It certainly has been a busy year on the roller-coaster ride that is international consulting. The latest firm to take its clients on a rebranding white-knuckle experience is Deloitte Consulting, who will soon formalise its split from accounting giant Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

Not to be outdone by PwC Consulting, which, as we recently reported, emerged triumphant from its own amicable divorce from PriceWaterhouse Coopers as the splendidly-named Monday:, Deloitte Consulting has pulled out all the stops in the search for a new identity.

The company has yet to decide on a moniker worthy of such a significant moment in world history, but is considering no less than 3800 suggestions. And if you thought that rebranding was simply a matter of two hours with a flip-chart and several bottles of cheap cider (as seems to be the case with Monday:), think again.

No, each and every suggestion has to pass through several filters before reaching the shortlist for presentation to our marketing team - sort of like being asked to leap through hoops, jump over hurdles and then swim an icy stream before qualifying for the main event.

These hurdles sensibly include pronuciation, translated meaning and linguistic resonance. Fair enough: You don't want to turn up for client pitch in Uzbekistan only to find out your name means "your mother's a slag" in local lingo.

Quite considerably less fair enough is Deloitte Consulting's attitude to legal availability and URL availability. The former is described thus:

This first hurdle is where many hearts get broken. No matter how obscure or customized the name that you think up, you can be almost certain that it's already taken by a lone software developer in Alaska, or a freelance tax consultant who offers business advice in southern Italy.

Yes, little people, they will go giving their businesses desirable names, won't they? Most inconvenient. And the latter? Well:

A simple search on Google reveals the difficulty of registering any 'dot.com' domain. Even a name that is available for trademarking in all the categories and countries that you want it is probably owned somewhere by a cybersquatter. You have three choices: settle for a less powerful suffix (e.g. NewCo.net), compound the domain name by adding another word (e.g. NewCoConsultingGroup.com), or negotiate the purchase of the domain name through a third party - praying that the squatter doesn't learn that the enquirer is a multinational consulting firm.

Sorry? Cybersquatting? Let's get this straight - according to Deloitte Consulting, owning any domain name which might at some time in the future be required by their good selves is now officially cybersquatting. Remarkable. Remember, you heard it here first.

So, if you do own something of potential interest to Deloitte Consulting, beware suits bearing gifts. $35 dollars for the domain? Nah mate, you are Monolith: The Consultancy Firm Formerly Known As Deloitte, and I claim my $1 million. ®