Depends on the target of the project. You probably want a name that works with what it does. Something easy to pronounce and memorable helps. If its web-based you might want to determine a name along with domain name availability. In the case of my local community web search it started with doitincalaveras.com and is now refined to doplaces.com, if you are persistent with word combinations you can still get good short web domain names.
Here are some I did:
Many just get a name of what it does, character set editor, librarian (library management), etc. If you don't expect it to be competing with a lot of other things, this works fine, (you could always rename it later like - Bookworm Librarian, without too much hassle)
Alliteration of existing words, names. Years ago I made a program to automate cleaning up text files, I called it "Alphamix text file processor" (play on Vitamix the food processor)
Second thought is an acronym, compile a long list of words that the project entails and then try to work up a witty acronym consisting of those words for the name. I did this for a databasse management system; I called it, WANDA: Web Accessible Nimble Database Architecture. I had intended it to have a female name as many of the application I develop with it would be used in an office environment and was thinking of a smart professional assistant vibe.
Some play on popular character or story names (WANDA's logo is a fish, thinking of a Fish Called Wanda...)
Mainly think of your audience - if its techies you can get away with a lot. If it is not, don't get too weird (you know Atari was originally Syzygy, not a great name for long term public recognition. It it is too obscure people may not know what it is and you won't get the browse-by traffic that a more pertinent name could provide.
If its something fun, you might go for the absurd such as my favorite game name "Chess Maniac 5 Billion and 1" ... or maybe some name Douglas Adams would have made up for your product.
Sometimes, I like to get the closest match in any other industry (Communications in this case). We recently named a notification system 'satellite', and similar names for publishers and subscribers.