Dont Code, Don't Code, DontCode: The Story Behind Our Name
Every week I look at how people find us. The search queries are all over the place: DontCode, Dont Code, Don't Code, Don'tCode, and occasionally the very formal Do Not Code. Korean searches split between 돈코드 and 돈트코드. All of them are us, and honestly, I love it.
So this is the post where I explain the name, why we spelled it the way we did, and why every variant lands you in the right place.
The name is an instruction
DontCode means exactly what it says. You don't code. You describe your idea in plain Korean or English, and the AI builds and deploys the app. The database is already set up. Login, payments, notifications, hosting, all preconfigured before you type your first sentence. You never see a terminal.
Most startup names describe a vibe. We wanted a name that is the pitch. Hear "DontCode" once and you already know what we do and who it's for: people who don't code.
Why there's no apostrophe
Grammatically it should be Don't Code. But apostrophes are terrible for a startup:
- You can't put one in a domain. dontcode.co works. don't.code does not exist.
- Hashtags and social handles strip them.
- Half of people type the apostrophe, half don't, and you want both halves.
So officially we're DontCode. One word, no apostrophe, capital D and capital C. Nobody actually types it that way, and that's fine.
The Korean spelling has a bonus
In Korean, the name splits into 돈트코드, the faithful transliteration, and 돈코드, the short version people actually say out loud. And 돈코드 has an accidental second meaning, because 돈 is money. Money code. We didn't plan that. Early Korean users pointed it out, and now I just tell people the name means both things. You don't code, and hopefully your app makes money.
If you're naming your own startup
A few things I'd do again:
- Make the name carry the pitch. OpenAI can ship models named Sol and Luna because everyone already knows what GPT is. On day one, you don't have that luxury. Your name is your first and cheapest piece of marketing.
- Drop the punctuation before it drops you. Domains, handles, and app store listings will mangle it anyway.
- Don't fight the misspellings, collect them. If people are searching Dont Code or 돈트코드, that's not a typo problem. That's demand finding its way to you. Own every spelling instead of correcting people.
Whichever way you type it
Dont Code, Don't Code, Don'tCode, DontCode, Do Not Code, 돈코드, 돈트코드. You'll land here. We consider every one of them correct.
And since you're already here: DontCode turns a plain-language description into a live, deployed app with a real database, login, and payments. Have a look, or start with more posts on the blog.