We Upgraded Our AI: Here's Why Your Names Just Got Way Better

You make a first impression in about 7 seconds. Your brand name is usually the first thing people hear, and if it sounds generic, forgettable, or like a thousand other startups, that impression is already baked in.

Here's the uncomfortable truth: most AI name generators produce names that feel AI-generated. Compound words stitched together with zero soul, two ordinary nouns mashed into one corporate-flavoured neologism. You've seen them. You've probably closed the tab.

We knew we could do better. So last month, we ran a comprehensive bake-off: 7 AI models, identical prompts, rigorous scoring. The winner? It wasn't even close.

Today, we're shipping that winner, and every single Nymly user just got a free upgrade. Same subscription, dramatically better names. No action needed on your end.

Here's the full, transparent story of how and why we made the switch.

The Problem: Good Names Are Rare, and Most AI Can't Find Them

A great brand name does something most AI-generated names don't: it makes you feel something. "Slack" makes you think of ease. "Stripe" suggests clean simplicity. "Notion" evokes clarity of thought. These aren't keyword mashups, they're evocative, single-word names that carry meaning without spelling it out.

Our previous model, DeepSeek, was decent at what it did. It was fast, efficient, and reliable. But over time, we noticed a pattern: the names it produced were competent but bland. Safe compound words that checked boxes but didn't spark excitement. Our users weren't complaining, but they weren't raving either.

We realized that "not bad" isn't good enough when you're naming a business. Founders deserve names that a creative agency would charge thousands for. So we set out to find a model that could deliver that quality.

How We Tested: A Head-to-Head AI Model Bake-Off

We selected seven leading models, a mix of general-purpose LLMs and specialized creative ones, and put them through identical testing conditions. Every model received the same system prompt, the same brief, and the same constraints that Nymly uses in production.

We scored every name on five quality dimensions, each rated 1-5:

• Originality, Distinct, not a generic AI mashup
• Memorability, Sticks after one hearing
• Brandability, Could anchor a real company identity, not just describe a feature
• Pronounceability, Easy to say out loud
• Conciseness, Short, single-word preferred

We also tracked two operational metrics:

• Speed, End-to-end latency for a full batch of 10 name suggestions
• Consistency, Reliable JSON output across runs, no broken formatting

The seven models in the test:

• Anthropic Claude Haiku 4.5
• DeepSeek Chat (our previous engine)
• OpenAI GPT-4o-mini
• Google Gemini 2.5 Flash
• Google Gemini 2.0 Flash
• Meta Llama 3.3 70B Instruct
• Mistral Small

The results were revealing.

The Standout

Claude Haiku 4.5, Anthropic's specialized fast model, didn't just win. It was in a different category entirely. Where every other model produced compound mashups, Claude Haiku produced single-word, evocative names, the kind a creative agency would charge five figures to deliver. Out of ten suggestions on our standard test prompt, nine were genuine brand-quality candidates. Every other model in the test produced zero to three.

The Runner-Up

Meta Llama 3.3 70B was the only other model that produced a meaningful number of usable single-word names. It was the second-best on creativity. The catch: at nearly twelve seconds end-to-end, it's far too slow for a real-time naming experience. An eternity when you're in a creative flow state.

The Rest of the Field

The remaining models clustered in the ⭐⭐ to ⭐⭐⭐ range, competent but stylistically narrow:

• Gemini 2.0 Flash (Google), ⭐⭐⭐. The fastest model overall, but every single output was a two-word compound (GitFlow Focus, Code Clarity). Great for speed, weak for brand quality.
• GPT-4o-mini (OpenAI), ⭐⭐⭐. Reliable and consistent, defaulting to compound formations (FocusForge, PrioritizePro, CollaboSphere). Solid baseline, no breakout names.
• DeepSeek Chat, ⭐⭐⭐. Our previous engine. Stable and fast, with occasionally inventive compounds (MergeMind, TaskTide), but everything read as a product feature rather than a brand.
• Gemini 2.5 Flash (Google), ⭐⭐. Coherent but stuck in compound territory. Also surprisingly verbose, generating nearly 4× the output tokens of any other model for the same task, which made it the slowest in the test.
• Mistral Small (Mistral), ⭐⭐. Joint-fastest and impressively consistent on format, but uniformly compound (CodePulse, SyncForge, BuildFlow). Reliable, unexciting.

The Full Leaderboard

Scoring every model across all five quality dimensions, plus speed:

Claude Haiku 4.5 is the only model that scored full marks on every creative dimension and delivered in the fast latency tier. Nothing else came close.

DeepSeek vs. Claude Haiku: The Head-to-Head

Zooming in on our previous engine and our new one:

A few things stand out:

1. Same speed class. Claude Haiku is just as fast as DeepSeek, no trade-off in responsiveness.
2. Quality is dramatically better. A two-star jump on overall quality is the difference between "meh" and "I'd actually use that."
3. We upgraded the engine and we're absorbing the difference. Claude Haiku outperforms on every creative dimension, and we believe users deserve the best output possible. No price change, no plan upgrade required.

Why This Matters for Your Brand Naming

You Don't Have to Settle Anymore

The biggest trap in brand naming is settling. You generate a list, nothing jumps out, so you pick the least-bad option and move on. That's not naming, that's compromising.

Claude Haiku's output dramatically reduces the "settling gap." With more evocative, single-word candidates in every batch, you're more likely to find something you genuinely love on the first or second try.

First Impressions Are Non-Negotiable

Research consistently shows that brand name quality affects everything from customer trust to purchase intent. A name that sounds generic signals a generic product. A name that sounds intentional, creative, and polished? That's a signal of quality before anyone even sees your website.

The Scarcity of Good Names Is Real

Every day, thousands of new businesses launch. Every day, more domains and social handles get claimed. The clock is always ticking. Having an AI engine that produces better names per generation means you explore more high-quality options before the good ones get taken.

What This Means for You (Nothing to Do)

Here's the best part: this upgrade is live right now, and it's completely free.

If you're a Nymly user, free or paid, your next name generation session will be powered by Claude Haiku automatically. No settings to change, no new plan to sign up for.

Transparency: Why We're Sharing All This

We could have quietly swapped the model and moved on. But we think you deserve to know how your tools work, and why they work the way they do.

We'll keep testing. We'll keep iterating. And when we find something better, we'll upgrade again and tell you about it.

Try the New Engine

The proof is in the output. Head over to the generator and see the difference for yourself.

Generate Your Brand Name →

Your next great brand name is waiting.