# IT-ers Name your servers **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 28, 2004, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482 "2004-04-28T14:01:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482/1 "2004-04-28T14:01:28Z")
Three themes here, based on the interests of whoever built/installed them. NT boxes: **Neptune Triton Orion Apollo** At another site we have: **Enterprise Voyager** (ah-hem) Plus Some others I can’t see from here but I think we can see where this is going… Unix boxes: **Pebbles Bambam** and the old **Sequent** that’s never had a name other than its IP address So what are the names/themes chez vous? Anyone out there get to name theirs? ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482/2 "2004-04-28T14:15:35Z")
The biggest badest server around is always named “Thor” ---
**Author:** ![MeanJoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanjoe/32/5693_2.png) [@MeanJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanJoe)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482/3 "2004-04-28T14:22:48Z")
\*\* Galaxy \*\* - Domain \*\* Zaphod Marvin Trillian Arthur Hitchhiker \*\* etc., etc., etc. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482/4 "2004-04-28T14:32:51Z")
We’ve got: Patty Selma Barney Monty Julius Lionel Edna Seymour Clancy etc ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482/5 "2004-04-28T14:41:05Z")
Ours are named: **XXXX01 XXXX02 XXXX03 etc.** where XXXX is an acronym for our organizational name. The Powers That Be perfer that we not get too creative with server names. Oh, and **Fred**. ---
**Author:** ![Sparklo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Sparklo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparklo)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482/6 "2004-04-28T16:52:38Z")
I have my very own **dustbunny** because it lives on the floor behind my desk. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482/7 "2004-04-28T17:25:25Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Ours are named: > > **XXXX01 > XXXX02 > XXXX03 > etc.** > > where XXXX is an acronym for our organizational name. The Powers That Be perfer that we not get too creative with server names. **Fred**. I hear ya. We do include a few letters to indicate the location and purpose, but nothing as creative as some of the others mentioned. I do have a Ghost server in my office. His name is Casper. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482/8 "2004-04-28T18:19:29Z")
**Crow Servo Cambot Gypsy Bobo Brainguy** Didn’t use **Mike** , **Joel** , etc. because I didn’t want to get real names mixed in there. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482/9 "2004-04-28T18:22:55Z")
Our department server is **starlight**. The University I work for has one named Chastity, which cracks me up every time we get a service message saying “Chastity is down.” ---
**Author:** ![fubbleskag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482/10 "2004-04-28T18:28:20Z")
Now: Production: **Screwtape** Backup: **Wormwood** Before: Production: **Abbott** Backup: **Costello** ---
**Author:** ![spiralscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@spiralscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spiralscratch)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482/11 "2004-04-28T23:02:43Z")
My home machines: Bloom County (Linux server) (although I’m considering giving this a character name) Opus (PowerMac G4) Bill The Cat (PC) Milo (PowerBook G3) I need more machines to fill out the cast… ---
**Author:** ![Lockz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Lockz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lockz)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482/12 "2004-04-28T23:12:06Z")
Server: Athena Previous PC: Andromeda New PC: Aphrodite Router/Firewall: Cerberus Next PC to get: Artemis ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482/13 "2004-04-28T23:16:25Z")
A few of the notable groups I found around here. Other than the gratuitous Simpsons, Star Wars, Star Trek and Harry Potter references, we have: **Motorcycles** ducati harley1 harley2 kawasaki suzuki yamaha **Elements. Yawn** helium hydrogen neon lithium mercury oxygen sodium **Medieval weapons** baldric crossbow excalibur trefoil **Rock bands** aerosmith inxs ironmaiden quietriot ramones **Parts of a house** doorjamb joist lintel mortar mullion plenum plinth soffit Now for some “What were they thinking?!” ones - Who would name their server **crash**? That’s like someone naming a boat “sink.” We’ve also got one named **ftp**. But none named telnet, rlogin or ssh. Sadly, most of the servers I deal with are boring xxxx#### things - wdsz3135 and so forth. The letters do have coded significance, which is useful as there are about 500 servers in this particular group, so we would have run out of clever names rather quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482/14 "2004-04-29T00:40:00Z")
At my main place of work, the file server is called **Anthracite** , the print server is called **Graphite** and I’m building the mail server at the moment, but haven’t decided on a name (it will be a mineral of some kind, possibly a gemstone). All the workstations have names on that theme. At the other place (I support one or two days of the week), the server just has a boring [company]\_srv name, but the existing workstations are named after biscuits(cookies); **Digestive** , **Hobnob** , **Bourbon** etc. I’m systematically replacing them with new hardware and the new naming scheme is cartoon characters (my choice, but I’m not entirely comfortable with it). ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482/15 "2004-04-29T01:04:44Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > At my main place of work, the file server is called **Anthracite** , the print server is called **Graphite** and I’m building the mail server at the moment, but haven’t decided on a name (it will be a mineral of some kind, possibly a gemstone). Since you’ve already got a couple of carbon minerals there, why not make the mail server **Diamond**? Names in various places I haunt/have haunted: Forms of silica: **Chert, Flint, Porcellanite, Opal** Jazz names: **Mingus, Ella, Chick, Dizzy, Django, Miles, Booker** Mountains: **Everest, Rainier, Katahdin, Shasta, Vesuvius, Ararat** I also have a laptop named **Samson** and a desktop named **Delilah**. ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482/16 "2004-04-29T01:14:40Z")
I’m CIO at my company, and instituted a naming convention for all of our printers. Once I had used up the Greek alphabet, I switched to references to King Crimson albums: Crimson Poseidon Lizard Island Larks Starless Red Discipline Beat Three Vrooom Thrak My tech staff took the ball and ran with it, naming any new server with something more creative than xxx\_SRVnn (the previous convention): Tiamat Ogre Troll Gryphon Dragon etc… ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482/17 "2004-04-29T01:19:18Z")
Our CEO is a car nut. Z8, M5, XKR. . . :shakes head ruefully: ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482/18 "2004-04-29T01:44:39Z")
At my last college job, they were naming Real Computers after college admins. I inherited a Sun box that was named after a provost\* who left after just one term. But the name turned out to be the same as a paternal aunt. So it’s replacement was named after a paternal uncle, etc. That lead to my home computers being named after my mother and her siblings. But since there are only 7 of them, that’s clearly not enough, so I started using my maternal grandmother and her siblings’ names. Warning: Going around saying “\ died today” can lead to stunned reactions until you can explain that you’re talking about computers. \*The ex-provost has appeared twice in recent “Parade” magazines. I.e., a complete tool. ---
**Author:** ![Anonymous\_Coward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@Anonymous\_Coward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_Coward)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482/19 "2004-04-29T02:39:44Z")
I personally don’t like cutsey or fan-based server names. If I’m working in a server room with 100+ servers I want my server names short and descriptive. FS01 FS02 MAIL01 PDC01 SQL01 ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482/20 "2004-04-29T03:29:23Z")
Many of you have much more fun names than what I have to put up with … a Disney theme. We have Daisy, Mickey, Pluto, Donald, Scrooge, etc. etc. etc. My life got much worse when Goofy died, and was replaced with Belle (of Hunchback of Notre Dame fame, I believe) … now, whenever directing non-tech people to temporary intranet pages on Belle, I have to spell it out every time, because otherwise they just type “Bell.” If I made the decisions I’d name everything after Motown greats. Flo, Mary and Diana to start. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-ers-name-your-servers/242482.md?page=2)