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Ask HN: How do you name software?

3 points by thekashifmalik ↗ HN
I recently released some software and it took considerable effort to name. After the public announcement, I learned there was a preexisting project with the same name. Since my software isn't at v1, I'm back to the drawing board. It is a CLI so my criteria is:

- It has to be short enough to type comfortably.

- It has to have a domain available.

- I have to feel an affinity for it.

That last point is fuzziest. How do other people name software?

8 comments

[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 32.6 ms ] thread
stop50
I name it depending on the need this software solves. I usually don't care about more absrract names. One software i use has an name which is the polish word for hickup. It for comparing files for removing duplicates.
thekashifmalik
Do you have link to the project?
stop50
https://github.com/qarmin/czkawka
Jugurtha
Name it "Funky Jon" to make it more international than Czkawka. Given that it deals with useless, dusty, files, I looked at things related to bureaucracy concepts in Polish. "Funkcjonariusz publiczny" (public official/servant), which in turn can be made into Funky Jon.

"Funky Jon" is a funky public servant/official who dusts off cabinet files, removes clutter, and makes the organization run smoothly.

It's "international" without losing the Polish roots.

zzo38computer
Sometimes it is difficult. Sometimes I have had various ways of doing so, but sometimes I don't know. (They say, naming things is the most difficult thing in computers.)

(At this time, I have an unnamed operating system design.)