Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with naming

I need help naming my blog.

seandq — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:50:49 -0800

I need help naming my blog. I'm doing something a bit new, a bit random. I'm basically a high school senior who is taking on some friends with me to create a group blog on everything - mainly sports, entertainment, news, politics, etc.

I originally thought of hosting this blog on my domain and then just outsourcing my friends' posts as guest posts. Then it struck me it might just be a good idea to put all of our work together on its own site.

Ideas I'm hovering towards involving the phrase "Vox Populi", "Hive Mind", or "Groupthink". However, finding an open domain with those in there is a very hard thing to do. I want to emphasis the collaboration aspect, and possibly to a lesser degree the fact we're teenagers, and soon we'll be college students.

Thanks in advance!

Our child would surely bring honor to the Sparklejam name!

amanda — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:04:47 -0800

So, the Mr. and I have different last names. I did not take his name upon marriage. Now we are discussing very hypothetical children and I'm looking for some good hive mind rumination on the proper course of action. When we got married, the Mr. wanted me to take his name. I demurred for both personal and political reasons. Ultimately, because he is such a good guy, he didn't press the issue and we have gone about our happily married lives with two last names. This has rarely caused me any problems and none of our relatives seem to have gotten too twisted up about it.

However, once children (hypothetical! there are none in the works!) come along -- what's best to do? We have long joked about coming up with a new last name along the lines of Hollywood or Sparklejam but we seem too far gone in our established names to come up with a new name and there's nothing that appeals to us.

A hyphenate of our name was rejected at marriage because our two names together make up 6 syllables and 18 letters (19 if you count the space in between). They do not roll together.

He wants our (hypothetical) children to have his last name. That makes me feel left out. I suggested the first one takes his and the (very hypothetical) second takes mine. Or, to borrow from an Icelandic naming tradition, the girls take mine and the boys take his. But, that last one doesn't really appeal for a couple reasons. What if I only had boys? I'd still get left out.

So, questions -- what do you think about kids with different last names from each other or from a parent? What do you think about four names for a kid Firstname Middlename Mylastname Hislastname? I'm essentially still getting left out there in the long run but maybe I'm okay with that option.

I suppose this is a modern phenomena -- what have you seen out there that works? Is there an equitable way to balance this?

What would I do without you guys, really?

Bageena — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:31:30 -0800

My friends and I are starting an artist collective in Phoenix, Arizona and we desperately need help thinking of a name. Can you help? Short explanation; I myself am an artist with, you know, the paper and the pencil and occasionally, some ink or acrylic or something. I have three friends that are photographers, another friend who's a painter, two friends who are musicians, and a few others who might also join. What we've decided we'd like to do is start a community blog where we all write individually what we're doing to try and break into the mainstream or just get our work seen. The main site will show all of our posts, broken down by individual members, along with a sort of swarm cloud that shows how often each artist works with the others.
Anyways, we've got a ton of great ideas already and we're excited to get a move on it, but we're stuck at what seems to be the first effing step! We need a name for our little community. We don't have a lot in common except that we all work normal 9-5 jobs outside of our passions for our individual work, we are all artists of one sort or another, and we all live in Phoenix, Arizona. I'm trying to think of names that are reminiscent of the desert or of Phoenix. I sort of like the idea of something ancient and awesome sounding. Really though, we're open to anything. I'd list the links to our websites so you could actually see our styles and who we 'are', so to speak, but I think that'd be a little too self-linky for me. So yeah - if your really that curious, you can look in my bio and I think there's a link there to my personal work.
So yes, I leave it once again to the most clever people I know to help me hop a hurdle in my life. Thanks Mefites!

I haven't seen one of these in a while...

tybstar — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:46:44 -0800

We need a name for a kitten, before he's not a kitten anymore. We adopted a little (for now) Maine Coon kitten and so far we haven't managed to keep a name stuck to him. Pictures! Details below. He is a very high-energy kitty. He loves water: he'll hop up onto the side of the tub and lick at the faucet after we've showered, and he loves it if we splash a bit of water on the floor in the kitchen doing dishes. He's going to be a big kitty--he's growing by a pound every two weeks, and if he does have significant Maine Coon blood in him, he'll keep growing slowly for a few years.

I want to call him Sylvester McMonkey McBean, but Ms. Tybstar doesn't like that. Something short and two-syllable would be perfect. Previous animal names have included: Speedy, Sorsha, and Minerva. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Name Recognition

Ann Onymous — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:45:22 -0800

One business + two Flickr accounts + lots of Google recognition = one frustrated business owner. Help me decide which Flickr account to use, or if I should delete both and start over. Some time back I opened a Flickr account and chose a personal URL. I also opened a second Flickr account with the name of my business. I've been using the personal account with greater frequency than the business account, so the personal account is the one that shows up in Google searches if you search for the business name.

I'd prefer the Flickr account with the business URL to be the one that shows up in Google searches, but Flickr does not allow changes or transfers of custom URLs. So I'm tempted to delete the personal account and start over, but doing so means losing all the Google recognition. So I'm faced with three options:

1. Delete the personal account (con: lose the Google recognition)
2. Use the personal account as the official business account (con: personal URL)
3. Delete both accounts and start over

All advice is welcome.

I have a baby education society, now it needs a name.

soma lkzx — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:52:48 -0800

Help me name my wicked-cool collaborative learning group! This question has more backstory on the project, but the basics are: a bunch of people get together to work through a book or topic together, about which none of them are experts. We'll be holding a few classes at a time.

Facts: We're in Brooklyn, probably doing it around the Gowanus, classes will run the gamut from crafty to pure bookish intellectualism

Notes: A lot of words related to collaboration make us sound like an anarchist collective. We're trying to avoid that! We'd also prefer to sound fun over being a horribly formal institution, but we don't want it to be embarrassed to say it out loud. It also isn't a requirement that the name be entirely descriptive.

Things we like: If every class also was about prom, we'd just call it The Dilettante Ball. Brooklyn Guild unfortunately already exists. Brooklyn Creative League has a fun name, too.

and sure, these classes will probably be full of hipsters, so it's okay to court them a little bit as long as you don't alienate Everyone Else

Naming convention for image files?

pleasantries — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:54:30 -0800

links to standards to naming scans (tiffs and jpgs) of slide images for artist's work? I about to start an extensive slide scanning project and I want examples of naming conventions used at other institutions. The name of each jpeg should include artist's name and the date of artwork.

Sites offering free business and product naming help

atm — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:22:34 -0800

Where are other websites like wordlab.com and marketingprofs.com that offer free help in naming businesses, products, etc?

Who Will He Be?

It ain't over yet — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:00:12 -0800

Help me name my child. The ultimate AskMF Q? Maybe. All I know is: While I understand that naming is ultimately a personal act, I do not feel that the name must somehow come from me. (After all, my wife and I met online, so...)

The specs: We're due November 1. It's a boy. And boys are much more difficult to name than girls, for some reason. One wants a special name, but not so special that it'll mean a punch in the face at the playground (my wife and I have started categorizing name options into 1-punch, 2-punch, and 3-punch categories).

I can tell you that names like 'Noah,' 'Elijah,' and 'Roland,' while they may sound nice, are too soft for my boy. I'm shooting for something with the same depth of those names, but with an edge to it that will serve him well in times in urgency. Extra points if the name rhymes with the 'Moe' in 'Moses,' which would chyme with the last name, without being too overwhelming. All suggestions welcome, esp from those parents who had boy names stored up, and never had a chance to use them. Deep thanks in advance.

Help naming studio

Sreiny — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:43:31 -0800

Studio space naming help: I just starting renting studio space with two others and have been charged with giving it a name. Thoughts appreciated. I just signed a lease for a pretty great space in Chicago with my friend and her dad. I'm a graphic designer but will be using the space for painting and signpainting, my friend will be spinning and dying yarn among other things, and her dad who's also a designer will be doing messy type experiments there.

The building was an old factory, the ceilings are silver, it's in the Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago, it overlooks traintracks.

I've been trying to think of things that would work well in normal conversation, like "hey I'm headed over to The ________, want me to bring a burrito?" etc.

It will live as masking tape on the wall.

Thoughts appreciated. Thanks.

What made-up names does your child use for favorite media?

Mo Nickels — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 18:51:00 -0800

What made-up names does your very young child call favorite movies, books, games, or television shows? I'd like to compile a list of some of the names that toddlers or other very young children have made up for their favorite entertainment: books, movies, television, games, whatever. I am interested in seeing if there are patterns there of sufficient interest to write about.

For example, my 26-month-old son calls Elmo in Grouchland "Elmo Blanket." Elmo Visits the Firehouse is "Elmo Firefighter." (Firefighter is his name for a fire truck, not for the people who fight fires.) The Muppets were, for a long time, The Puppets. All the Lion King movies are "Baby Lions." Richard Scary's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go is "Goldbug Book." The Wizard of Oz is "Dorothy Dog" (since Elmo has a goldfish named "Dorothy" my son feels the need to say that he's talking about the Dorothy who has a dog). The video game Pacman on my phone is known as "Ducks" (they're yellow and they quack, right?).

Subways! Maps! Intruiging namelessness!

soma lkzx — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:03:44 -0800

I've made the greatest site on the internet, now it needs a name! Cue cards feature: subways, minutes, maps Now that all of the math is out of the way, I've got a pretty neat site: you plug in an address in NYC, and it shows you a colored map (barometric pressure style) on top of google maps of how long it takes to get everywhere else in the city. Looks kinda like this. But it needs a name, and anything I can think of seems to be taken.

It needs to be halfway memorable, but I really don't have many standards beyond reusability - if I end up doing this for systems outside of NYC the name needs to come with it. Maps, colors, transit, subways, rail, and anything else related is fair game. I lean towards the more twee or singsong options (like, say, triptastic or triptrop), and the less misspellings/homophones/etc I have to buy the better.

Other words for 'Special Bookings'?

LongDrive — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 20:01:09 -0800

Does anyone know any obscure synonyms or industry-related terms for 'Special Bookings' or 'By Appointment Only'? I am trying to name a new business that does special bookings for artists, and am wondering if there are any general synonyms or obscure industry related terms that essentially convey the same message, that of 'Special Bookings' or 'By Appointment Only', etc. When i say industry-related terms, it could be any industry. For example, if Restaurants or Tailors have certain terms to describe their policies in that way. Anyone know of anything?

Name our farm!

youcancallmeal — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:47:42 -0800

Seeking a name for our impending farm. Help! Things that are relevant:

1) It's small. We'll just be cultivating an acre or two.
2) We will have small animals. A corgi. Dwarf goats. Chickens.
3) It's in Vermont. It's cold here. There are mountains.
4) It needs to fit both the farm itself and work as a brand for things like pies, jams, etc.
5) The farm is Metafilter related in that the land actually belongs to a fellow Mefite. But inside jokes have to be funny to outsiders as well.

Our first idea is Snowpatch Farm, but we think we can do better. Ideas? We want to get going on a blog, so we need a name soon!

Does naming a child after a famous figure have any effect on their life, positive or negative?

Kirn — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 03:02:09 -0800

Does naming a child after a famous figure have any effect on their life, positive or negative? With all of the tiny Barack Obamas and Michelle Obamas who are popping out around the world, I wondered whether there was any evidence (anecdotal or otherwise) that being named after a famous figure has an effect on the child's life, either positive or negative. This would be in terms of their success, career choice, happiness, or anything else.

I tried Googling for this in the vain hope someone might have published a study, but I couldn't find anything, so this might be difficult to answer. All I found on AskMeFi was someone commenting that his family members who had been named after famous Presidents had hated it and changed their names.

(Also, I'm talking here about famous figures who are widely respected - not the poor Adolf Hitler kid.)

Can the hivemind help me?

Name my supergiftguide

striker — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:26:22 -0800

nameFilter: new blog of holiday gift recommendations/guides needs a name/domain. I cannot turn a phrase, Help! So, I'm making a list of lists of sorts, gathering links to all of those 2008 holiday gift guides from sites like engadget, tuaw, etsy, and others. It's all ready to go, but I have little creativity when it comes to thinking up names and could use some help. Preferably something I could get a domain for. Much Thanks!

Help us pick a fancy new surname

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:33:11 -0800

My brother and I want to invent a new family surname for ourselves and our future families. Our Christian names are Kristy-Lee and Thomas. Can you help? We're wondering about logistics, as well as being desperately in need of ideas for surnames! It's tricky trying to find one name to suit two people. Our current surname is a name my Dad made up anyway – long story. Neither of us particularly like it and we also feel that since our family is split up, we should create a name that's just for us and that we can carry into the future.

So far we haven't come up with much. He kind of wants something in the vein of having "Danger" as a middle name. He's fond of the name Tommy Gunn but it doesn't go well with my name, so it's out!

I've been partial to things like Honeywell, or Roseberry! Quite pompous names. But I'm open to anything really! Does anybody have any ideas? We don't mind if the suggestions are humorous, or if they reference pop culture – in fact, we'd probably prefer it!

So anything goes, song titles, book characters, historical figures -- if there's a story behind the name, that's great.

But anything, no matter how plain, is a good suggestion. Anything would match my first name better than my current surname does!

I'm hoping to get the input of writers or wordsmiths here ... I know a lot of mefites have a good aesthetic understanding of language. You're the best bunch to ask for a combination of words/names that roll off the tongue.

Things to keep in mind:
–Must sound good with a Mister/Doctor/etc in front of it.
–As long as it sounds appropriate with some derivation of Thomas (Tom, Tommy), that's fine.
–I find Kristy-Lee a mouthful to pronounce as it is, but don't let that stop you from suggesting a complicated or fanciful surname.
–Don't worry about middle names.

Also, logistically, do you think this is possible? Is there anything we're not considering? Have you heard of anybody else who did this with any other family members? I don't think we mind the initial hassle of explaining to everybody that our last name is now different. But maybe it's more complicated than we've considered. Throwaway email is yay.new.last.name@gmail.com in case you need to ask further Qs.

Giants, Jets, Yankees, Mets, Knicks, Rangers, Liberty?

allkindsoftime — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 06:45:16 -0800

Conference-room-naming filter (since yall are so damn good at it). My company is remodeling the 5th floor of our midtown NYC offices. Here's the deets:

"In order to align our office with the City in which we live and work, we’re interested in naming our seven conference rooms – six on the Fifth Floor and one on the Sixth Floor – after local landmarks, streets or neighborhoods (e.g. Brooklyn Bridge, Cobble Hill, Tribeca, Yankee Stadium, Coney Island/Cyclone, you get the idea). However, we are not limited to these suggestions - feel free to use your creativity."

That's about the long and the short of it - I need 7 preferably related names for conference rooms that deal with NY places. There's too many neighborhoods, not enough boroughs, etc., so I'd like to use your creativity.

Help me name my Tibetan Baby before I pop!

taff — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:33:18 -0800

HELP. I'm outrageously pregnant and my husband is Tibetan. We are going to use a Tibetan name, but it's rather hard to find Tibetan name books for babies. In lieu of this MrTaff has given me a list of names he finds acceptable to his ear/culture/language etc. (He's not a Buddhist, he's a Bonpo). I need feedback from people of all language backgrounds and countries and opinions about the list he has given me. I'm a bit of a "surprise" kind of a person so I don't feel like I want to ask in-person friends.

ToddlerTaff's name is Dechen and I want a name that sort of goes with that. And BabyTaff will have the surname White...or something very similar, for the purposes of not having our identities stolen.

Below is the list he has given me.

I want all thoughts on as many names as you like. Be as rude, revolting or rancid as you like... or as complimentary. All thoughts welcomed.

Thanks in advance... I"ll be back with more..by the way... some seem very similar, it's not a mistake... they're similar but not the same.

Namgyal
Yeshi
Jamtso
Rabyang
Yonten
Rapten
Sherab
Wangdak
Yonten
Jampa
Kechok
Tsewang
Yudron
Youdron
Sherap
Penpa
Gyamtso
Yungdrung
Lhundrup
Kunga
Richen
Dolker
Dolkar
Samten
Metok
Kundang
Monlam
Jangchup
Sangmo
Jamma
Ugyen
Norbu
Khetsun
Dakpa
Jinpa
Lhundrup
Kunchen
Tsamchoe
Dhargye
Chonden
Gonpo
Yangtso
Chodag
Rabgyal
Dhargay
Gyalchok
Monlam
Tselha
Palkyi
Youdon
Yeshi
Bhuti
Yangzom
Tamdin
Chokzay
Dhardon
Tsewang
Choedon
Choezom
Yangdon
Rinchen
Norzin
Paldon
Khando
Seldon
Kelden
Rigzin
Wangchuk
Palmo
Kesang
Tempa
Thubten
Nyandak
Lhamo
Tsultrim
Wangchen
Pema
Namdol
Samdup
Jamyang
Topden
Wangdup
Zopa
Namdak
Choephel
Chodrak
Gelek
Gurmey
Khedrup
Dhakpa
Dhadul
Samdup
Choephel
Wangdue
Gephel
Sangey
Khandro
Shenlha Woekar
Bumtri (seriously, he had to be kidding about this one!)
Namdak

Help me name my impending baby?

mere — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:30:56 -0800

I'm looking for suggestions for monosyllabic girl names that are more unique/interesting than things like "Ann" or "Jane" or "Sue" but still familiar enough that my as-yet-unnamed fetus won't have to go through life spelling out BOTH her first and last names for people. (She'll have my husband's last name to deal with--something like Dziewolrgjeoaezkxyzski.) Examples of names I like: Eve, Ruth, Quinn, Claire. Examples of names I don't like: Kate, Beth, Rose. Or Ann/Jane/Sue.

Extra information that might be useful: Dziewolrgjeoaezkxyzski is pronounced like it starts with a J, so I don't want to pick a name that starts with a J sound. I also don't want a name that ends with the letter D. And randomly, my husband just doesn't like the letter C.

How would you name a military startup?

speek — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:08:21 -0800

How would you name an oddly positioned military startup? I'm working on a startup with a friend and we're stuck on the naming process. We're planning on having this company be an umbrella-type corporation: some military stuff, some social web-apps, some energy stuff. (we've got overactive imaginations)

You know the term Think Tank? Well, if you didin't know what it meant and had to guess what it was using your imagination, that's what my company would be: a bunch of guys thinking of stuff.

I kinda like the motto "We're solving problems so you don't have to" for my own company... another great motto is "We're building a machine that will be proud of us" (for an AI company).

Thanks for the help!

So many names, so little time

donnagirl — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:22:40 -0800

My recently married friend is having some doubts about her name change. If you or your spouse did a name change after you got married, could you offer some insights about her situation? Here's her question in full:

I recently got married and just requested a new social security card with my married name. Now I'm having second thoughts about the way I chose to change it. I have four names - I added my husband's last name as my last name, and moved my maiden name to a second middle name. So, on my social security card, I'm now FirstName MiddleName MaidenName NewLastName. I'm worried about having two middle names, and concerned about problems it might cause on my driver's license, passport, etc. Professionally, I plan to go by FirstName MaidenName NewLastName. Socially, I plan to go by plan to go by FirstName NewLastName. (Kids, should they arrive, will be KidName NewLastName.) I'm trying to decide if I should simplify things and request another name change with Social Security after 30 days, making my maiden name my only middle name. I'm wondering if anyone has experience with two middle names, and if this has been an issue at all. I'd rather not chuck my original middle, as I like it, but I don't want to make things unnecessarily difficult for myself in the future.

If you have questions, I can follow up, or you can email her at seefoodblog@gmail.com. Thanks!

MUNI naming scheme

scission — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:25:14 -0800

Why does MUNI sometimes call a train N and sometimes N N? Where can I learn more about their naming schemes? I've taken the occasional light rail in SF without really understanding the announcer in subway stations. I didn't notice a connection between the double letters and whether a train has multiple cars, or whether it's inbound or outbound, but maybe I've missed something obvious.

What does it mean, and where can I read about MUNI? For example, I've also been wondering why my station announces "Embarcadero" and "Mission Bay" for inbound trains but specifies the letter for outbound trains.

What's in a (handmade crafts shop) name?

alpha_betty — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:05:19 -0800

What's in a (handmade crafts shop) name? ...Connotations of Boutique, Creations, Studio, etc. I'm in the process of opening a small shop online and need a name to use for that and as a presence at local craft fairs and festivals. I'm finding this difficult as any name I'm coming up with sounds pretentious, vague, or is already taken.

I would like to sell knitted items, some jewelry/magnets/accessories, and possibly a few small home-type goods (aprons, etc).

What is coming to mind are names like Noun StoreSynonym - for example, things like Mouse Designs or California Creations. Is there a better formula for coming up with a name for a shop?

The other issue I'm having with naming is that I'm questioning the connotations and impressions of specific StoreSynonyms. An example would be Originals, where my shop would be named Olivia's Originals - would customers then assume that each item in the shop is original and therefore I could only sell one of each item? Would they expect that I would have come up with the original idea for each and every item (there are only so many ways to make a scarf or ipod cozy, and I clearly didn't think of those first)?

Please help - Boutique sounds too snooty and upscale, Studio sounds like I'm selling pottery, Handmade may be too novice, Crafts is generic, and Productions sounds like I'm a theater company. Are my own associations with these terms widely held, or am I totally offbase? Do you even CARE what the name of a shop is, if you like their goods? Have you any other ideas, my beloved MeFites?

TheLastReal.Com

B(oYo)BIES — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:20:59 -0800

Domain Naming Troubles - I have spent the last week and a half trying to come up with a clever dot com for my web design company. I am looking for suggestions on keywords that I can use to form a good domain name. .COMs are hard to get a hold of using standard dictionary words, as it is, but it seems that all domain names concerning web development are gone. I know this isn't true, I just need help being a bit more creative when it comes to naming this particular domain.

Please give me a list of words that work well for a web dev site. I am not necessarily looking for you to name my site (although, if you have something great, that is available, I may just snap it up), I am more so looking for words that I can play around with to name it myself.

Thanks MeFites.

p.s. Using part, or all, of my name really isn't an option as it is pretty common and just not something I really care to do. I also don't care to use my state or geographical information as I feel it limits my target audience.