# Help me name my new Mac **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 2, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-new-mac/386449 "2007-01-02T19:03:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-new-mac/386449/1 "2007-01-02T19:03:11Z")
I am about to buy a new Mac laptop, and need to find a name for it. I particularly like metal and mineral names. It will be a Mac Book Pro or a G4 Powerbook, so metallic. (If I get the discounted G4 Powerbook I will be buying the Mac Book Pro at a later date, it’s currently a bit up in the air - so I may even need a second name). Currently I have an ancient Powerbook called Mithril and a G5 called Snow. All suggestions very welcome. Thanks in advance for your ideas and inspiration. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-new-mac/386449/2 "2007-01-02T19:13:18Z")
Steele. You’re welcome. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-new-mac/386449/3 "2007-01-02T19:56:35Z")
Steele or “steel” is not bad actually. Any others, given that I might need two names? ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-new-mac/386449/4 "2007-01-02T20:09:22Z")
“Inanimate Box of Bolts” ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-new-mac/386449/5 "2007-01-02T20:10:33Z")
. . .or iBob to finish the thought. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-new-mac/386449/6 "2007-01-02T21:32:04Z")
Titanium? You could call it Tits for short. There’s also [orichalcum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orichalcum), but there’s a fairly hefty _huh?_ factor there. Plus it doesn’t lend itself to cute abbreviations. (Mine are Squidgey, Stimpy, Sifl, Spegg, Sirius, and tentatively Swine). ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-new-mac/386449/7 "2007-01-02T21:38:48Z")
People name their computers? I mean something other than “The laptop”, “The computer in the office”, and “My work computer”? ---
**Author:** ![RogueRacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RogueRacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RogueRacer)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-new-mac/386449/8 "2007-01-02T21:57:50Z")
Anchor? (sorry, that would be a G5) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-new-mac/386449/9 "2007-01-02T22:00:18Z")
[QUOTE=Gangster Octopus] People name their computers? [/QUOTE] Only the fun computers deserve names. 😉 (My main home computer is [Guido,](http://www.pixelcreation.fr/diaporama/cars/05.jpg) and my son’s is [Goomba](http://vincentmanitoba.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/goomba.jpg).) As for the OP, I’d nominate Slate. ---
**Author:** ![Terrorcotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dbc845/32.png) [@Terrorcotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrorcotta)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-new-mac/386449/10 "2007-01-02T22:18:23Z")
The G4 laptop is ‘Terror’s Head’ but the new stick drive is ‘Harvey’. Dunno why… When I partitioned the PowerMac I named them "Left Brain’ and ‘Right Brain’. What’s wrong with having your own metal? Istarium? Istarold? Istarian? Istaribendium? ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-new-mac/386449/11 "2007-01-02T23:41:55Z")
[QUOTE=Gangster Octopus] People name their computers? I mean something other than “The laptop”, “The computer in the office”, and “My work computer”? [/QUOTE] Heck, I give everything with a hard drive a name. It’s part of configuring the item in question for use. Our iPods have names. When it was partitioned, my hard drive’s partitions had names. Our home network machine has a name. (They aren’t all Macs, by the way.) It’s partially silliness, but it does make things easier. We have at least 6 computers in our apartment. I imagine my roommate and I have saved a few minutes of our lives by referring to our machines by their names. “The laptop” isn’t very useful when there are three of them. To which drive on the server did we save such and such file? We can just say the drive’s name, rather than “the one with blah blah blah…” ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-new-mac/386449/12 "2007-01-03T00:05:27Z")
Call it POS; a nice mixture of phosphorous, oxygen, and sulphur. Mixed they do appear to be shiny. ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-new-mac/386449/13 "2007-01-03T00:09:43Z")
[QUOTE=Least Original User Name Ever] Steele. You’re welcome. [/QUOTE] Steele? It wasn’t even his dog. (see Maryland Senate election adds for explanation) ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-new-mac/386449/14 "2007-01-03T02:38:36Z")
[QUOTE=Gangster Octopus] People name their computers? I mean something other than “The laptop”, “The computer in the office”, and “My work computer”? [/QUOTE] I always rename the Hard Drive on my desktop (easy on Macs). Mine’s Yoda, and colored green! How about “Argent” for your new Mac? ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-new-mac/386449/15 "2007-01-03T02:40:36Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] . . .or iBob to finish the thought. [/QUOTE] You know, I think Apple is missing something by not remaking Microsoft Bob. I always thought that was more of an Apple-style program. I’m afraid I’m no good at naming. I believe my Windows desktop is named Desktop and my MacBook is named Laptop. I do name partitions and hard drives but only by function. For instance, on my desktop, the hard drive that has the OS is named WinXP. The hard drive that has all the installed programs is named Programs. The hard drive that has all my movies, music, documents, and so on is named Documents. The empty 300-gig hard drive is named Empty, and will continue to be called so until I actually use it for something other than temporary storage for DVD ripping. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-new-mac/386449/16 "2007-01-03T04:45:34Z")
“The Knife” ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-new-mac/386449/17 "2007-01-03T06:16:53Z")
“[Adamant](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adamant)”? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-new-mac/386449/18 "2007-01-03T06:42:05Z")
[QUOTE=Gangster Octopus] People name their computers? I mean something other than “The laptop”, “The computer in the office”, and “My work computer”? [/QUOTE] Of course we name our computers. Particularly our Macs. (I’m typing this on the PC, as Calliope II is restng from her labors just now.) ---
**Author:** ![Bibliovore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Bibliovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bibliovore)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-new-mac/386449/19 "2007-01-03T16:06:01Z")
If it’s silver, call it **Sterling**. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-new-mac/386449/20 "2007-01-03T18:58:44Z")
My laptop, one of the original titanium PowerBooks, is called **Deus Ex**. Before that, I had a Tarzan theme. The computer itself was **Greystoke** , and the two drives were **Bolgani** and **Tantor**. And before that, I had a three-partition drive with an “evil women of the Bible” theme. Hence, **Jezebel** , **Delilah** , and **Bathsheba**. Yeah, yeah, it wasn’t Bathsheba’s fault, whatever, I used the name. Anyway. The name comes from whatever strikes you at the time. With each new computer, I tried to make the names radically different, so that I’d have a clean, new beginning in each instance. But that’s just me; for you, whatever feels right.