Pick from the Top Ten Deadliest Animals: Dart Frog, Cape Buffalo, etc. Had a buddy who used names of Fender Guitars, boss wasn't as amused as us ;)
Ask HN: Anyone have process for creating good internal application names?
11–20 of 27 posts
Re: Ask HN: Anyone have process for creating good internal application names?
#12I name them after herbs
Re: Ask HN: Anyone have process for creating good internal application names?
#13I've used Star Wars planet names for quite a while, they sound good and most of them are pretty easy to remember.
You should check Wikipedia's list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Wars_planets_(C%E2...
Re: Ask HN: Anyone have process for creating good internal application names?
#14Wikipedia has a rather extensive list of greek mythological deities and mortals. Surely there is something appropriate in there ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Greek_mythological_figu...
Re: Ask HN: Anyone have process for creating good internal application names?
#15Moons of Saturn:
Re: Ask HN: Anyone have process for creating good internal application names?
#16With internal applications you likely won't have concerns about domain name availability, trademarks, etc., so how about a simple, plain English naming scheme, e.g., "Timesheet," "Expenses," "Inventory"?
There are often several systems being used concurrently that do the same thing: either due to different departments reinventing the wheel, or by somebody rewriting an application without retiring the previous one.
True, but that sounds like "security through obscurity" with regard to naming conflicts--two departments could both invent the same acronym as easily as a plain English equivalent (there must be a ton of "CMS" systems out there, considering "case" and "content" management).
As always it's a people problem that requires communication and coordination (and until that happens we're stuck with CLOTS, BUGR, and NIPL).
Re: Ask HN: Anyone have process for creating good internal application names?
#17We once used the Latin names for constellations.
For example:
Pyxis -> "Compass"
Orion -> "Hunter"
There's usually a good mapping from the constellation name to a meta-feature of the app, for example, a large bloated app might be called Cetus (the whale).
Re: Ask HN: Anyone have process for creating good internal application names?
#18What about Culture Ship Names?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ships_%28The_Culture%29
Perhaps with acronyms for the longer ones e.g.
Sense Amid Madness, Wit Amidst Folly (SAMWAF)
Re: Ask HN: Anyone have process for creating good internal application names?
#19Pick whatever naming scheme comes to mind, but something that vaguely relates to the program's functionality + a degree of silliness makes the name easier to remember.
Re: Ask HN: Anyone have process for creating good internal application names?
#20Sure. We usually come up with job titles describing the "human" equivalent of what function the application performs; e.g:
The Warden - an set of scripts to manage chroot jailed workers
The Middleman - a heavily customized MQ/ESB
The Coxswain - an app that monitors/controls system components