[seano]

Maybe, but 15 years ago "just google it" would have sounded strange too.

[mattmaroon]

There's strange and then there's overly long. Google rolls off the tongue.

Also, Google is fun, maybe even a little silly. DuckDuckGo is childish. It makes me think it's a search engine for toddlers.

I'm willing to admit I may be wrong, but I think that name will hold them back.

[robotrout]

I also was thinking, "This should be a kids site". I like the idea of a search engine for kids. You could concentrate on indexing only "kid safe" and "kid related" content. What a perfect name for that.

As for the length of a name, and if it "verbifies" easily, these are things I agonize about a lot. Perhaps we're taking too much upon ourselves. The users will find a way to talk about it easily, if they need to talk about it at all. "America Online" -> AOL, "Treasury Inflation Protected Securities" -> TIPS, "The Federal National Mortgage Association" -> Fannie Mae, etc.

[mkuhn]

I somewhat agree with you. In the long-run in my opinion it will hinder widespread adoption because, as you said, the name just sounds silly. But right now the name probably helps them because it generates attention and is memorable. But how DuckDuckGo thinks about this when it comes to a long-term perspective I don't know.

[mattmaroon]

It's harder to change names later. Google both generated attention immediately and was long-term viable.

The product will generate attention in the long run if its good.

[mkuhn]

I completely agree with you. The name isn't the best it could be if thinking ahead.