Domain Name Apps — Finding a descriptive and catchy name for a new domain these days is as hard as climbing a greased pole on a rainy day. According to DomainTools, more than 110 million domain names already have been registered and something like 120,000 new domain names are registered every day.

Need a fast way to find a new name for the big-money site you want to launch? Suppose a great name came to you while you were running errands and you couldn’t wait to check on its availability? There are several apps for that. Here’s a quick roundup of some domain-hunter/gatherer apps in the App Store. They all do at least one thing: Enable you to find hat names have been registered, or to put it another way, what names are available, by searching WHOIS, an official database of registered names.

WHOIS provides information such as the registrar company, date created, name and address of the registrant and more.

DomainTool, from Wei Tan, is as basic and spare-looking as one of these apps can be. It queries WHOIS servers to find out if a domain name is taken and delivers a raw  (basic) WHOIS record. You can to bookmark those that have been registered and email your list of bookmarks. $0.99.

Domain Scout, from SeeThoughtDone, scours WHOIS for available names and lets you know whether it’s available. You can read results in raw or in a nicely organized format. You can also bookmark your favorites and review a history of searches. Free.

DomainApp, from iWantMyName,  is search and registration tool for domain names, giving you access to more than 80 domain extensions directly from your iPhone or iPod touch. You can create custom search groups, multiple accounts (personal and business) and search international domain extensions. Set up an account and you’ll be able to start registering names. Free.

Instant Domain Check, from TAF Technology, checks for names with .com, .net and .org extensions. If the name is available, the app will take you to GoDaddy of NetworkSolutions, where you can buy and register it. You can also check instantly, meaning the app starts checking for available names as you type into the search bar. Free.

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category: Round-Up