While at these locations select one of the translation services to see if your term has a meaning in a foreign language. Save these searches, you will need them later. If you find an exact hit, its time to consider a new word trademark or the addition of a design component. Knowing a trademark has a dictionary meaning or secondary meaning should cause you to search encyclopedias to see how these meanings have been used. If the trademark has been used in association with your products or services then once again you need to re-think the proposed trademark.
News groups offer extensive use of ordinary commercial terms.
Dejavu is a searchable database of the newsgroups. Go there and search your word or term and read how it is used by others. New reference sources are constantly arriving on the Internet. We found a site that keeps a list of references specific to businesses. If you pass these tests then see if anyone is using your name in business.