One of the questions we are asked often is how we came up with the name Orangejack. So let us take a few moments to put the full story out there.
In late 1999 – early 2000 I was ready to have a domain name and website. With a generic name like mine (Rob Williams), all decently related names were already taken. So the next option was to come up with something that we could brand for us.
For example, the word ‘Amazon’ referred to a river before the internet. Now the word more often referrers to an online retailer. There are countless others like ‘yahoo’, ‘ebay’, and ‘google’ that meant something else (or nothing at all) before their internet brand came along and redefined it.
Now comes the challenge of selecting a domain name that needs to be generic but easy to remember, spell, say, type, and understand! When I help others work through a domain naming process we always find different ways to get to the end result, but the requirements are almost always the same.
For us, the first place I started was to pick my favorite color: orange. It’s my favorite because I’m a Clemson University alum. Also, since my wife, Patricia, is a Virginia Tech alum she likes orange as well (by the way, did you know that both Clemson and VT use the exact shade of orange? They use PMS 158, RGB 255, 99, 0, HEX FF6633).
Next was to pick a word to go with it. Have you ever seen the movie Ghostbusters? Remember when the guys were told that whatever came into their mind would be how the city would be destroyed? Remember what Ray picked? Here’s a refresher:
YouTube – Ghostbusters Stay Puft
So I decided to clear my mind and then think of the first inanimate object that popped into my head. Randomly, it was a jack from the old kids game.
“Orangejack”.
I did a quick search online and the .com was available. It fit my requirements so we bought it. It’s generic enough to be molded into anything. It been the name that has represented me online ever since.
Some have asked me if there the name is a drink. I’ve looked. It’s not. Maybe I’ll experiment to find a formula for a new cocktail! I’m taking suggestions.
In the meantime, orangejack is about using the internet effectively.
