Mr Patel says these entrepreneurs see the challenges experienced by ‘bricks and mortar’ firms “and realise there is relatively more they can do online. And so the majority of new companies [launched] now are online.”

“But then you have to stand out. Consumers online just see 100 companies selling the same thing, but with a good name you stand out – and that gives you much more of an advantage now than it would in the past.”

Alter’s website starts by asking the user to type in a word connected to the type of business they want to create. It then offers a number of suggestions that it has already registered, and how much they would cost to buy from it.

For example, if you type “wine” it gives you 10 options including searchwine.com for $2,099 (£1,523).

Many firms are, however, still coming up with their own novel names. This is what the founders of Norwegian biotech company, Clexbio, did.

The “bio” part of the name is an obvious choice for a biotechnology firm, while “clex” is in reference to the technology it has developed in the field of human tissue engineering.

Chief executive and co-founder Armend Hati said they wanted the name to be just right.

“We felt it would trigger the interest of investors and let us showcase ourselves as a life sciences company,” he says.