So recently, I started to conceive a gaming company. And I noticed something particular. I was coming up with the actual company name, and I bounced a few ideas off people and the slightest changes appeal to people so much more.

For example, one of the first names I came with was

"Hand Off Gaming"

But then I thought what about

"Hand Off Games"?

So I bounced those two around a bit. And for some reason, people were far more interested in "Hand Off Games" then "Hand Off Gaming". That slight change just... appealed to them more.

Does anyone have anything like that that's happened to them before? Very slight changes that just made all the difference?

There have been studies about people's irrational attraction to certain numbers.

How easy it is to pronounce a name has an influence too. If a string of words is awkward to say people won't like it. If it has a pun or alliteration or some literary trick to make it easy to remember or 'clever' people tend to like it too.

The first looks like it should be "Hands Off Gaming", and the perceived missing "s" is jarring. It is also against the spirit of gaming: gaming isn't hands off. It is also two one-syllable words follows by a two-syllable, and just doesn't flow rhythmically.

The second implies something shared: you hand off the game to someone else. It also just flows better of the tongue.

Those are just my interpretations as to why you might be getting those reactions.

Extra syllable. People don't like the term "gaming," it's never really stuck. "Gamer" yes, "Gaming" not so much.

Also, probably moot since you will be known as HoG Games.

Did you mean Hands Off Games?  Or is yours a game trading company like Gamestop?  I think the current name you're going with suggests that it's a game trading company.

That's true... I never considered it from that perspective. I may have to reconsider a completely different name.