Step 2 of sign-up asks for your store’s name, its address on noqtashop.com and the languages it sells in. This article explains the rules for each, the live check that tells you whether a name or address is free, and every message the step can show.
The step is headed Name it, and pick its languages., with the reminder The address is permanent. The rest you can change later. For the whole sign-up, see Create your store; the Need help? Create your store link under the form opens it in a new tab.
Your store name
Store name is the name your customers see: at the top of your storefront, in your order emails and on your invoices. It can be in any language, Arabic included, and it needs at least three characters.
- In Store name, type your store’s name, for example Layal Boutique.
As you type, the picture of your store on the other half of the page takes the name, and its first letter becomes a placeholder logo.
If you select Continue with no name, or with fewer than three characters, the field turns red and says Use at least three characters.
You can change the name whenever you like after sign-up: in the console, open Settings, and on the Store tab edit Store name. The address does not change with it. The name you type at sign-up is saved in your store’s main language, and your other language shows it too until you give it a name of its own. In Settings, a name is saved for the language the console is in, so to give a two-language store its Arabic name, switch the console to Arabic and type it there. See Update your store’s details.
When another store already uses the name
Two stores cannot share the same name. If another NoqtaShop store already has exactly the name you typed, the field shows a red cross and A store already uses that name.
Make the name your own: add the kind of store it is, your town or your family name — Layal Boutique rather than Layal. The name and the address are checked separately, so a free address does not make a taken name free, or the other way round.
The address we suggest from your name
Your store address is where your storefront lives: yourname.noqtashop.com. While the address field is empty, we fill it in from your name as you type: lower case, with spaces and punctuation turned into hyphens. Layal Boutique suggests layal-boutique.
- To keep the suggestion, leave it as it is.
- To use your own, type in Store address. Once you have typed there, changing the name no longer changes the address.
- To go back to the suggestion, clear Store address completely; the next change to the name fills it in again.
The .noqtashop.com ending is always there, after the field; you type only the part before it.
The rules for a store address
An address must:
- use only lower-case English letters (a to z), numbers (0 to 9) and hyphens (-);
- be 3 to 63 characters long;
- not start or end with a hyphen.
The field shapes what you type as you go: capitals become lower case, a space or any other character becomes a hyphen, two hyphens in a row become one, and a hyphen at the start is dropped. A hyphen left at the end is removed when you continue. The line under the field reads Letters, numbers and hyphens.
If the address breaks a rule when you select Continue — most often because it is shorter than three characters — the field turns red: Use lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens — 3 to 63 characters.
Some addresses are kept for NoqtaShop itself and always show as taken — for example www, admin, help, support, billing and login, and the addresses of our demo stores. Choose another.
Why the address cannot change later
Your address is your store’s identity on NoqtaShop: links to your storefront, the emails we send and your own domain, when you connect one, all point at it. So there is no way to change it after sign-up.
Warning
Check the spelling before you continue. A store address cannot be changed later, from the console or by asking us.
A few tips for a good address:
- Keep it short and easy to say on the phone:
layalboutiqueis easier thanlayal-boutique-amman-2026. - Use the name people already know you by, on Instagram or on your shop sign.
- Avoid hyphens you do not need. They are easy to forget when someone types the address.
The live check: checking, available, taken
The page checks the name and the address with our servers while you type. It waits until you pause for half a second, and it checks only a value that follows the rules — a name of at least three characters, or a well-formed address.
| At the end of the field | What it means |
|---|---|
| A turning circle | Checking… — we are asking whether it is free. |
| A green tick, green outline | Available — no other store has it. |
| A red cross, red outline | Taken — another store has it. A message under the field says which: A store already uses that name. or That address is taken. Try another. |
| Nothing | Not checked yet: you are still typing, or the value does not follow the rules. |
A green tick means the name or address is free right now, not that it is reserved for you. We check again when you press the last button, and if another store took it in the meantime, the page brings you back to this step with the message on the field. Every other sign-up message is explained in What do the sign-up error messages mean?
An Arabic store name needs an English address
An address is part of a web address, so it can only use English letters. If your store name is in Arabic — for example ليال بوتيك — we cannot suggest an address from it. The address stays empty, and the line under it says Pick an English address for your store.
- In Store address, type an English version of your name, for example
layalboutique.
The name your customers see stays in Arabic; only the address is in English letters.
Selling in Arabic, English or both
Under Languages, choose the languages your storefront sells in. Your products, pages, storefront text and order emails are written in these languages.
| Choice | What it means |
|---|---|
| Arabic | Your storefront is in Arabic, right to left. |
| English | Your storefront is in English. |
| Both | Your storefront has an Arabic and an English version, and your customers switch between them. |
The page starts on the language you are reading it in. Under the buttons, the line reads Every product, page and email is written in the languages you pick.
When you choose Both, the line changes to Every product, page and email will need both. — every product name and description, every policy page and every piece of storefront text then has two versions to fill in. The store picture shows a language switch, and the summary’s Languages line reads Arabic & English. The language you are reading the page in becomes your store’s main language, the one your storefront opens in.
You can change your languages after sign-up, within what your plan allows: in the console, open Settings and the Localization tab. French is not offered at sign-up; from Growth you can add it there. See Set your store’s languages and currency.
The Free plan sells in one language
On the Free plan your storefront runs in one language, Arabic or English, and you choose which. Both stays on the screen but is greyed out, and the line under the buttons says Free sells in one language. Selecting it does nothing.
Starter adds a second language (Arabic and English together), and Growth and up add French as well. See Plans and what each includes.
In the rare case that Both is still selected on a plan that sells in one, Continue stops you with This plan sells in one language. Choose one, or pick a higher plan. The same message appears if the last button of sign-up is refused for this reason; the page brings you back to this step.
- Select Arabic or English.
- Select Continue.
Or, to keep both languages, go back to step 1, select Choose a different plan and choose Starter or higher. Sign-up then starts again from step 1, so you type your name and address again.
Your own domain comes later
The .noqtashop.com address is not the only address your store can have. From Starter, you can connect a domain you own — such as layalboutique.com — after sign-up. On those plans, step 2 says You can connect your own domain later, from Your domain in the console. That is Your domain, in the Storefront section of the console sidebar. On Free it carries a padlock: see Why does a feature show a padlock?
Your .noqtashop.com address keeps working after you connect your own domain. See Connect your own domain.
What to do next
- Select Continue and fill in step 3, then pay or create your store: Create your store.
- On the Free plan, see what comes next in Start a free store.