Seeking alphabetical naming lists

September 20, 2012 11:25 AM

I'm looking for A-Z lists, similar to the NOAA hurricane naming system. Instead of 26 names, I would like lists that follow a theme. Geeky lists / themes are a plus!

The purpose is naming computer systems & parts. For example, hard drives could be named:
Aldaraan, Bespin, Coruscant, Dagobah, Endor, Felucia, Geonosis, Hoth, etc. (can you pull that data off of Bespin for me?)

I've had no trouble finding alphabetical lists of all sorts of things, but am having trouble finding lists that have been reduced to 26 items, one per letter. Another example is the list of cartoon characters here: http://ask.metafilter.com/128908/cartoon-hero-names-AZ-suitable-for-monkeys

Thanks!

posted by Real.Wolf to writing & language (25 answers total)

Does the list have to be only A-Z? I name all my flash/hard drives after elements on the periodic table starting with Hydrogen. I am all the way to Sodium so far and still have 100 or so to go.
posted by Captain_Science at 11:29 AM on September 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Gods of Greek Mythology, Norse Mythological Names, Colors. Colors are useful in a setting where they already have meaning (e.g., at my alma mater, some engineering school computers were named after variations of maize and blue).
posted by axiom at 11:35 AM on September 20, 2012

@Captain_Science - Having things in alphabetical order will let me determine which item is newer without having to look at a periodic table. Also the ability to refer the the system as 'Machine B' would be nice for the uninspired around me. I might use your system elsewhere though...

@axiom - Again, looking for lists that have already been narrowed down to 26 items.
posted by Real.Wolf at 11:40 AM on September 20, 2012

There's always the Phonetic Alphabet if you haven't considered that one already.
posted by ceribus peribus at 11:44 AM on September 20, 2012

Search tip: instead of looking for lists, you pretend you're looking for themed children's alphabet books, "a [topic] alphabet"
a Wildflower alphabet
more Flowers (in fairy form)
A is for Ackbar Star Wars alphabet
A mythological bestiary alphabet
posted by aimedwander at 11:49 AM on September 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

Edward Gorey's Gashlycrumb Tinies.
posted by Dixon Ticonderoga at 11:49 AM on September 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

NATO phonetic telephony?
posted by tilde at 11:50 AM on September 20, 2012

I've had no trouble finding alphabetical lists of all sorts of things, but am having trouble finding lists that have been reduced to 26 items, one per letter.

Just pull out the most interesting name for each letter out of those lists. So for example, one name per page from this list of marvel characters.

Pretty much any "list of whatever" on wikipedia should be sortable by name.
posted by delmoi at 11:50 AM on September 20, 2012

Kinsey Millhone novels. You will have to live without W, X and Y for a few years. Grafton has already stated publicly that Z will be for Zero.
posted by ubiquity at 11:52 AM on September 20, 2012

Jet airplanes, frogs, vegetables, construction equipment....
posted by Ery at 11:52 AM on September 20, 2012

Andorian, Bajoran, Cardassian, Denobulan, El-Aurian, Ferengi, Gorn, Horta, Iotian, Jem'Hadar, Klingon, Lurian, Metron, Nausicaan, Orion, Prophet, Q Continuum, Romulan, Saurian, Tribble, Ullian, Vulcan, Wadi, Xindi, Yridian, Zakdorn

Star Trek Races
posted by inturnaround at 11:57 AM on September 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

Edward Lear's Nonsense Alphabet subjects: ant, bat, camel, duck, etc.
posted by ubiquity at 12:00 PM on September 20, 2012

I enjoy the Bare Naked Ladies Crazy Alphabet:

A is for aisle, B is for bdellium, C is for czar
D is for djinn, E for Euphrates
F is for fohn (but not like when I call the ladies)
G for gnarly,
I for irk,
H is for hour
J for jalapeños
K is for knick knack,
L is for llama
M is for mnemonic
N for ndomo,
O is for ouija board
P for pneumonia, pterodactyl and psychosis,
Q is for qat
R is for argyle, no it isn’t
Okay, you’re right, I couldn’t find a good R word
S is for Szár,
T for tsunami
U is for urn,
V for vraisemblance
W for wren, wrinkly and who
X is for Xian,
Y is for yiperite, a very nasty gas
And
Zed’s the final letter and by final I mean last

I actually love these because we like to go for the most counterintuitive examples when we play games like, "I went camping and I brought a..." or The Minister's Cat.

People don't expect, for example, "knife" to be the letter K item, or "Einsteinium" to come in under the letter E. Either they start laughing, or remembering the odd ones messes up their rhythm when they are trying to think of an answer for their own letter, so you stump them. And then you win.
Try it!
posted by misha at 1:03 PM on September 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

If you're from Minneapolis, you probably know the streets of the west side by heart.

http://www.tholt.com/malpha.html

Aldrich, Bryant, Colfax, Dupont, Emerson....
posted by Elly Vortex at 1:07 PM on September 20, 2012

Another important search term is abecedarian.
posted by hermitosis at 1:56 PM on September 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I used to work for a company that named their servers in alphabetical order using car names. I can't think of one for X, though.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 2:00 PM on September 20, 2012

Nissan Xterra, if you go that route
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:03 PM on September 20, 2012

It's not the complete alphabet, but Alice and Bob have friends.
posted by hoyland at 2:32 PM on September 20, 2012

Here's one I made for you after Mass Effect names.

Asari
Batarians (Benezia)
Citadel (Council/Collectors)
Drell
EDI (Elcor/Element Zero/Eden Prime)
Feros
Geth (Garrus)
Harbringer (Hanar)
Illusive Man
Joker (Jack)
Krogan (Keepers)
Liara (Legion/Leviathan)
Mass Effect (Mordin/Morinth)
Normandy (N7)
Omnitool
Protheans
Quarians
Reapers (Rachni)
Salarians (Saren/Sovereign/Samara)
Turians (Tali/Thane)
Urdnot
Volus/Vorcha
Wrex
Xawin (Xanadu)
Yahg
Zaeed
posted by ersatz at 2:50 PM on September 20, 2012

Unfortunately it's only a partial alphabet, but it should be relatively easy to expand on Donatello and Casey Jones's insults in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
posted by ckape at 3:09 PM on September 20, 2012

The north/south streets in Denver, counting west from Broadway are named for American Indian tribes; Acoma, Bannock, Cherokee, Delaware, Elati, etc.
posted by Bruce H. at 5:28 PM on September 20, 2012

Here's an A to Z of proper names from Tolkien (you did say geeky themes), trying to strike a balance between melodious/brevity/my arbitrary favorites:

Arwen, Bilbo, Celeborn, Denethor, Elrond, Frodo, Galadriel, Húrin, Iorlas, Jolly*, Kementári, Legolas, Merry, Númendil, Orodreth, Pippin, Quenya, Radagast, Sauron, Thorin, Uldor, Varda, Wulf, (A)xë*, Yavana, Zamîn

*As far as I can tell, there are no words in any of the Tolkien works that begin with "X." So I cheated and used a word from a Quenya wordlist. "J" was also a stretch: "Jolly Cotton" is a hobbit.
posted by andrewesque at 8:09 PM on September 20, 2012

And by no words, I of course no words in Quenya, Sindarin or any of Tolkien's other languages -- I am sure in his many works some word that begins with "x" appears somewhere.
posted by andrewesque at 8:10 PM on September 20, 2012

These are phrases rather than single words, but I like Alligators All Around.
posted by SisterHavana at 11:36 PM on September 20, 2012

A-Z list of minerals.
A-Z list of phobias.
A-Z list of dream cars.
A-Z list of sports.
posted by Blue_Villain at 6:19 PM on September 22, 2012