How it works
You type a town. We come back with its honest rebrand. Here is the bit in between, in plain English.
Step by step
- You type a town. Optionally with a country or region after the comma — useful if there's more than one (for example, Newport, South Wales versus Newport, Rhode Island).
- We check whether we've already done that town. If we have, you see the same rebrand the previous visitor saw. That keeps things instant and means everyone who shares a link gets the same joke.
- If it's a new town, we ask the AI. Behind the scenes we send your town name to a comedy AI with a strict brief — be funny, be specific, be kind to the locals.
- The AI writes the rebrand. It comes back with a new name, a slogan, a fake TripAdvisor review and rating, an estate-agent's pitch, a coat of arms, a "twinned with" line, and a fun fact.
- You get a shareable link. Every rebrand has its own permanent web address — for example
renamemy.com/town/bristol— that you can paste into a chat or post anywhere. When you share it, the link unfurls with the rebrand's title and a preview image so your friends know what they're clicking.
What the AI is told to do
Before the AI writes anything, it gets a clear set of rules. The short version:
Be a comedy writer who mixes estate-agent spin with savage honesty. Be funny but never mean-spirited. Find the gap between how a town markets itself and what it's actually like.
Never use ethnic, racial, or cultural stereotypes. Never punch down at residents. Focus the comedy on infrastructure, weather, architecture, council decisions, retail, traffic, property prices, nightlife, geographic quirks, and local rivalries.
Think "gentle roast by a friend who lives there", not "outsider mocking stereotypes".
So when a rebrand makes you wince, that's intentional. When it makes someone feel got at for who they are or where they come from, that's a bug — please let us know so we can take it down.
Why the same town always gives the same rebrand
Once a town has been rebranded, we save the result so the next visitor sees exactly the same one. Two reasons. First, it makes shared links work — if a friend opens your link, they get the joke you sent them, not a fresh roll of the dice. Second, it makes the site cheap to run.
Things to bear in mind
- It's an AI, not a research database. The "fun fact" is supposed to sound plausible — treat it as comedy, not a citation.
- Less famous towns get less specific jokes. If the AI doesn't know much about a particular place, it leans on the name and the wider region. Adding a country usually helps.
- The first rebrand is the one that sticks. Once a town has been rebranded, that version is what everyone else sees too. We refresh things from time to time, but you can't reroll on demand.