# Naming and branding Record of the naming due-diligence and the decision to brand the product **Nightjar**. Reviewed July 2026. ## Decision - **Product / commercial brand: Nightjar.** The site is live at `https://nightjar.12hobbies.studio`. - **The repository is still named `openscribe`** for now. Renaming the whole codebase (repo, SPDX headers, firmware namespaces, docs) is a separate, larger task - deferred until decided. "OpenScribe" survives only as the original project name in code history. ## Why not "OpenScribe" "OpenScribe" failed a due-diligence screen for a commercial brand: - **Domains:** every desirable exact-match is taken. `openscribe.com` (parked, for sale since 2009), `openscribe.ai` (parked, for sale), `.net/.org/.app/.dev` registered, `.org` is an active dictation product, `.io`/`.co` host live sites. - **GitHub:** 33 repos match "openscribe", several in the same category (an AI medical scribe at ~188 stars, dictation apps, transcription tools). Heavy in-category collision. - **Trademark:** descriptive ("Open" + "Scribe"), so weak/hard to register, and there is at least one live commercial product on the exact name in the same class. Not cleared. ## Why "Nightjar" - A nightjar is a bird with a famously distinctive call - evocative, memorable, and it does **not** collide inside the AI/voice/transcription category (the trap OpenScribe hit). - GitHub name collisions: ~104 (vs 5,000+ for the coined alternative "Recita", and far lower than dictionary words like murmur/cadence/quill). - As a bird name applied to AI software it is an **arbitrary mark** - a strong, defensible trademark position (unrelated to the goods). ## Names screened and rejected - **Mockingjay** - Hunger Games / Lionsgate trademark, aggressively enforced. Hard avoid. - **Lyrebird, Fathom** - already established voice-AI / AI-notetaker brands (in-category traps like OpenScribe). - **Murmur, Cadence, Quill, Cairn, Keepsake** - dictionary words: taken domains + heavy GitHub collisions. - **Recita** - coined but turns out common (Italian word), ~5,000 GitHub matches. ## Caveats / follow-ups - Every short name has its exact-match `.com` squatted; Nightjar is no exception. Domain routes: `getnightjar.com` / a modern TLD if free at a registrar / the studio subdomain (current: `nightjar.12hobbies.studio`). - A **formal trademark clearance** (USPTO / UK IPO / EUIPO, ideally via an IP attorney) is the last step before spending on the brand. This screen is not a legal clearance.