What’s in a name? In Web 2.0, confusion

The TechCrunch40 conference, which is being put on by my pals Mike Arrington and Jason Calacanis, sounds like a great show, and is clearly packed with launches and demos from interesting Web 2.0 companies. With that caveat out of the way, I have to say that reading through the list of names at the TechCrunch40 site makes me wonder whether we will ever get tired of the “let’s come up with a wacky Web 2.0 name that doesn’t even sound like English” naming convention for social Web apps.

Here’s just a selection of the names of demo presenters at TechCrunch40: Faroo, Viewdle, Yap, Flock (I’ll give that one a pass), Ponoko, Xobni, Argoo, Kerpoof, ZocDoc, Mego, Wixi, Ceedo and Orgoo. I know there are real English names too, like Powerset and MusicShake, but still — what planet are these other services from, or do they think their potential users will be coming from?