# Is it OK to use the word "Discourse" in the name of our Discourse-hosted discussion board?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-it-ok-to-use-the-word-discourse-in-the-name-of-our-discourse-hosted-discussion-board/29778
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [2015 年 6 月 8 日午後 6:12 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-it-ok-to-use-the-word-discourse-in-the-name-of-our-discourse-hosted-discussion-board/29778 "2015-06-08T18:12:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@BioLogosBrad](https://meta.discourse.org/u/BioLogosBrad)
#### Post date: [2015 年 6 月 8 日午後 6:12 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-it-ok-to-use-the-word-discourse-in-the-name-of-our-discourse-hosted-discussion-board/29778/1 "2015-06-08T18:12:32Z")
I’m the admin and moderator at [discourse.biologos.org](http://discourse.biologos.org), a popular discussion site about faith and science connected to [www.biologos.org](http://www.biologos.org). I was wondering whether there’s any legal issues with the site title using the word “Discourse”, and us referring to the page informally as the “Discourse” page. What sort of attribution should we use to make sure people know the Discourse engine isn’t our own creation?
---
### Author:  [@Sander78](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Sander78)
#### Post date: [2015 年 6 月 8 日午後 9:09 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-it-ok-to-use-the-word-discourse-in-the-name-of-our-discourse-hosted-discussion-board/29778/2 "2015-06-08T21:09:40Z")
Well, discourse is an English word that you could use where you want I suppose.
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [2015 年 6 月 8 日午後 9:47 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-it-ok-to-use-the-word-discourse-in-the-name-of-our-discourse-hosted-discussion-board/29778/3 "2015-06-08T21:47:23Z")
Yes, using [discourse.example.com](http://discourse.example.com) is perfectly valid.
The point of contention is, could a reasonable person look at this and confuse it with what we do at [www.discourse.org](http://www.discourse.org)? Certainly not true if you are merely picking the URL [discourse.example.com](http://discourse.example.com).
---
### Author:  [@uwe\_keim](https://meta.discourse.org/u/uwe_keim)
#### Post date: [2015 年 6 月 9 日午前 6:59 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-it-ok-to-use-the-word-discourse-in-the-name-of-our-discourse-hosted-discussion-board/29778/4 "2015-06-09T06:59:19Z")
From a “usability” point-of-view (or SEO) I would vote against naming something after the technology it uses.
Instead I would use a term that expresses the content/intention of the website.
E.g. our community-URL is named “ **community**.zeta-producer.com”.
So I would recommend to give the user and Google better information about what _content_ he can expect on that domain, not what _technology_.
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [2015 年 6 月 9 日午前 8:54 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-it-ok-to-use-the-word-discourse-in-the-name-of-our-discourse-hosted-discussion-board/29778/5 "2015-06-09T08:54:57Z")
> [@uwe\_keim](#):
>
> I would vote against naming something after the technology it uses
Discourse has an English definition that fits what it does:
It is a bit of a “fancy” word in English, though, so I don’t generally recommend it.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [2018 年 10 月 12 日午後 9:42 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-it-ok-to-use-the-word-discourse-in-the-name-of-our-discourse-hosted-discussion-board/29778/6 "2018-10-12T21:42:32Z")
---
### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [2021 年 7 月 4 日午前 6:02 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-it-ok-to-use-the-word-discourse-in-the-name-of-our-discourse-hosted-discussion-board/29778/7 "2021-07-04T06:02:26Z")