Ask HN: How do you name your projects/products?

7 points by superted 16y ago ↗ HN

Naming a product or a project is a rather interesting aspect of the development and marketing process. I am sure that a wisely chosen name gives you a head start and helps you communicate your vision to other people, and that a poor name could just as well be holding you back.

Here are a couple of alternatives on top of mind, to get started:

1) Use an informative naming, where the function /use of the product is reflected in the name. An obvious example is "Hacker News". 2) A quirky name that is catchy and easy to remember. For instance, search engines tend to fall into this category. Also, a lot of car manufacturers have adopted this kind of naming. 3) Emotional naming, where the aim is to use words in a way that they instantly create a desired feeling when consumed.

How do you name your projects/products?

3 comments

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K3G 16y ago ↗

For my projects on the side (generally hardware, I'm a mech guy...), I name them after a mythological creature. I just finished Seraphim, a multi speed epicyclic gearbox. Earlier was Juggernaut, a longboard truck with a locked roll axis.

For my work (robotics), we take the name each robot project based off the new features that define it from the older version. For example, we run the Erratic robot line, and currently offer the ERA-MOBI. Since it's now public knowledge, we released the ERA-XTD, or an extended and advanced version of the Erratic. Our new products are named based on function (STH-DCSG == Stereo Head, Digital Camera, Shutter: Global).

Sorry if it's not a strict scheme like you might be looking for, we tend to fly by the seat of our pants...

gspyrou 16y ago ↗

+1 For the mythologιcal reference . For robotics you could also check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talos

steveklabnik 16y ago ↗

Naming a project is the hardest part of the project. I recently had one name that I was really proud of, though... I started writing a little package manager in Ruby, and when I was thinking about the name, I remembered that a "furoshiki" is a traditional Japanese wrapping cloth... so that all seems to go really well together.