25% to 37%;
  • clipped or respelled names rose from 12% to 30%;
  • compounds fell from 42% to 23%;
  • names whose meaning an English speaker can see fell from 33% to 13%.
• The "-ly / -ify" era is over: none of the 84 apps uses either ending.
• Foreign words with a hidden meaning (Strava, Heja) are rare, 4 of 84, and not rising.

In Korea (63 apps):

• The short winners (토스, 당근, 밴드, 카카오 …) have a median of two Hangul syllables, and 84% have three or fewer. Most carry a plain, tiny meaning that does not describe what the app does.
• Korean tennis apps have a median of four syllables, none has two, and four of nine literally say 테니스.
• The short, light shape is unoccupied in Korean tennis.

The limits:

• A dictionary word is hard to find in search. Band and Toss won by size and advertising spend, not by their names; a coined or foreign word (Strava, Spond, Heja) searches and registers more easily.
• A name with no surface meaning needs a store descriptor, and every winner has one. The review-10 pairing already does this.
• The one-word .com is gone. The market answer is a prefix or a newer ending (get-, join-, .app).
• Survivorship: the data shows what big apps are called, not that the shape made them big.

The screen we apply now

• Length: 4 to 6 letters, and 1 or 2 spoken syllables.
• Hangul: two syllables, three at most.
• No opening consonant cluster, because a cluster like "str" stretches in Hangul (Strava is 스트라바, four syllables).
• Type: a foreign or coined word over a dictionary word, for search and for trademark.
• Meaning: none on the surface, or hidden; never the sport or the job.

TwoMore, Rallia and Hostmore all fail it:

• TwoMore: seven letters and a readable phrase.
• Rallia: three syllables, and it reads as a tennis word.
• Hostmore: five Hangul syllables.

The short names

The short-name lane generated 112 names and looked up 41; ten were shortlisted. The top three, ranked here:

Rank	Name	Hidden meaning	Against
1	Enda (엔다)	Norwegian "enda en gang", once more: the brand's 두 개 더, hidden the way Strava hides "strive"	English ears may hear "end"; an Irish given name. No app of that name in either store (only a Turkish kindergarten app).
2	Mazi (마지)	Greek "together": the club	마지 may echo 마지막 ("last"); Japanese reads マジ, slang for "seriously". An empty "Mazi" app (0 ratings) in both stores.
3	Mera (메라)	Swedish "more"	Hindi "my", a Dragon Quest fire spell and a DC Comics character; a calorie-tracker app (5 ratings).

The short-name lane ranked Mazi first on its score, by one point. I put Enda first because its hidden meaning is the brand's own idea. Like Strava's, its story can be told in one line: "in Norwegian, enda en gang means once more."

The meanings marked as heard (마지막, マジ, the spell, the character, "end") are my additions and need native checks.

Cut on meaning:

• Bavo (바보, a fool);
• Mata (Spanish "kills");
• Samen (German "seed" or "semen");
• Piu (피우, a smoking verb stem);
• Dasi (Hindi "servant").

Cut on collisions:

• Pallo (팔로 is "follow" in Korean app slang);
• Tumo (TUMO, an Armenian education centre);
• Daha (a Turkish shopping app);
• the dictionary words Ally, Oak, Dune, Lark, Cove and Loop, which are all crowded apps.

On the board

The "Name candidates" section now leads with your taste:

• the pairing shown with the top pick (Enda: 테니스 클럽 운영);
• the three short names;
• the earlier favourites (TwoMore, Rallia, Hostmore), for comparison.

The rest stay in the research documents.

Open for you

1. Enda, Mazi or Mera? Or should TwoMore stay, its meaning on the surface?
2. A dictionary word (Band, Toss) or a coined or foreign word (Strava, Spond)? The evidence favours the second for search and trademark; the feel is yours.
3. A domain with a prefix or a newer ending (getenda.com, enda.app): acceptable?
4. Authorise the checks for your pick:
   • trademark searches (KIPRIS, USPTO, WIPO, EUIPO; classes 9, 41, 42);
   • native checks (Norwegian, Greek or Swedish; plus Japanese, Spanish and English);
   • a Google Play search.