Boston tops New York — when it comes to venture capital funding that its start-up companies received during the first half of this year.

As part of our coverage on the importance of choosing a name for startup companies, we've been asking for suggestions for company names based on the descriptions of three actual businesses. Vote for your favorite — and least favorite — ones here.

One of the first things any new company has to do when it's starting is to come up with a name. WNYC's Lisa Chow and Jim Colgan interviewed company founders about how they chose their names, including Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. Here's an extended transcript of their interview.

Branding experts say a good company name should have something to do with what the company does. Although it's not always the case with successful companies (e.g. Apple), when there's little or no budget, the name often has to do the marketing. Here are some company names taken from The New York Tech Meetup, a monthly gathering in New York City where new start-ups demo their products or services. 

Would Google be as successful a company had it been named Backrub? That was the name the search engine started with in 1996, and it's a question that weighs on the founders of hundreds of companies that are created in New York City every week.

New York City hotels are capitalizing on the growing number of business and leisure travelers coming to the city by raising their prices. The average daily room rate in May was $252, up nearly 9 percent from the same time a year ago, according to the hotel research firm Smith Travel Research.

Rates on mortgages, car loans and certain types of student loans could rise if the White House and Congress don't come to an agreement on raising the government's debt limit.

Some analysts expect second quarter earnings for big banks will be disappointing because trading revenue has fallen and consumers and businesses have resisted taking out new loans, hurting bank profitability. 

Housing advocates say foreclosure actions have fallen dramatically in New York City, primarily because state courts now require loan servicers and banks to verify the accuracy of their documents in foreclosure cases.

Rep. Anthony Weiner's biggest donors in New York City are mixed about whether to continue supporting the Democratic Congressman, whose online sex scandal has captured newspaper headlines for days.

Contrary to a popular belief that public pension costs will eat up more and more of city spending, a report by New York City's Comptroller Office says pension costs will actually decline as a percentage of the city's budget starting in 2016. 

Heavy rainfall in the region during the spring months has caused delays in harvest times for local farmers. With the region seeing significantly more rain this year - in New York City's case, 20 percent more than the historical average - local farmers bringing their produce to the city are reporting delays in their harvest times.

The cash-strapped owners of the New York Mets have agreed to sell a minority share of the team to hedge fund manager David Einhorn for $200 million in what could be considered a match between the winners and the losers of the financial crisis.

Politicians and economists have long said New York City's economy is extremely dependent on Wall Street — but new numbers from the New York Federal Reserve suggest that may be changing.

Rising energy prices are inspiring local farmers to get more creative. But they do have one big advantage: they're close to the biggest market in the country, which is New York City.

The 311 call center fields all manner of calls as New York City's non-emergency lien and veritable citizen help desk with inquiries that vary widely — depending on factors such as time of day and the weather — and with the goal of answered 80 percent of questions within 30 seconds.

The defense is set to call its first witness Monday in what the government calls the biggest hedge fund insider trading trial in U.S. history.

As the largest hedge fund insider trading trial in U.S. history enters its fifth week, prosecutors have called 14 witnesses and played 40 wiretapped telephone conversations in the case against Galleon Group founder founder Raj Rajaratnam.

The departing special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, said the government's efforts to modify loans and keep people in their homes was a "terrible failure." 

New Jersey added 6,800 private sector jobs in February, but that wasn't enough to reduce the state's unemployment rate.