Now here’s a new website that truly taps a business pain point — naming a product, service, website or company.  It’s called NamingForce, it just launched, and it’s free (kind of). I don’t know about you, but I’ve spent hundreds of hours (at least) over the years brainstorming names for all kinds of things.  After a while, the well runs dry.  But NamingForce uses “crowdsourcing” to help businesses of all sizes, as well as startup entrepreneurs, find great names. Crowdsourcing is web-speak for telling the world what you’re looking for, and letting the denizens of Webdom line up to offer their ideas.

Name submitters — called recruits — are offered incentives to participate.  NamingForce itself pays a reward for each naming idea that is eventually selected; generally, it appears, about $25.  Businesses that submit a naming assignment to the site can also tack on an additional reward if they wish, to boost submissions.  Pony up $75, for example, and your name search is worth $100 to the winning recruit.

But NamingForce adds another element as well. Once you submit a naming assignment, and recruits have submitted suggestions, the public can then vote on the submitted names.  So while you still pick any “winner” you want, you also get the benefit of a straw poll showing you what others think about the various names.  Successful recruits can earn a spot on the site’s Top Recruits List and earn more money (a 25% bonus) when businesses specifically ask for their submissions.

Already have a name you want to test out? In addition to finding names, NamingForce lets you test the popularity of names you’ve already created, for free.