# Why the name "youtube"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 2, 2011, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946 "2011-09-02T13:44:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946/21 "2011-09-02T19:48:29Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Weren’t “facebooks” actual slam book-type things? facebooks are actual books full of student pictures that many colleges and universities still create. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946/22 "2011-09-02T20:58:20Z")
I thought it was because the vids are called youts, and, as the saying goes, “Yout will be served.” ---
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946/23 "2011-09-02T21:26:41Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > “you” and tube just don’t fit together in English… > A slight improvement would be to call it “youR tube”. You and tube both have the same vowel sound. It’s not quite a rhyme but they fit together much better then your tube. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946/24 "2011-09-02T21:45:41Z")
Brand names should roll off the tongue. While YouTube isn’t the best name in the world, I never questioned its origins, or what it “means”. It sounds like the beginning of “you too” for one. When “tube” kicks in, it seems apparent to me the site is an inclusive video sharing site. I disagree it’s a bad name, and might actually be on the side that it’s a good name. They could’ve gone “uTube”, playing off the lowercase vowel/Noun thing that is all the rage at Apple, still, and seemed par for the course for upstart internet companies in the 90s. Despite the fact that YourTube doesn’t quite “ring”, they weren’t playing off the possessive or adding an adjective to “tube”, but rather point to the singular or even plural pronoun of You. It seems more collective that way. Whoa. That was way too much analyzing for a site name. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946/25 "2011-09-02T21:51:27Z")
Youtube should not be YourTube for the same reason MTV does not stand for Music’s TV. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946/26 "2011-09-02T22:23:59Z")
A good brand name doesn’t have to make sense. It has to roll off the tongue and be memorable. YouTube is a great brand name. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946/27 "2011-09-02T22:28:01Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > “Vnet” > “flicknet” > “netvids” > “camShare” > “NetCam” > “Mycam” Most of those are terrible, and make it sound like it’s a video chat site. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946/28 "2011-09-02T22:46:08Z")
Same thing with Vimeo: a play off the word “video”, by replacing the ‘d’ with an ‘m’, you get a pleasant and memorable word, with the pronoun “me” in it. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946/29 "2011-09-02T23:49:11Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Huh? if today your invite me to a party for you, I’m gonna call it you **R** birthday, not you birthday. But it’s a name, not a phrase. “Youtube” uses the same vowel sound twice; it sounds far, far better than “yourtube.” ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946/30 "2011-09-03T00:03:37Z")
It’s better than “vimeo” Edit: D’oh! **cmyk** beat me to it. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946/31 "2011-09-03T01:36:40Z")
'Cuz it’s got a great [theme song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxkuYeERt1c). _You…Tube…dot…com You’ll find the whole world for what you’re lookin’ for You…Tube…dot…com It’s a blessing for mankind, that’s for sure_ ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946/32 "2011-09-03T02:57:53Z")
Once we were couch potatoes, now we are YouTubers… ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946/33 "2011-09-03T03:09:42Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > Once we were couch potatoes, now we are YouTubers… At least when we were all passive consumers of Big Media, we were _united_ in some meaningful way. Now what unites us? _Cats._ A non-verbal civilization that will [crap](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t-lkWRlnag) in a toilet, and will [flush](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WofFb_eOxxA) a toilet - _but refuses to do[both](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C4pzEgncFY)._ What a precious cosmic joke on humanity. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Doughnut\_Thief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Doughnut\_Thief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Doughnut_Thief)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946/34 "2011-09-03T03:44:40Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > At least when we were all passive consumers of Big Media, we were _united_ in some meaningful way. > > Now what unites us? _Cats._ A non-verbal civilization that will [crap](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t-lkWRlnag) in a toilet, and will [flush](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WofFb_eOxxA) a toilet - _but refuses to do[both](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C4pzEgncFY)._ > > What a precious cosmic joke on humanity. Sure you could look at it like that or even better why not take the time to look at some of the [talent](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izrL7pBdkaw&feature=player_embedded) that has surfaced _because_ of the site. While I agree that the majority of the site is [time-wasting](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBSq4YckNGc), it does have positives as well. ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946/35 "2011-09-04T18:28:40Z")
Yeah, whatever happened to Youtube, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946/36 "2011-09-06T03:38:19Z")
You’re all missing the point. The name YouTube reflects the [topology](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Series_of_tubes)of the internet. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946/37 "2011-09-06T16:47:40Z")
I notice that the OP doesn’t actually suggest a single better alternative > [@](#): > > “Vnet” > “flicknet” > “netvids” > “camShare” > “NetCam” > “Mycam” Checking on [archive.org](http://archive.org): [vnet.com](http://vnet.com) has been around since 1998 [flicknet.com](http://flicknet.com) 2001 [netvits.com](http://netvits.com) 2001 [camshare.com](http://camshare.com) 2001 [netcam.com](http://netcam.com) 1997 [mycam.com](http://mycam.com) 2003 It’s debatable whether those names would have been better than [youtube.com](http://youtube.com). But it doesn’t matter, since they _weren’t available_. As far as I can tell, there are only two requirements for a good domain name. 1. It has to be the most obvious spelling of the sounds you hear, because people hear domain names without seeing the spelling quite a lot, and having to spell them out is a drag. You can get away with maybe one creative misspelling, especially if the domain is otherwise dictionary words (e.g. netflix, flickr). That’s why “Google” is better than “Googol”, and why a domain like, say, “[yootoob.com](http://yootoob.com)” would be really terrible. 2. It has to be easily trademarked, and not just a generic description. While domains like “[cars.com](http://cars.com)” and “[auction.com](http://auction.com)” seem at first like they might be really great, they’re only so-so. Most people don’t use the address as a bad search engine anymore, you can’t build a brand on those domains. That’s it. The words or sounds don’t have to relate even remotely to the business. Amazon and Apple have nothing to do with rivers or fruit (respectively), but they’re very effective domain names. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946/38 "2011-09-06T18:08:54Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Wiki says: > > Originally, the site belonged to Echo Bay Technology Group, Omidyar’s consulting firm. Omidyar had tried to register the domain name [echobay.com](http://echobay.com), but found it already taken by the Echo Bay Mines, a gold mining company,[9] so he shortened it to his second choice, [eBay.com](http://eBay.com). Wow, talk about a case of non-branding! Sounds like he just got lucky and it was kind of a mysterious and catchy URL. Otherwise, it sucks balls; you’d have thought he’d have had the sense to name it “E-auction” or something remotely descriptive. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946/39 "2011-09-06T20:46:26Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > and why a domain like, say, “[yootoob.com](http://yootoob.com)” would be really terrible. Does “YouTube” sound like “yootoob” in American English? I’d spell it phonetically as “yoo-tyoob”. ---
**Author:** ![Teufelblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@Teufelblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teufelblitz)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946/40 "2011-09-06T21:09:30Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Does “YouTube” sound like “yootoob” in American English? I’d spell it phonetically as “yoo-tyoob”. This is wha we all sound funneh to each otha. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-youtube/594946.md?page=3)