I think Ooyala is beautiful. It's a bunch of ex-googlers, I like to think the "oo" carries that. And it's an abstract name, which is ok given their business (not end-user). According to their materials, "Ooyala means cradle in Telugu, a Southern Indian language."
[i don't know anyone at Ooyala, I just found them on the web]
Try mentioning it in a conversation to someone, and then asking them to spell it. Total nightmare. Despite Ooyala having pretty serious traction, very few people have heard of them. As someone who used to work there, I'm convinced that the name is a huge strike against them on this front. When people ask where I've worked, I first ask them if they've heard of Brightcove, and then say that I worked at Ooyala, which is their main competitor. Much easier to explain:)
BTW, my father _still_ can't pronounce Ooyala properly, after 2.5 years, nor can a lot of people I run into in the valley.
Based on that experience, here's a couple rules I go by when naming products/companies I'm involved in:
- It has to be easy to pronounce.
- It has to have a completely unambiguous spelling.
- An average person should be able to spell it based on hearing it once.
You shouldn't have to say that you work for "Ooyala, spelled o-o-y-a-l-a". That's just embarrassing.
[i don't know anyone at Ooyala, I just found them on the web]